Nurseries in San Diego with Asian veggies and rare fruit trees. In my opinion one of the best is the Bonita Creek Nursery, they have a huge selection! http://www.bonitafruittrees.com David, the owner, is GREAT and the fruit is super. They have Avocado, Cherimoya, Cherry, Sapote, Guava, Figs, Mangos, Berries and many other trees. The nursery is in Bonita, just 15 minutes from down town San Diego by car. Have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Bonita Creek Nursery

Thanks Seysonn, that's helpful. I ended up letting the ones that were further along go to seed and have started collecting seed for next year. Meanwhile, I picked all the flower buds off the ones that hadn't gone completely to seed and made a ginger-shiso-toasted sesame oil pesto with the flower buds. Pretty tasty, but the sesame oil dominated...next time I'll go with olive oil. Hopefully, we'll get a few more weeks of leaves out of the plants I de-flowered. Yes, Jim, according to Japanese sources, shiso seeds stay dormant for at least 6 months before they will germinate. Smart temperate climate annual weeds, if you ask me. Very unlike it's cousin basil that will germinate right away - perhaps partly due to more extensive history of cultivation and selection in favor of fast germination?

I had a good laugh cuz I coveted someones plants once myself many years ago in my old neighborhorhood. In answer to #10, I don't know Polish, so can't help there. But I was wondering if this lady is out in her front yard every evening when you run by. If so, I would cultivate her by start waving, smiling, and saying something like "Hi", "Good evening!" or "I love your gardens", "Nice weather today", etc. And keep it up every time you see her. After you've done that enough stop for a rest in front of her house when she's outside and start talking to her. Even pointing at a brug and telling her how beautiful it (or all) is. She may understand nothing you say or understand more than you or others realize. If she's a really elderly lady, could she be living with one of her childen? Maybe you could stop by there on a weekend afternoon, knock on the door, and see. All you have to say when someone opens the door is that you stopped to tell them that they have lovely garden. I have yet to meet a gardener who didn't love talking about their gardens, and only two who didn't want to share even their weeds. If someone who speaks English is also living in the home, somewhere during the conversation ask if when they prune their brugs if they would be willing to part with some of the cuttings instead of putting them into the trash can. Offer a plant/plants/cuttings in trade. There was one older gentlemen (many moons ago) who never talked to anyone in the neighborhood, but had one of the loveliest front gardens I've ever seen. After many years of watching this absolutely beautiful front yard develope, change, and grow, I couldn't stand it any more. I took some home made cookies over and met him and his wife (didn't even know he had a wife all those years) and thanked him for 'sharing' his garden with me, even if he didn't know it and I only did it from the sidewalk. I could never describe their back gardens in a million words. There are very few things that have ever taken my breath away, and that was one of them. I can't tell you how many wonderful hours I spent in their back yard after that and how many times he would walk to my house and spend hours giving me tips and helping me with garden related stuff. As far as the brugs by your hot tub, how close would they be? Brugs can be incredibly messy plants. They can also become quite large so will the plant itself be in full sun all day? They would do best with morning sun and afternoon shade or dapple shade down there. I'm guessing at that as I live in a Zone 9 climate (up by Sacramento) and I have some brugs that get full sun and seem to do ok (Charles Grimadli and Frosty Pink). However, I do water 'em heavily twice each day during the hottest part of the summer. I got several brugs to add to my gardens from the link below. Due to the summer heat, I don't know if she ships right now. But the brugs and hibiscus that I've gotten from here (Seed Sprout) have all been in excellent health and huge sizes and the prices are very good. Hopefully someone from your area can give you a better idea about planting them down there. Jenna Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Sprout

@gardengal48 I want to be clear that I am not making a statement that all individuals within landscaping fit into the profiles I was giving. The point was that most of the service providers are either simplistic maintenance people or doing large high-end projects. "Most" is not "all". I am going to supply evidence for that, but first let me make a diversion. It is very clear to me that you are not in the categories I described. You are a very special person who has a deep love of gardens. You have a lot of experience in the nursery side of the business, in operations and as a buyer. You obviously enjoy thinking about plants based on the quality and number of responses you give to questions here. But what I would like to suggest is that you are not common at all. It is very hard to find people like you, in most places. Now, as some evidence for my claims, please go to Yelp and search within two categories: "gardener" and "landscape design". For gardeners, you will find low-budget lawn sweepers. If any of these people have deep knowledge of soil and plants, they do a superb job of hiding that fact on their websites. Why would you hide such basic information if it was your core skill? The mix of services that are typically offered are weekly maintenance, hardscape installation, and tree services. My kingdom for a single profile on Yelp that talks about deep love of plants and soils and simple garden design projects done by the principal and not done by his "team" of guys he hired at Home Depot.... I mean I have done that exercise and finding just one person who does not fit the general category I described is very hard. For "landscape design" you find architects, many of whom are superb. But they are not going to support the operation and maintenance of your garden. So pass on that. You also find implementers. But call up these firms and what you quickly realize is they want large projects over $10K. They are never going to supply you with one knowledgeable person who can come over to your house twice a month and supply your plants and garden with some simple love. I am not making this up. I have called up every single one of the top 20 rated firms on Yelp in both of these categories and most of them simply do not provide the services of what you call a "fine gardener". If it is different in your area, then maybe I should think about buying a vacation home there. Seriously.