My gosh Suzy. You made me realize I was too hard on the ginger kitty last night. Drool dripping down my mouth as I walked in, IÂd planned to make my favorite earthy porcini mushroom and lemon risotto to go alongside a pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin roast (earthy and pork scream autumn to me), when I saw insulation everywhere! I was furious with Murphy. Furious. Grr, ranting about the cat furious. I was glad he didnÂt speak people and that LF wasnÂt there. Most recently, IÂd taken down the last of the hanging wood, plaster and spiderwebs on the kitchen ceiling, when I uncovered a hole. He decided that was the most interesting looking hole ever or was "seeking cool hiding places", knocking down bundles of cellulose (really hard on my asthma, just to have a cup of it on the floor!), but he realized he couldnÂt get down the way he came and went down hole number three of the ceiling holes, in the hallway. And knocked down more insulation. I was so mad and coughing so hard, I gave up on dinner. Kitties go crazy, hm who knew? The house is looking so good. The 'Fireworks' Solidago is ready to burst forth. My hostas actually flowered! They're pure white. In the shade, their beauty really shines. I've weeded and tilled a bed by the street getting ready to plant the last perennial plants I'll ever plant at that house. They're sitting in containers on the nice loamy soil, just waiting for a long rain in cooler weather, just a handful of weeks away. I actually relish going home to work on it now, much less chore-like. I covered up the doorway to make a wall in the back office with the tongue-and-groove boards that have been sitting there. Then painted it. And cleaned off the ceiling and painted it. And then I was motivated to put in the last piece of subfloor. Only, I needed two pieces. Shoot, I'll have to get more. But then I was motivated to clean the windows and move everything out except the sitting room stuff. I couldn't stop smiling at the sun shining in through the windows with leaves falling outside and the birds flitting around. I can finally see it all since I am no longer looking at a "half done room". Sure, it still needs the carpet and some trim, but it's a sitting room now. I could just feel the soft cushions on the chair and smell the pages of the book calling me. Ah. All the while surrounded by the outdoors since the place is esentially all glass. Krista, itÂs a phase. "DS is a bigtime sore loser, any suggestions? I am not a good bowler by any means, but he just gets so ticked and it is not fun". Been there done that! I think CandyLand solved that one. No one is control, no skill involved, and he learns to lose or be a graceful winner. At least LF did.

I think Sea Fig / Ice Plant (Carpobrotus chilensis) is a great guess. I know exactly the pictured plant you're talking about, because I see them all the time on the cliffs of Del Mar, above the ocean across from Torrey Pines State Reserve. Ice Plant does commonly grow in the immediate vicinity, so the mystery plant might well be merely a dessicated version of Sea Fig. Here is a link that might be useful: Flickr: Sea Fig

Addendum to my first post: add dog roses the the pest shrubs. I may keep a couple of these if I find I can keep them cut back to reasonable form and dimensions, but they have a tendency to grow octopus canes and sprawl all over the surrounding area, flattening their neighbors. And DH has reminded me of some plants of hawthorn. Suzy, glad to hear from you (everybody else who's interested, too), and I want to make a request: could you give me the botanical names of the plants you talk about? In many cases I don't know the plants, or may know the scientific name and not the common one. Some of my gardening is conducted in Italian after all. If you need the botanical names of any of the plants I named, let me know: I know most of them or can look them up. My basic idea is I think similar to yours: I want a woodland, slightly prettied up with appropriate plantings. I'm leaning toward native plants just because I know there's a good chance they'll grow, which in thin dry clay in shade is a major consideration; also there are plenty of nice herbaceous plants among the local flora. And I want a natural look, to employ a much abused word; I mean I mostly want plants that look as they could be natives even if they aren't. Shrubs are difficult. I want some low-growing shrubs in particular, not too showy nor too plain, and like the thought of evergreen foliage, which is almost completely absent in the local flora. This might be my chance to grow the box my soul longs for, and which is so hard to site in my conditions; and mahonias seem to like it here. I have M. aquifolium in the shade garden above the woods and it seeds itself about a bit, which is slightly alarming. Sarcococca should do well, and also Daphne odora, the only one easy to get, though it seems to need some clay under its feet: I lost two babies down there, one when the locust crashed and it ended up in sun, one that went too long without watering. All these will probably need some digging with a pick, and possibly some clay brought in. A shrub/small tree, native, that I thought of last night, is Cornus mas. This is modestly pretty in spring and might do very well along the drainage; and now that I think of it, Viburnum x burkwoodii which I have planted in various parts of the garden, tough as nails, fragrant, and handsome. Also yew would do well, if I want a column of evergreen here and there. Holly?? It's a relict species from the glacial era that grows wild here and there in the province, though not in our immediate area. A handsome low groundcover is Ruscus hypoglossum, something like our native R. aculeatus, butcher's broom but not prickly and more orderly in its growth, and very tough. Similar but taller growing is the related Danea racemosa which also does fine. I plan on keeping Vinca well away from my shade garden: too messy and invasive. Now that I think of it, how could I forget hellebores? They would seed beautifully, too. H. viridis is local and handsome, and the H. orientalis types would look at home. Let me add epimediums to the list of possibilities. I'm not thinking of roses (much), as there's not much sun for shrubby kinds and the canopy is too weak to support massive ramblers. Alas. It's not that I haven't weighed the possibilities. I think we're in about the same place in our plans: cleaning up and thinking, and starting the first plants. You're propagating on an ambitious scale compared to my few plants dug up and potted, and I suspect are going to have your woodland garden whipped into shape considerably faster than I am mine. I need to mark my baby oaks; I notice a lot of seedlings coming up, possibly in response to the cleaning up of the past couple of years. I can happily guard the oaks for posterity knowing that I have flowering ashes and maples to enjoy in the present. Silver maples (A. saccharinum) are commonly planted here, too, but with our worthy native field maples (A. campestre) I don't need them, especially since silver maples have no fall color to speak of, while the field maple can turn a good yellow. There are one or two less common local maple species, and one, I believe, colors well in fall (very rare in our native plants): I need to find out which it is, and whether I can get it (A. opalus, I think). I share your admiration for the plane, but it would be out of scale in our woods, which are sadly starved and low-growing. Paula, about the black locust, yes, it's a nitrogen fixer, but it also tends to break and fall and sucker madly. I like my trees to stay put. Since the great locust crash in the spring we've been weeding it out of the entire shade garden, and will be continuing to do so, apparently, for a long time to come. The black locust has considerable merits and is a beautiful tree, but it's not what I want here. You did remind me, though, to add laburnums to my list of possibilities: native, nitrogen fixing, and beautiful in flower. My vision at the moment is actually a modest one: I see a little woodland, with paths and steps, sunlight falling through the trees, a fallen trunk to sit on in the shade. The trees are common and of modest dimensions, such plantings as exist are humble but growing in beauty and variety as the ground becomes richer in humus and is freed of weeds and brush. The mere fact of shade is important: it's been hot and dry here for two months now, and to do down there and sit under the trees is a pleasure and refreshment in itself. Rock outcroppings, moss growing in the cooler parts. Once we get the place cleaned up I may become more ambitious. Oh, last note: I doubt I would consider tulips, which grow well here, because of the boars. Though now that we have wolves I hear their populations are dropping. Perhaps in time we'll achieve some sort of ecological equilibrium. I hope the wolves gobble down large part of our rapidly growing roe deer population as well. Melissa

Thanks! We've been going up there almost every day to pick blackberries and swim until I have piles of bird photos I've not even posted yet. Every day I get more, so I keep falling behind, but I suppose that's the way it is in summer. 7-24-09, Poppy Mnt, 1rst yr male Blue-winged Warbler From 7-6-09 Poppy Mnt, farm 7-25-09, Poppy Mnt pay lake, fledgling Green Heron From 7-6-09 Poppy Mnt, farm I'll have to get busy and post them because yesterday at the fish hatchery, we were already seeing migrants coming through! 7-26-09, Migrating Forster's Tern at fish hatchery From late summer birds, 2009