Well, thank you for your kind words. I am very blessed to have a lovely, lovely piece of property in a wonderful neighborhood with a perfect climate. We pinch ourselves every day that we are so fortunate. As far as intensively planting fruit trees - depends on the type of tree. With stone fruits, you can get away with one-hole planting if you're a good pruner. Not so much with citrus. They need their own "space", even if it's tight. If you're considering intensive planting with citrus, I would strongly recommend truly dwarfing rootstocks ('Flying Dragon' if you can find it, or at the least, Cuban Shaddock, which is what Four Winds puts most of their trees on). Boy, it is really hard to limit my trees to just the 5 favorites. Here is the list of what I really, really love in my yard, not in any top to bottom order: Seedless Kishu Mandarin Ponkan Mandarin California Honey Mandarin Page Mandarin (nothing beats it for juice) Moro Orange Tarocco Orange Wekiwa Tangelolo Valentine Pommelo hybrid Cocktail Pommelo hybrid Melogold/Oroblanco grapefruit hybrid Jan Boyce Avocado Reed Avocado Comice Pear Seckel Pear Any of my 3 different Fuji apples (Fuji, Red Fuji, Myra Fuji) Spice Zee Necatplum Artic Star Necatrine Royal Lee Cherry Any of my flat peento peaches (several varieties) Ronde de Bordeaux fig Panache fig Just to name a few :-) I would strongly urge you to join your local CRFG Chapter. Find out who is your real fruit tree guru in your chapter. See if you can find someone in the chapter that has done what you want to do. It really, really helps to have someone to pattern after, and have as a sounding board. You should have a fairly active chapter up in SF. In fact, there are some rather famous citrus hobbyist growers up in N. California that you might want to make sure you visit, if your CRFG chapter has any tours set up. You will find membership extremely helpful in what you're trying to accomplish. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: California Rare Fruit Growers

Too bad you're so far away....I want to wander around looking at all your daylily beds. They look so colorful and lush. Mine are a little behind yours but are starting to look like that and it's so exciting I can hardly stand it...haha. This is only my 2nd season with daylilies so you can imagine what it is like for me every morning when I go out and see something new that's opened. The roses are getting devoured by the jb's at this point so I am so glad I fell in love with daylilies! I always enjoy your garden tours and look forward to them every day...thanks. Celeste

Juanital, they're probably the easist plant ever! Perennial, that just keeps coming back every spring. They will be done blooming by June 1st or so, but they are so gorgeous every spring. Tough, and if you want to divide, after a couple of years, you just stick a shovel in half of it and transplant it.

Mary Why not collect the rain water? (I won't pay for water to water the plants). I have 5 rain barrels. Even with well ('free water'), I still use rain water - I just can't see letting it all soak in the ground, if I have plants that may need it. Even if you just start with large bottle from bought water (few gal), that would be good. I have done that too, cutting a top off to make kind of funnel, and slipping it into another, bigger bottle opening (I put piece of mosquito/window screen over the inserted opening so not to get mosquitos in it). First rain barrel I got was free from freecycle...didn't have any top, but I just fastened a piece of screen over the top. I bought spout and inserted it about 1.5-2" from the bottom of barrel, attached a hose and 5 yrs later, I am still using it. If you do something like this, don't forget to poke (drill) a hole near the top for overflow. I glued small piece of screen over it too. Even plastic (food grade) bucket will work (cover with screen and no funnel needed). I get those free from deli stores, they have things like pickles delivered in them...vinegar smell is gone in no time. You can see I am cheepo...I rather spend $$$ on new plants, and things like lights. Farm supply store should have chicken grit (#2 size - grower) for under $10/50lb. Don't get the smallest (chick) or bigger (hen). Check if they carry perlite, and/or turface -probably not, but it's worth asking. Dry Stall is something many use (very similar to turface I think), but I don't have personal experience with it. Any container you'll use should have drainage holes. Put little piece of screen over it to stop mix from falling out. I use plastic - mainly because of weight, but terracotta is great (and try to get them on freecycle too). Rina