My credentials: I have a large patio full of containers, and 50 pecan trees. The squirrels are a problem, but I've solved the ones they make with the container plants. I go to a rockyard - and buy river rock. I prever the flattened shape. The biggest ones that I can fit around the plant on top of the dirt. They work like mulch in that they shade the soil and keep it from getting splashed out when watering. I have one pot that is about 3 feet across, in it, I have smaller stones, and they are 3 stones deep across the whole pot. All my pots with this type of mulch are squirrel free. No digging, no holes, no seeds. The ones that are as big as my hand, and flattened look like giant lozenges are my fave, because it is easy to remove them when you want to repot. Don't have to sift through to find them. But this is the only thing that has worked. Hot pepper is enjoyable to them. I thought about getting my husband a paint gun and letting him scare them off, but that would create other problems. Red and yellow squirrels for one thing.

My garden and house caters first and mostly for my dog - he's the most pampered pet you can imagine :-) This includes his own doghouse in the garage (that he hardly ever uses, but is used by the roaming cats in the neighborhood, much to Timmy's distress), an enclosed front porch with doggie door, basket, rug and private sofa, free roaming of the garden, two more beds inside the house, etc. You get the picture - he's the king of it all :-) As for wildlife, since we live on the foothills of a small mountain range and part of a natural park, we do get quite a lot of critters. We have a birdbath that is used not only by the birds but also by the bees and wasps, of which there are gazillions (we are in a honey producing area). Birds in the garden include sparrows, robins in Fall and Winter, loads of blackbirds, gold finches and a multitude of others I can't name. Last Saturday I saw my first swallow of the year. Above us on the hill we can frequently spot hawks, of which there are some colonies in the park. At night owls are a frequent visitor and we can hear their calls many times. Cuckoos are also a familiar sound as soon as Spring is here. I have a lot of evergreens in the garden and this provides excellent nesting sites for the birds. Preferred are the bay trees, laurustinus and the conifers. I'm constantly finding nests whenever I prune anything. I had a resident bat for about a year, sleeping in a closed garden umbrella we had on the patio. Unfortunately I had to remove the umbrella because the wasps decided it was a good place to nest, so it had to go. I was already stung twice, didn't want to be stung whenever I opened the umbrella! Still, bats visit frequently and it's common to see one or two flying around the garden at dusk. Some years we have glow worms in the Spring, which I absolutely love. It's magical to see them hovering around the garden at night. Other assorted critters include geckos, small lizzards, snakes, mice (yuk!), crickets, locusts and the occasional hedgehog. In terms of specifically catering for critters, I keep the birdbath going all year (we don't have hard freezes) and try to plant things I know will be used by the wildlife. This includes berry shrubs like pyracantha which are a major hit with birds in the cold Winter months. I also have a weeping mulberry tree and let its production go to the birds, who have a feast with the fruits. The compost pile is also a good feeding ground and there's a little bird that spends hours there hunting for the small fruit flies that proliferate inside the pile. Butterflies are catered for with things like lantana, mock orange and buddleia. I need to add more larval food to cater for butterflies, but haven't come quite up to it yet. I don't use any sort of chemicals in the garden, don't even spray the roses, and this of course translates into a welcome sign for critters, even if it means that slugs and snails are huge, sigh... I don't use a slingshot to get rid of them, like Edna does ;-), but I do throw them onto a neighbooring field that is kept wild. All in all, I consider a privilege to have wildlife in the garden and have been slowly educating myself to encourage it as much as possible. Eduarda

Terrific array of pictures. Of course the interpretive sign is pretty bogus, as most such Forest Service signs are.Bristlecone produce needles every year from live buds at the ends of live shoots; or from shoots that develop from inside needle bundles (interfoliar buds). Regardless of how long needles live, there is still a steady flow of new ones being made. The fascinating array of Praying Mantis shots illustrate the actual increase in foliage density (even on branches broken by wind exposure) due to the proliferation of interfoliar buds. P.S. (book plug) I discuss all this in The Bristlecone Book, Mountain Press, 2007

Gophers are back .... I now have around 110 containers that I have buried in the ground. It seems that the gophers are pretty much not bothering the plants in the buried containers (yet ...). The gophers are even pulling down the California Poppies! I think this is the first time they have bothered the California Poppies, but I really don't mind, if that will keep them from completely destroying my best plants. My funds are extremely limited, but I do plan on laying down chicken wire, and if possible laying some rocks over the chicken wire. I will only be able to do this with very small plots (2x3 feet, or 3x4 feet), one at a time. My health is not good, so I work very slow, sometimes extremely slow ..... I'm also experimenting with allowing some wild plants to spread naturally, like Stinging Nettle, Chickweed, Henbit, and whatever else comes up as volunteers (Tomatoes, Oregano, Thyme, Calendulas, Radishes, Mustard, Chinese Cabbage, Garlic, Onions, Potatoes). I'm hoping that by allowing the Stinging Nettles to grow wild and spread everywhere, perhaps the gophers will stay away from the Nettles mixed in with almost everything ... ??? I have not yet seen the gophers stealing any nettles.