Well this will be my first, hopefully many more, posts on this forum. I just moved to Soquel, California from Boston Massachusetts and I’m blown away. It’s amazingly beautiful here!! I swear Capitola beach town could make you swear it was a small town in Italy. I now feel inspired to make my life better. I’ve signed up for a year membership at the gym to better myself physically. I rid myself of stress by taking Brazilian Jujitsu but I need some way of bettering my spirit.

My father and I are very similar and I noticed growing up that he would always garden. I know that farming is good ole honest work and there’s nothing like getting your hands dirty. I am currently renting a house where the landlord gave us permission to dabble with the yard. I think it’s time I take her up on that offer. My problem now: I know what I want to do, but have no clue what plants would be the perfect choice for my needs.

Before I came to this forum and I visited a few well illustrated websites to give me an idea of what I was looking for. We have a large patio available to us that is shady over by a huge walnut tree but gets about 75% light. On one side our next door neighbor is pretty close so I’d like to put up some redwood lattice. On the lattice I would really like to have some vines, preferably two, a Spring bloomer and a Summer bloomer. The yard has about five 6’ rose bushes but the yard is poorly maintained and I think the tree is overcastting them.

I’m also going to build myself a bamboo fountain much like this website shows: http://www.mastergardenproducts.com/bamboofountain.htm. Around it I would like to grow a fragrant vine that will climb horizontally across the railing support. I would really prefer it to be a fast grower but I’ll take a sacrifice. I know this is a lot to ask help on but I would very much appreciate it. There is too much beauty around me for me not to create my own.

Hi Jet Welcome to the foum!

Heres a spot dedicated to California Gardening. they ask specific questions regarding area,sunlight,etc to pinpoint plants that grow well in your area.

http://www.mynativeplants.com/optionsa.html

G-Mom