Hi Folks

Some of you know I moved to Calfironia from Texas last year, and I want to show what I’’ve done in my new garden in the past 12 months. The move was quite a bit of effort! I had wrote to officials in California and was told I could take roses if I removed the soil and dipped in an insecticide solution. So my friend and I dug up and processed about 80(!) roses and took them for the ride. Other plants moved as well including shrubs, perennials, anything hard to re-obtain and moveable.

After several months of searching a found a nice little home in the suburb of Sacramento called Elk Grove. Most of the homes have very small postage stamp yards in this area, I was lucky to find that rare house on a cul-de-sac with almost 1/3 acre. The climate here is zone 9b, classified ‘hot weather mediterranean’, and terrific for growing roses and a great diversity of other flowers, fruits and veggies. I’m super impressed by what can grow here, I see folks planting a desert cactus next to a woodland rhododendron, plants with disparate requirements thriving next to each other.

My house was well cared for, but the yard was in need a a big re-do. Sprinkler systems were broken, ugly foundation shrubs overgrown, all land was bermuda grass and weeds. One of the earlier residents must have aspired to have a redwood forest , so large roots were still everywhere under ground. I’ve made flower beds out of the entire front yard and about half of the back, leaving a long stretch of lawn for esthetic purposes and for my dog to play fetch. It’s still a work in progress, but I think I’ve used up at least 25 cubic yards of material (mulch, compost, planting mix, etc), and still much to do.

Here’s a look: