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Re: [SG] Welcome

Hi Sherryl:

Oh, my.  And I thought I would lurk for a while.

I live in southwest British Columbia, an hour east of Vancouver.  The
Fraser Valley is a rich and fertile river valley, and our climate is ideal
for gardening.  (Many Pacific Northwesters think it is perfect.)  The
rainfall is legendary.  Our winters tend to be relatively mild, though we
can suffer some pretty fierce Arctic outflow winds.  It's not unusual to
have a 'snowless' winter, though we often have huge dumps that last for a
few days.  We are still in a period of real drought ~ more than 3 months
with no serious rain.  This is very unusual!

So ~ Sunset Zone 4, USDA 7 or 8.

I have acreage ~ some is forested with red alder, Douglas fir, western red
cedar, bigleaf and vine maples.   We have pasture, a hayfield, and a couple
of horses.  My tend to garden in the transition areas ~ the woodland
between the real woods and the area of 'lawn' which is less and less useful
all the time (with young kids around it was great for badminton, soccer,
etc).  I am gradually planting more and more trees and shrubs in this open
area.

I am very interested in naturescaping ~ this property lends itself to that
approach.  I am increasingly alarmed  with plants I consider invasive, and
want to preserve the integrity of what is here naturally.  For example, I
am fortunate enough to have tremendous natural 'beds' of  trillium,
maianthemum, achlys triphylla (vanilla leaf), dicentra formosa, and
smilacina racemosa.  We also, of course, have salmonberry, elderberry,
fireweed, and more.

My interest in complementing what is already here with appropriate native
and non-native plants lead me to this list.  While I have a number of very
open and sunny beds, I love those shady and semi-shady areas close to the
woods.

I look forward to hearing from others, and will certainly look at the
archived discussions.

Susan Underwood
Mount Lehman, British Columbia
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