It you'll be in San Diego March 3-5 be sure to go to the Spring Home/Garden Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. There will be one building with 21 theatrically-lit indoor gardens by local garden designers. It's been compared quite favorably to the Philadelphia Flower Show. www.springhomegardenshow.com Also, on March 13 you'd be most welcome to attend the free, friendly monthly meeting of the San Diego Horticultural Society at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. About 350-400 people usually come, and our speaker will be the highly respected - and very funny - Brent Heath of Brent & Becky's Bulbs. If you've got more time to spare, Brent will be giving a hands-on bulb workshop that same day at Quail Botanical Gardens - details on the website below. In addition to the gardens folks mentioned, there are some fabulous nurseries in San Diego and you might have time to visit a few. There are links to these places on the San Diego Hort. Soc. website - the two you'd probably find most interesting are: Buena Creek Gardens (San Marcos) - has a fantastic 1/2 acre bird and butterfly garden which is featured in the current (January) issue of Sunset magazine Walter Andersen Nursery - the Poway nursery has a marvelous garden railroad display as well as great plants You'll have a blast here! Here is a link that might be useful: San Diego Horticultural Society

I am glad you enjoyed the reading. It sure was a wonderful trip. I am now trying to get all the pics offf my cell phone...sigh ...no memory card...and then I will get the whole thing put together. Will keep me busy for weeks ! c

I live in Orange County but go to San Diego a few times a year. How old is your daughter? Depending on the day and time of day, Knott's is a little over 2 hours drive from downtown San Diego. But it is a fun (and educational) park and even if she is very small, the regular rides outside of Camp Snoopy will work. There are only a handful of fast roller coasters there. All you have to do is blink and you will find great Mexican food. They are all over. Old Towne is a good place to visit. I am not sure about Indian in SD. The water will be too cold to go swimming, but you have to go to the beach just to go and to walk around. Be careful about collecting sea shells. Technically, it is against the law to remove any shells from the beach, but if you're quiet about it I wouldn't worry about getting into any trouble. Last weekend I went to Laguna and picked up a bunch of beautiful tumbled sea glass and I kept 3 shells that were really unique. I am not sure which beaches in SD are known for having a lot of shells, but you'd be sure to find some along the water line even on beaches that don't have many shells. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

They usually are in the mix of 2" and 3" succulents you can buy at the big box stores for $3-$4 apiece. I like buying the very small ones because they are likely not to have mite infections. Also remember some sold lately as A. striata are hybrids, which can by identified by their marginal teeth--A. striata does not have marginal teeth. Saw a whole lot of the striata hybris yesterday at an Armstrong's, labeled as Aloe noblis(!)