Xuan, Walnut Creek had a high of 52 yesterday and a low of 27. That's for Jan. 15th. Today, the 16th high is 52 and low will be 32. Good luck for your plants. You can check your weather easily at weather.com and some other places. I hit 21 again last night but I tried something different with the plants I couldn't cover, I water the bases of all the plants really heavy and they all look good this morning, no further damage. The spiderwort actually perked up a little and it had died back pretty much to the ground as crispy. I noticed on the north side of the house as I recovered bushes for the night that the grass never has thawed out there, it has so much frost in it that it almost looks like snow. I'm really glad that I went ahead and put frost blankets over the mini rose bed there then. Apparently it's not warming in that area at all.

Yourit, You've just confirmed for us all that thumbnails do load faster. Thanks. I was kinda wondering whether it made any difference perhaps, because I figured there might be some conversion process involved. I'm happy to see that they do in fact work fast as claimed. And in fact, I like them as they allow me to lay out my articles better, using HTML tables to format the thumbnails into groupings. Arvind, I did note a sign on the grounds at the Rosicrucian that they had a Native Plants project underway. It was posted in a small grassy yard next to what I'm guessing was employee parking. Your link to the contest article helps much to clarify what that sign eluded to. I can't wait to see what they do with that project and I hope they don't cut down any of those Yuccas or those beautiful towering pines that are just to the of the main museum front entrance, between the museum and the planetarium. Those are very beautiful trees and I regret, too large for me to have photographed. You have to go there to appreciate them.

You might phone the arboretum and see if this is a hybrid they will have for sale at their spring sale. Probably not readily available in the trade, as much of what UCSC comes directly from Australia and has not been taken up for propagation here in California. Also, it might help to know that this hybrid might not be fully hardy in Sacramento, and many of the more commonly available species/hybrids are also hummingbird magnets. I would suggest looking on line to see if either Monterey Bay Wholesale Nursery in Watsonville, Sierra Azul Retail Nursery in Watsonville, or San Marcos Growers Wholesale Nursery in Santa Barbara carry this, but I am guessing that none of them do... Each will have a plethora of other similar species and hybrids, however, and give info on hardiness as well, and all but Sierra Azul's stock can be special ordered in by your favorite local nursery.

W only rake the inner yard -- Bradford Pears and some fruit trees.... which is quite enough, thank you! Today I got a chance to actually walk the gardens since our return from a 2-week trip. Not only are the leaves not dropping, but the Brugs are in full bloom -- as is the rest of the garden. I picked the 4 Meyer Lemons, but haven't tasted them yet. I had trouble finding 2 Tblsp.s worth of Rosemary sprigs that weren't covered in blossoms -- and bees. The biggest of the beds is so jammed with over-abundant plants that I couldn't walk through if I tried..... pruning in Feb. should be a real challenge. The one lonely zucchini did pass-on, but the rest refuse to die. I can't work the veg. gardens until the plants stop producing; I just may have to pull it all anyway so I can plant the fall-winter crops. Before we left I filled the Hummer feeder full-up so it would last as long as possible. I was soundly scolded by the 2 "Bottle Watchers" this afternoon; I guess it's cold enough that they want an evening drink before to going to bed. Needless to say... they got their drink tonight. ;^)