Thanks for those fantastic pictures! There's nothing more delicious than freshly picked citrus (especially those oranges). You're right though, it is sad to see that orchard going to waste and many of the SoCal suburbian neighborhoods were built on old citrus groves with some of the magnificent trees still standing in peoples' backyards. In some neighborhoods, you can stand by one of the citrus trees and then notice that several trees in adjacent yards are all in a line. Don't worry too much about the lemon tree as I've seen them grow pretty rapidly. I also always liked the nice privacy screen and windbreak provided by those Italian cypress. I hope you did get a chance to cover them tonight! Its pretty cold for SoCal!

YIKES! Three years to hit its stride? My tiny plant that arrived by mail order last spring just grew and grew after it hit the soil. By summer's end, it stopped so much focus on growth, and started putting out the occasional bloom. Now it is eating my little rose fence along my lawn, and invading the territory of the rose next door (7 feet away). Of course this is just what I wanted. But in addition to even more new canes, the thing has an uncountable number of buds on it!. I fully expect it could eat my whole city. And all this two years before it hits its stride? Can't wait!

I have a garden blog which today profiles my neighbor's rhodie garden. The garden is lovely, has walking trails through it, and is entrancingly fragrant. You can visit it by suffering through the first part of my blog about cabbage maggots (yuck), and getting to the pictures of Larry's rhodies. Jim Here is a link that might be useful: The Trinidad Garden

Thanks everyone ... right now my farm is a disgusting muddy mess! Can't wait until it gets colder this week .. and freezes. Floota - yes, my farm is Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm ... and I often have misty mornings like that. And I just love my pond! Avedon - I'm sure your gardens are lovely too! Please do copy my gazing ball ... I actually have a couple of them around the gardens. mantis - I can't post pictures from work, but I've attached a link to the Pets forum where there are quite a few pics of all my furry kids! Marg - that's a tree peony, I'll have to look for the name at home ... it's amazing in the spring. Here is a link that might be useful: My furballs