Next year's show should prove interesting, as the new buyers are Davis Dalbok of Living Green here in San Francisco, and Rock and Rose Landscape Contractors, both past garden creators in the past, and both very good. Another entry on the scene this year, if funding holds up, will be the Late Show Gardens, to be held at Cornerstone Gardens in Sonoma County this fall. It will be actual outdoor gardens, at a different season than all the spring shows, and fall in northern California is actually prime garden time around here, especially for gardens featuring subtropicals and cloudforest plants from Mexico and Central America. The economy and threats of water rationing may yet prove too much for a successful launch of this new garden show, which had originally aimed to premiere last year up in Napa at Copia. The vertical wall plantings seemed to be a common thread in many of the gardens, (the latest "it" item?), but I fully agree that in concept they are wonderfully inventive, and would love to do a three or more story garden wall for some client if I could interest one in the idea. As I mentioned, I did buy Patrick Blanc's book on his vertical wall gardens, and he is the French designer/horticulturist who first launched this trend. I found it interesting that he was doing phd work in Kuala Lumpur at the same time that I was living/working there so many years ago, what a small world it sometimes is... Kim, You should go for that wall of bromeliads/staghorns, and don't forget to add some Rhipsalis into the mix, and maybe Echeverias and sedums too, as these often grow epiphytically on trees/rocks in Mexico. In looking at Patrick Blanc's plant lists for many of his wall gardens, I was amazed to see that the list virtually duplicates many of the plants that I most often use in my own northern California garden designs.

My suggestion is that you rent before jumping in to buy. It is very likely the housing sales will not pick up until 2009 and this will give you the chance to look around carefully to decide what works best for you. Unlike Juno we ended up in the Oakland hills. We find the traffic on the 580 freeway faster and less clogged than any other EBay freeway, an important consideration when it can take you over an hour to go 35 miles at peak commute times. We live in an older neighborhood where lots are large, crime is moderate (lots of 'casual crime' but virtually no 'heavy' crime) but the mailman can leave pkgs on my front porch at any hour and no one takes anything. OTOH, it will cost you between $450K-$500K to buy a 2- or 3-bdrm older cottage in any reasonable shape. Our lot is 5600 sq. ft. with a small cottage - 2bd 2 ba with attached 1 car garage: Many Bay Area cities are under mandatory water rationing. You will need to learn an entirely new way of gardening with a wider variety of plants than you are accustomed to. I second the suggestion of EBMUD's 'Dry Climate' book, it's one of the finest available for our area. The Sunset magazine and garden books are also essential info sources. Consider resale carefully here. Some stay here forever, some move around a lot. Buying the wrong location can really hurt when you realize your house would be worth $100K more if it was located 2 miles away. Or that it takes you so long to hassle with the daily commute, you hardly have any time to garden at all!

That is why is one is so troubling. I never had this many problems with any rose. Even the warm spell did not help. In the beginning of the year when I planted it, I had a few, but now each flower bud just rots on the stem. I did not get one opening since very early spring. I have got to take it out, I need the space, I hope someone wants it. I will have to list it on craigs, but I was hoping to give it to serious gardener, so many people have roses and totally neglect them. I mean non gardening people, if you know what I mean, they like roses, but don't do anything to them.

Welcome. You can go year round in this climate. You can grow winter vegetables (cauliflower, lettuces, cabbages, probably some of those asian veggies too). You can grow snaps, iceland poppies, calendula for winter flowers. Knock yourself out with bulb planting...it's time. I've done cuttings off of salvias in January around here. Was not a problem. You can root penstemons in winter. Personally for me Winter is a time to rest from gardening and only work on building up the soil for next spring. But there is plenty you can do if you're of a mind. SF the city rarely goes below mid thirties, if even that low.