Not sure where your son lives, Carol, but I'm in Northern California (not too far from Nancy) and I don't remember the last time I felt an earthquake. For sure not in the 7 years I've been in this house. Last one was probably 10 years ago, centered around Glen Ellen I think. Didn't knock anything over. Just tilted a picture or two on the wall. Since then, though, not even the slightest shake. And in the meantime, they keep retrofitting everything, so hopefully if/when the "big one" does hit in my lifetime, it won't be devastating. My joke about earthquakes vs tornadoes and hurricanes is, at least after an earthquake, I still know where all my stuff is. LOL I feel bad for the folks who have to deal with a ruined garden (among other things) right in the middle of summer. As someone who also works in insurance, I'm hoping we have another quiet hurricane season like we did last year.

Maybe not the fall poem you had in mind but very apropos of recent events. From Robinson Jeffers: Fire On The Hills The deer were bounding like blown leaves Under the smoke in front the roaring wave of the brush-fire; I thought of the smaller lives that were caught. Beauty is not always lovely; the fire was beautiful, the terror Of the deer was beautiful; and when I returned Down the back slopes after the fire had gone by, an eagle Was perched on the jag of a burnt pine, Insolent and gorged, cloaked in the folded storms of his shoulders He had come from far off for the good hunting With fire for his beater to drive the game; the sky was merciless Blue, and the hills merciless black, The sombre-feathered great bird sleepily merciless between them. I thought, painfully, but the whole mind, The destruction that brings an eagle from heaven is better than men. And it took some searching, but I found a poem by Charles Bukowski ("Poet Laureate of Skid Row") fit for general consumption: Rain by Charles Bukowski a symphony orchestra. there is a thunderstorm, they are playing a Wagner overture and the people leave their seats under the trees and run inside to the pavilion the women giggling, the men pretending calm, wet cigarettes being thrown away, Wagner plays on, and then they are all under the pavilion. the birds even come in from the trees and enter the pavilion and then it is the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Lizst, and it still rains, but look, one man sits alone in the rain listening. the audience notices him. they turn and look. the orchestra goes about its business. the man sits in the night in the rain, listening. there is something wrong with him, isn't there? he came to hear the music. And if you're ever in San Francisco, you must visit City Lights bookstore. Here is a link that might be useful: City Lights

Bumping this thread to report that...not surprisingly...the Azara is dead as a doornail. As is my Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' or whatever it could be. FWIW it was definitely hardier than 2-3 other Escallonias I'd tried...'Frades' being one of them...and had persisted since 2006, having variable winter damage each year but returning quickly in spring. I suppose it could still sprout from the roots, but the lowest stems, unlike any prior years, are like driftwood now. OTOH, both of them were some of the only Chilean shrubs to not mind our summers, and, when I'm in the mood again (not this year) I will probably reorder them. I think the novelty of having a plant from every continent is appealing; though I have a few Brazilian plants like Fuchsia regia (which might not return, but I doubt it...I've observed multiple times that even young plants put down roots 10-12") there was something really cool about being able to say a plant came from Chile. I might as well wrap up my antipodal/California plant deaths here: Grevillea victoriae - utterly amazing, looks better than some zn 7 rated rhododendrons. Is acting like it wants to be become a tree, so I've started limbing it up. Grevillea juniperina - more injured, but still alive Eucalyptus parvula - had been one of the better Eucs. for me. E. neglecta just gets roasted by the wind here. E. lacrimans was the hardiest but died after 14" of rain fell over 2 days one September. Anyhow it got to about 15' tall. After first round of 3F, was showing very little injury and foliage still smelled alive and was turgid. However, cold outbreak after cold outbreak took their toll, and the last time any of it seemed alive was probably late February. Then, the cold March finished that off. I suppose the roots could sprout, but I doubt it. Ceanothus 'Concha' - dead; had been in garden in since 2007 and showed light to moderate injury. In a raised bed on a south wall...about the best circumstances for it, because it protected it from winter wind and summer rain. Probably will retry, some day. I really wish someone would do more east/west crosses, or even just offer 'Henri deFosse' which is like a more saturated 'Gloire de Versailles' and would have been more likely to survive the winter in that same spot. Fremontodendron 'Ken Taylor' - dead, although it still had some green foliage until this week. (NB we are having yet another cold outbreak - the 15th since this winter started? But I luckily escaped freezing again) Was in a similar spot, but even more protected from rain by a wide eave on my garage. Even managed to bloom a couple years. I think it went into winter already dying, because last summer's consistent moisture - though loved by camellias and rhododendrons - was not to its liking and it had started to show leaf drop in autumn. Unlike the Ceanothus, I'm unlikely to repeat this experiment, but it was interesting. This winter was off-the charts cold. I've had, for example, a Rosemary 'Hill Hardy' since early 2006. Never shown a lick of damage. I was warned a few years ago by that seasoned impresario of midatlantic experimental gardening - initials A.H. for those of you in the know - that 1994 completely destroyed a giant rosemary of his. Mine was about 8 ft. X 6 ft. and 4ft. tall. So back in 2010 I pulled a runner from it and planted it right next to my house's foundation. (The mother plant was still somewhat sheltered, but about 8' from the house) Well, the mother plant? Utterly dead. I just took a chainsaw to it, to clear it out. The main stem had gotten to 5 inches wide, but even down in the layer of dead needles, the stems, trunks and runners were completely dehydrated and easily split open by pulling. Dead as can be. But the plant about 8 inches from the foundation still has some green leaves, albeit only 10-15%, and looks like it will probably pull through. (if the stems were killed, the green would no longer be, especially given the cold windy spring) A Cupressus arizonica 'Carolina Ice'? So cold and windy here that the foliage on the north side of it is burned! oh btw - not tree/shrub related, but on the antipodal front...a collection of rare montane Rhodophiala species has survived. Not the typical oxblood lily, but I do have one and it survived too. OTOH, it's looking like certain South African bulbs and rhizomatous forbs are gone, including some borderline priceless ones I'd rather not discuss in detail. This in a way is not surprising: eastern South Africa can have the odd cold outbreak when a front penetrates far to the south, but there isn't snowcover, generally, - Tiffendell ski resort has to make most of theirs and they are in the part of ZA most likely to have permanent snow cover. Winters can be so dry even in the montane areas that there are brush fires. OTOH, the southern tip of South America is much closer to Antarctica, and those bulbs probably come from places where, even though there is snow cover, the ground still freezes. So yes some things like Dieramas can survive the air temps taking a brief dip to 0F. While this winter had permanent, deeply penetrating cold, even with the snowcover, it was too unlike what they are used to. Cold, moist and frozen solid for almost 2 months, when what they want is mild, dry, and unfrozen.

shastensis, According to Dr. Bob Zybach of Oregon the old growth in the Northwest was comparable to today's old growth over a century ago in the settlement era. He studied fire history in the state of Oregon and believes most of the trees were second growth when the white man came. Zybach has said reports of Douglas fir in excess of 300 feet are mostly stories that cannot be documented, and he has said that the city of Vancouver BC was a prairie before the white man came. I think his views are the minority opinion. He was a reforestation contractor for 20 years, so I value his input. Most estimates I have seen suggest between 70 and 90% of the biggest and oldest Douglas fir forests have been logged in the past 130 years. In some places like Southern Vancouver Island up to 99% of old growth fir is said to be gone. One need only look at the hundreds of old logging photos of giant fir and cedar to get an idea of how large the lowland forests once grew, and in places like present day Seattle, and Vancouver BC. To deny all of this pretty much tells me one would have to be a lobbyist for the timber industry, but that is just my gut feeling.