Gosh... long time no describe from me... LOL But here goes: Lilacs are starting to leaf out. We had a near-frost scare last weekend and there I was covering the James McFarlane lilac since he had started opening up his leaf buds. I always hate doing that because I usually always knock off some bud clusters and it is ALWAYS WINDY when I end up adjusting and readjusting the cover as the winds blow and knock it off. Fortunately Miss Kim wasn't as far along and she did fine without anything. My baby Agincourt Beauty lilac was easier to cover though. AND luckily, our last Frost date was supposed to be April 10, so I'm hoping that this will hold true and we won't get any freezing-temp cold snaps (although we often get one in the 'burbs here around the 2nd - 3rd week of May). I have daylilies, hosta, peonies, asiatic lilies, violets, and lily of the valley coming up. I also have a sedum I got late last summer that sat outside on a table by the balcony door in its original pot and that is leafing out now. The weigela, blueberries, clematis (one of them), and pee gee hydrangea are starting to leaf out. The younger clematis may be resprouting from the roots since I cut it back pretty severely and probably should have given it several pairs of buds rather than just 2 sets, to start with. My honeysuckle started leafing out pretty early and I've had to cover it with frost cloth way too many times to keep the tender foliage from mushing or dessicating in the winds. My deciduous azalea is sort sitting there and is just barely starting to wake up. My little evergreen azalea is trying to figure out what to do - it got a bit stressed with the cold winds but I had put antidessicant on it and the buds look sortof okay. The leucothoe had some winter burn but I did try to protect it during winter and gave it some antidesicant - same as what I did with my crossvine, which looks like it had some issues this winter. The iris are producing a bunch of daughter rhizomes and I'm hoping that some new mothers will bloom (had none last year). My prickly pear cactus is still sortof deflated but hopefully as it warms up more and gets some sun, it'll puff up again. Not seeing any ferns coming up yet and none of my bulbs came up. I planted them pretty late and I might dig them up to see if anything rotted for some reason. Some new things this spring include a baby red-twig dogwood and a "Profusion" beautyberry (Whooo hooooooo), something that I've wanted for about 4 years now ever since I first saw one filled with berries at the Phila. Harvest Show. I planted some strawberries ("Sweeheart") and some sweet peas. I also put some pansies in my windowboxes on the rail and planted some alyssum plants in another window box that sits on a shelf. My inside babies that will eventually go out include my figs (both leafed out and 1 with about 7 figs on it), my passifloras, both hanging on (literally to the blinds...lol), and my plumies - a bunch sadly succumbing to rot. I do have 1 that is leafing out pretty nicely and it is supposed to be a "pink" and I'm hoping it is. I am on year 3 of my habs and 3 (out of 6 brought in for winter) survived the winter to reach this year 3. My elephant ears from 2 years ago are leafing out in the bedroom and my hibiscus and mandevilla are getting new growth. Some casualties thanks to spider mites (sigh) included my citrus and my new Camelia sinensis. I have a small humidifier running all winter but I definitely need a bigger one (my older big one finally died). As it is, my poor coffee plant was struggling too since I had repotted it and it was too big to really get near the lights. Have started tomatoes late last month and will end up with 18 of them (7 different varieties), 2 staying with me and the rest divided to go to my sisters and mother (already staked out a share-cropping spot (LOL) at one sister's place where she has an enclosed 12ft x 15ft "veggie pen" that had been built by the previous owner of the house) and I started some MF seeds last week (they're popping up now) and need to start some hyacinth bean vine seeds (need to soak them tonight perhaps). Yesterday, I watered and fertilized and added fresh mulch to the shrubs. Will be trying to decide how to arrange things that need to be in that sunny corner.

I am a fifth generation South California girl. Part of my family was originally from New England and New York before going "west" in 1859. I have pioneer roots and ties to some early Spanish families and grew up loving the Spanish culture and heritage of South Cal. I say, leave the palm. Add a fountain out front and play up the Spanish. You can still plant Cottage flowers, like a beautiful climbing rose up over your front door. (how about a climbing Don Juan - Ole!). I lived in an old Spanish house with a recessed front "patio" and alcove to one side, but there were white Lady Banks roses growing on the arbor across the east end and they sprawled up onto the roof. There was an old Date Palm near the "Secret Garden" on the east side of the house towards the back that was so lovely and fruit trees nearby. There were small "reflecting pools" that dotted the gardens here and there that my aunt had constructed back in the 1920s. Two Acacia trees were planted in the island of our front circle drive that bloomed every spring with fuzzy yellow flowers that reminded me of baby chicks or ducks. I loved the cool, smooth bark of the trunks of those trees and the blue-green colour of their leaves. There were all kinds of cacti and succulents, including agaves, ornamental grasses big rocks and the like in the beds on either side of the front walk, and tall Red Hot Pokers that I still love and grow in my gardens here in Oklahoma. There were waves upon waves of flowers of every kind all around the house. No grass was grown except under my mother's clothes line :), and over on the west side at the base of the mountain where a clump of Prickly Pear Cactus grew that towered at about ten or more feet. All the paths were just narrow little dirt trails really. On that side there were lemon trees, Pomegranates, flowering ornamental trees and shrubs. Native Live Oaks grew all through the canyon around the house, but there was a stand of pines on the north side. Beautiful white Callas grew and bloomed under the front windows in bricked-in beds built on top of the bricked patio - ferns too. I liked too the green moss or algae that grew on the damp bricks that gave it character. I remember Nasturtiums everywhere and lots of sweet, sweet smelling white Sweet Alyssum that crept out into the dirt paths. Golden California poppies and my favorite everlasting flower, Statice with its papery blooms of purple, pink, yellow and white that grew everywhere too. Mother never replanted it. It all came back year after year. There were irises of every colour, lilies, poppies, daisies, ivy, creeping myrtle, lots of Geraniums - just every kind of plant you would find in any cottage garden and then some. I remember Heliotrope (...oh...the fragrance). There was some kind of tiny leafed bamboo by one of the little pools. As a child I found it an intriguing place sit and play pretend games. The original part of the house was built back in the early 1880s and my grand aunt added on to it and turned it into a fabulous Spanish ranch house in the early 1900s. There were stables down below the house and two little cabins where the ranch hands used to "bunk". She had a working horse ranch there in the canyon, so it wasn't a modern idea of how to cottage garden in a Spanish-style home, but a garden built back in the day when that was the way one gardened! People drove out to our home to see it in the Spring and the ladies auxiliaries often came calling to buy flowers from my mother for their meetings and etc. It is now on the "historical homes" tour there in my home town. It was my favorite place to live and still is! I am not saying that you can or should grow all the things we had on our place, but to illustrate to you that you can grow cottage flowers and plants or anything you wish and still embrace the Spanish design of your beautiful home. Sorry to have rambled on. (my bad) ~ Annie

Thanks everyone, I thought I had responded to the warm welcome but don't see my post...so if you see it in the midst of another thread... Guess that's what happens while I was playing catch up and doing searches. No telling where I posted it! I'll try to take some current pictures and pull up some old ones soon. It's a constant work in progress and I change things around when I see they aren't doing well in one spot or would look better in another. Due to plant cost I usually start with the smaller plants so that I can buy more varieties! My landscaping is fairly new, but I can tell things are finally starting to grow! I know the feeling about plant shopping! I know I'm a plantaholic! It usually starts out with me just "looking" and then next thing I know I'm hauling out some plants. Thanks Nell, I've been a military mom for about 12 years. I've got 2 of my boys deployed right now.

Jo Ann: solar powered lights as a door prize??? oh wow how cool! i sure hope i win those! what a great idea! Beverly: i am glad you like my signature saying. i dont know who wrote it but i just feel that it says it all!!! how else can you justify buying a pot of asclepsias in april or some virginia bluebells in the summer? my husband thinks i have lost my marbles when i bring home what looks like just a pot of dirt! lol i just finished potting up 31 plants and i have loads more to go plus several plants for direct trades too! but you know what? i feel great! i keep thinking of more and more things that someone might enjoy and its a great way to thin out some of my plants! I am really getting excited and it BETTER NOT RAIN THAT DAY either! so Margie and i were thinking about what time we have to get up that morning to get there around 10 and since i live about 1.5 hrs from her and she is closer to columbus than i am i am thinking i will have to get up at the crack of dawn along with the dern roosters!!! Sue 'The one thing all gardeners share in common is a belief in tomorrow'