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My garden, which is in coastal No. CA, has been an 8year labor of love. When I moved here the entire property was an overgrown mess of vinca, nasturtiums, honeysuckle and pompas grass. Some areas had great soil, and others had solid clay - the kind you can mold into pots! Soft and gooey in the winter and hard as a freakin' rock in the summer. The property is on a hill just above the beach, but luckly most of the garden is protected from the ocean breezes by the house. Some of my biggest challenges are:

1. Banana Slugs the size of small dogs! I can't tell you how many plants I've lost to these buggers. I avoid buying their favorite foods and although my climate is perfect for hostas, its pretty much like chocolate for a slug!

2. Foggy summers. Its warm and beautiful in the Spring and Fall, but the cool foggy summers really confuse some of my plants! My fall blooming clematis's bloom in the Spring. I think they figure the summer is actually winter! I also get hit pretty hard with powdery mildew. And, we can't grow some of the fun heat loving plants. I have to start my veggie garden by the first of March if I hope to take advantage of any Spring heat. By July the fog rolls in and is here till the end of August or early Sept.

My favorite things about the garden:

Watching my cats play in the flower garden
Watching Spring unfold
Trying fun new plants
The first days of Indian Summer in the fall after a cold foggy summer
The first of the winter rains giving my plants a welcome soak after months of no rain.

My garden's caretakers include myself, my husband and our two cats Sam and Herbie (who, along with our tenant's cat Buster and various other neighborhood cats, keep the catnip well pruned! :)

I live in: United States

My zone is: Sunset Z17

First registered on March 19,2005.