Hi Rita, I'm worried about you girl! I am thinking of you as we wait for the hurricane. My favorite of these is 'Olallie Keith' and I'm slightly annoyed that they don't seem to have it this year (or Vt Butterscotch Harvest)...at least I don't see it on their website. I noticed when I visited their fields, they had lots of yellow tags on rows of daylilies and those were the ones they were sold out of and only had enough to hold for increase. I searched for 'Olallie Keith' when I was there but didn't find it (although it was 90 degrees that day and my husband was itching to leave so I may have missed some things). I also like Fountain of Life and Hard Times. Celeste

Debra: You mentioned something I've been interested in for awhile. I've heard people who are in the deep south say that many dormants don't do well for them. I always wondered what that meant. Do the dormants loose all or most of their leaves in summer? Do the crowns rot? What happens? I just don't know.....I don't see that much variance in plants after the initial bloom period, but as you know I grow mostly in pots, so the watering/fertilizing/grooming is more controlled then in ground. If I worry about anything, it's winter hardiness. As you and I have both experienced, an exceptionally cold winter can be fatal...........Maryl

Thanks Kay, yes with the temps we have been having it may be earlier than usual . The poor alliums have not even lasted a week and they are pretty much done . The iris however are late . Everything is all screwed up here this year . We have had such extremes of weather the gardens dont know if they are coming or going . Right now we are extremely dry ......like the last 2 years , the drought started in May and continued through to October. I was hoping that would not be the case this year but so far it is not looking good.

I think we'll try Pismo Fish & Chips. I'm not all that fussy about fish and chips, since I rarely have them, but there are a several places here that make them very well, including an English pub in Santa Monica. We've been to the Splash Cafe and while I did like their clam chowder, they served it in a bread bowl, and I cannot resist taking the bowl with me, which I should not do. It seems like half the restaurants on the Central Coast are Italian, which I like, but I prefer to make Italian food myself. We do have lots of restaurant choices within 15 minutes of where I live, but the Central Coast is not that bad - especially compared to places like Borrego Springs and Joshua Tree, although there are a couple of good places in Joshua Tree now. I was very impressed with restaurants in Paso Robles, possibly because it is surrounded by over 200 wineries. It reminds me of what Sonoma was like in the 1970s, and I love Sonoma also, but Paso is less than half the distance. There used to be an olive festival in October, but they have moved the olive festival to May. Still, I might pick up some olives and olive oil while I'm there. The wine is rather expensive compared to what we pay here, but then I normally buy Italian and French wine here - doesn't sound right for someone in California - but that's what I like. We did a lot of wine tasting and olive tasting the last time we were in Paso, and we'll probably go back for a longer stay there next time. It gets hot there in the summer, but we went in August anyway. Anyway, we're going to the central coast for the scenery instead of the food this time. We'll take Hwy 1 from our house through Malibu, as it is faster than the 405/101, but of course we'll have to that the 101 through Santa Barbara. That's another place I used to like to visit, but it's not quite as nice as it used to be. Most people now are saying that they prefer Paso Robles to San Luis Obispo, and they are somewhat similar except that Paso is quite a bit more upscale and has done a better job of preserving the old character of its downtown - SLO has allowed chain stores to open in its downtown, but Paso has not.Here's one of the olive ranches we visited. I thought I took more photos when we were there, but I can't find them.