Temps are unseasonably warm in Sacramento, and it's dry. We only get 19 inches of rain a year, mostly Nov-Mar. We should have 11 inches so far, not the 6 inches we've logged. The roses are pushing new growth.So, we are pruning here with great urgency. We had a pruning party in the Sacramento cemetery rose garden on Saturday, and had about 15 people working hard. We are never exactly "done" there, if "done" means touching every single rose, but we've got most of the top priorities completed. We get together a handful of volunteers every Wed and Sat, and I stop in and prune a few roses whenever I drive by, so things are in fairly good shape. At home, things are more dire. I need to be doing ladder work to take care of my arches and espaliered roses. It's wonderful to have them bloom, but the work involved to keep overly vigorous roses in bounds is almost beyond me. I'm "only" 57 yrs old, but my hip's bursitis hurts badly enough to keep me awake at night, and getting up on a ladder is hard work, and hard on the joints. So is climbing underneath a rose. I've got the easy stuff done - but haven't quite completed Phyllis Bide, and have the monstrous Handel yet to conquer, and another arch and espaliered fence to deal with. I'm also still nibbling at the Teas and Chinas - don't really know how to deal with four-yr-old plants that are performing well but getting big for their spots. It's supposed to rain again Thurs and Fri, so I'd better get out there and get up on the ladder. My goal is to be done with my climbers in the next few days. Wish me luck. Wow - this is all a bit gloomy. The good news is that early daffodils are blooming, the birds are singing, the earliest fruit trees and daphne are starting to bloom, and it's wonderful to have a public and home garden to care for and enjoy. Life is good - and will be better when those !@#$%&* climbers are done! Anita

Compumom, I'm sure you could grow the same plants in your neighborhood, but they are a bit labor intense to maintain, especially when we do not have rain. I'm glad you like what we've done to the yard, especially since you actually been in my pergola! Here's a picture of a piece of grape wood that we bought and glued tillandsias on. If you are growing grapes, this is something you can do with leftover grape vines. Dcarch, you can see the other hummingbird feeder in this photo. I hesitated to post this photo because I did hear about the East Coast weather this morning and had not realized that it was that cold there. Colleen, the teak furniture that we bought at The Teak Warehouse was made in Thailand or Indonesia, and so I'm not surprised that you SIL has the same table in Australia. Cathy, I have had to maximize use of the yard because it is fairly small, I think. We still have enough yard to make it seem spacious, however, and we would like to do more entertaining. I spend a lot of time in the pergola, mostly just relaxing, and so began to focus on what I liked and didn't like, and I also noticed that the grapevine was taking up valuable shade space, which would be better used by bromeliads and orchid cactus. Most of the yard is too sunny for those plants. When we first moved in, there were quite a few sore spots that I had to addres right away, just to make it tolerable - the first being the white concrete patio. Once we stained that, the space was really transformed and much more inviting. There used to be a stepping stone path from the patio to the pergola on the other side, but it has been covered with grass. We're considering whether to excavate that. Improving the yard makes me want to cook outside more, and Kevin always helps me with that. Lars

Robert....now I really do believe you are the "King of Trash Makeovers". I love your stuff! Keep on dreaming up these charming pieces of art.

That's really lovely. Are you having good sales on your Etsy? It looks like some of your original items are gone. I am so happy for you to get your items on Etsy, I think it is the perfect venue for you when you are looking after your granddaughter. Jeane