Hayward here (though now we're retired we spend a lot of time in Baja - no veggies there - just cactus!) First year garden at this location. I was late getting started because I had to till, bring in soil amendments, till, bring in sand and till some more - still not totally happy with the soil, but ran out of patience. First seedlings didn't get planted out until May 10th - but I ate my first squash yesterday (had to borrow a male flower from my neighbor to pollinate it)and will have bush beans and beet tops within a week. Tomatoes (17 varieties, 22 plants)are full of blossoms and seem to be setting fruit, as are the various cukes, peppers and eggplants. Snap peas are flowering, as are the potatoes (will pinch them off tomorrow), green onions are over a foot tall and Elephant garlic is similar. Have various lettuces growing in a Flowerhouse Seedhouse, along with some Chinese Cabbage. Multiple melons, mostly musk type, went in the ground today. Gonna try to train the little devils to climb - the cukes caught on quite quickly. Winter squash (Dumpling, Delicata, Spaghetti & Butternut) goes in tomorrow. So far the only 'dud' was the English Peas, they went in right before the 3 day heatwave last month and got crisped - got about 3 peas off each vine and they never got above 6 inches tall. Of course, since then we have had no heat at all and cold winds every day (which is why the melons only just graduated from the Seedhouse). From here on, it's just a daily battle between me and the multitude of bugs that want to beat me to the harvest and I am determined they will not win!

Northern Cal here, so I'm fine. The skies are pretty smoggy (We're definitely getting the SoCal Smoke). We actually didn't have as many wildfires, up here, this year. Summer wasn't quite as hot/dry as usual. In fact, we had drenching rains a week or so ago (very unusual) and that's what's saved us! I'm used to our "Three Seasons:" Grey = Winter/Spring (which includes 2-3 weeks of "Green!"); Brown = Summer; and Black = Late-Summer/Fall (when the hills burn to a crisp). We live in San Jose (on the "fringes" of SJ - in Suburbia) - but we're still pretty close to the hills. Fire danger is *very* real around here. Folks who choose to live in the hills need to plan for fire danger (and there're websites devoted to landscaping in fire-prone areas). But we're pretty safe here (I think/hope!!!) We do have "Emergency Grab Bags" handy (Food, water, flashlights, sleeping bags, change-of-clothes, etc.) - should the need to evacuate ever arise... It's funny. Most non-Californians almost-immediately think of Earthquakes. Lots of folks are all: "Oh, I wouldn't wanna live THERE because of the earthquakes!" Well, earthquakes (though they are definitely *real*) are pretty sporadic in the scheme of things. Our last BIG temblor - and it was a hum-dinger! - was Loma Prieta in 1989. (BTW, I was on the 19th floor of a 22 story downtown San Francisco high-rise for that little Rock-N-Roller!). As much as ppl fear earthquakes. I just stop and think about folks living on the Gulf Coast where Hurricanes are an Annual Event. Or the Midwest with Tornadoes... I'm okay the Earthquake risk, myself! But, honestly, here on the Left Coast: Fires in the late-summer/early fall and Mud-slides in the spring are OUR Annual Events. Anyway, us Northern Californians are okay... I do feel bad for the So-Cal people - and hope the Santa Anas die down so the Fire-Fighters can make some headway! But as Dawg noted, you have to be aware of the risks and make your choices! -Nancy (who wouldn't live anywhere else!)

Here in Fayetteville, Georgia we just had the extremely strong winds and lost power during the night. It was still out when I got up at 7 AM, so I went back to bed until 10 and by then the power was restored. Our neighbor called to make sure we were okay and said a transformer up on the main road was on fire and that there were a lot of trees and branches down. The wind seems to have died down now and the storms have moved out of our area.

Ylang ylang does get really big which is why I gave mine away as I did not have the space. You may want to try the ylang ylang vine (artabotrys hexapetalus) instead it has a melon banana fragrance and is more manageable. Michelia alba is a must and it does very well here, doesn't get too big if you put it in a pot. I would also add to your list chinese perfume plant (aglaia odorata) - this is a must!, poet's jasmine, yesterday today tomorrow (brunfelsia), stephanotis and sweet pea. I love gardenias but the only one that thrives here is the grafted tree gardenia. I have First Love gardenia in tree from that I got from Monrovia you can check you local Armstrong nursery if they have them in stock if not they can order it for you.