Humph! Those Californians and their Mediterranean climate. They make it look so easy.

I haven't been back there since the early sixties and I don't plan to go again.

Lou

I could live at that Japanese tea garden. So beautiful. And I find the living roof garden fascinating. Thanks so much for sharing!

Beautiful pictures. Too bad they didn't have better weather.

If the cost of living out there wasn't so high I'd move to northern CA in a heartbeat!

-----and my sis and hub want OUT of Calidornia in the worst way! But she doesn't want to live in Florida. Strange kid my sister.

Cora, my sister is in Fresno and plans on getting out but not sure if she will come to Fla. or where she will end up. She and I both grew up in Vero and I would love to go back there but we'll see.

Great photos. I was there once and it was lovely. But Fl is my HOME.

very cool pictures, quite different then we have here. never been there, but thanks for posting, love to see new things and ideas!

Silvia, thanks for posting the beautiful photos. I feel like I've been on a mini vacation! I've been to some of those places many years ago, and the others were new to me. Now I want to go visit the wineries!

Your daughter was so thoughtful to bring you back those yummy goodies. Hope you had a great New Year.

Hugs,
Anna

Thank you to the above posters for all the nice comments and here are some more pictures

Olives getting ripe at the Culinary Institute

Some people working at the top of the Living Roof of the Science museum

My daughter tasting the wine. Only the good ones were brought home.:)

And we had a nice New Years Day, sampling the cheeses, fruits and wine from California. She bought a lot of dried fruit for me (how I missed a good dried fruit!) a lot of dried beans some of them very rare and I can also plant them if I like the flavor, that is a plus. And I forgot how a good pear tasted like, still have apples and pears from the farm...

And for those that like to cook specialty dishes, we made a paella, this one was really good! it is a Cooks Illustrated recipe, to make it only once in a while since it takes time to prepare, worthwhile the effort!

Silvia

Hi Anna - I did not see your post, but you have good idea to visit the wineries in the future. Cheryl went to I think most of them, and she was particularly impressed with the organic winery, she said that they had planted roses to control the diseases because they are first to get fungal diseases and then the grapes can be treated before they get sick. They also have a chicken mobile, they bring the chickens and after they are done with the insects they take them back.:)
Have a great new year!
Hugs,

Another view from a winery

Silvia

Silvia, a little trick I use is I always have a half dozen containers of young mustard greens scattered around the back yard. If there is a aphid in the neighborhood he will go after young mustards. I can just check mustards, then discard them usually on garbage day, I have used it to stop many infestations. One more, gardenia cuttings draw white flys before anything else does. I keep the cuttings by my work table. Personally I dont think anything can kill white flys. This last yr I tried every thing but gasoline and thought about that. Since I wasnt going to eat gardenias I did a lot of experimenting with every kind of insecticide I could buy, [nothing works] now I have a shed full of insecticides.
Plant em if you got em.
Sam

Sam, those are some good tricks to know and great info on the gardenia cuttings. I don't grow mustard greens because my family prefers milder greens and gardenia I have not grown. Chickens is out of the question, lol. One more thing to do and then can not even take a vacation, not for me.
Have you tried the product surround? is basically kaolin powder, some people have used for insect control and white fly, I used it last summer for stink bug control, if I still get them this year I will do another test and see if it works.

Silvia

I love Cali...but not the cost of living (or crazy politics). If you ever see the San Juan River Valley, it is truly "God's Country".

I turned down a job in the San Jose area in 2010 (a one year project). While the money was excellent, after paying rent, taxes, my Fla mortgage, etc., there still wouldn't be much left over.

Btw...a small, 600 sq. ft apt. with no wash/dryer is $2100/mth.

No thanks....

Silvia, your daughter looks like she's enjoying her vacation very much, lol. I had to say how incredible that paella looks. Makes tonight's dinner look pretty boring. Those cheeses, wine, fruit look just as good. Would be a great dinner by itself. You always make me hungry!

Anna

Saintpfla - I know what you are talking about, California, NY cost of living are very high, but for a visit, they are great!
I love to go different places and when I see it again even in a movie, it is so good. We are watching the series Boardwalk empire and that reminds me Chicago where I lived, Atlantic City that I went often and Alcatraz prison in California. Al Capone prison cell was so small! the whole place had an eerie quality.

Anna - Of course my daughter was having fun, she always does, this is probably the third time that she visit the wineries, only this time it was better, she had the royal treatment for free. (Connections) lol.
That paella was so much better than what you get at the restaurants where rice is a lot and seafood is a decoration.-( It probably can run a contest with a best restaurant that I used to go when I lived in NY.
And you are right the cheeses are very filling, with still have some left. They went very well with the wine tasting.:)

Silvia

Great pictures, Silvia!

I'm a native Californian, and I happened to stumble across this Thread.
(Quite a few of the friendly Forum members are Floridians, so I visit this corner of Garden Web
from time to time).

Anyhow, I'm actually a couple hundred miles north (and east) of San Francisco -
up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (not far from where Gold was "discovered"
that fateful January day in 1848).

It's nice to "see" California through others' eyes, as I'm quite fond of the State myself ;)

The cost of living is outrageous in urban areas, but here in the foothills the prices aren't as bad.
My sister just moved into a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house on 2 acres for $1500 a month.


Josh

The photos are great btw. It looks like she had a wonderful trip - and brought back some really nice goodies for Mom too! :)

Btw, I did pick up the current Florida Gardening issue. I really enjoyed reading about you and your garden and techniques, Sylvia. I just started some new tomato seeds this week because you said you start around Christmas! :)

Can I visit you? I'm very good at wine tasting and eating paella.

Great pictures! Makes me want to travel.

Hi Josh!

Thank you and is very nice to meet you. We would love to see pictures of your little bit of paradise. Having feedback from other posters is the greatest thing, that is how we learn from each other.
California was one of my favorites places to go when I lived in Arizona and Oregon, having been there in quite a while...

Hi Saintpfla

Thank you for all your nice comments and I am glad to know that you liked the article. I have been starting tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings since late December, we have been colder earlier than usual. I start them in the laundry room where is warmer, I have one of those cheap heating mats from walgreens, after they sprout I transfer to plastic bins and set them outside, it is easier to protect them from cold than from heat, so this is the best season for me to start seedlings.

Last February seedlings

Last May harvest

{{gwi:50014}}

Silvia

Hi Tom

I did not see your post but you can come and visit anytime! lol. We just had yesterday more wine shipped to the house from the wineries.
And I am the same way like you, yesterday we were watching Eat, pray and love and we all said I want to go to Italy, India and Bali, lol.
This morning we are still talking about it, and said we have to be careful with that pasta! no gain weight allowed.:) My daughter studied in Italy for 1 year and she loved to shop for fresh veggies in the market and get recipes from the local Ladies. And I spent a good amount of time in India when I was very, very young. I would love to go to all the places again including the California wineries. I guess I will have to win the lottery,lol.

Silvia

Good morning, Silvia.
Thanks for having me. Here's a peek at my California...

{{gwi:43150}}

Josh

Hi Josh

WOW!!! Those are some breathtaking views, thank you very much for posting the pictures, I feel like I just visited you.:)

Silvia

Josh, those are some gorgeous pictures! You are so lucky to have that beauty to enjoy on a daily basis. So different from our part of the country. Both are beautiful. Thanks for posting here and sharing your piece of paradise.

Anna

Great pics you guys! Thanks for sharing.

botanical_drifter