The small fig stick is budding at its tip. All the other trees, with the exception of the larger fig stick, are also budding or flowering. The large fig stick is showing some small signs of budding.

The blueberries are potted for the time being. The raspberry and blackberry canes are in the earthboxes (temporarily) on the deck but probably won’t make it due to our tardiness in getting them into anything. Our fault.

We trimmed the dead branches off the unidentified tree near the bird of paradise, pruned the unidentified bushes, cleaned out the bird of paradise a little, and removed the spider plant from around the base of the u/i bushes.

After visiting the Cactus Center in Pasadena we added to our potted succulent and cactus collection. Some of them are slated to eventually populate the yard.

Regarding the fence….stucco/adobe/solid would be the way to go to fit the style of the house, but I don’t know if we could get a permit for it, plus it would be very expensive if we have to have someone build it.

Looking through an old book (California Architecture in Santa Barbara? 1929) I think we could go with a short dry stone wall (maybe about 18″) for the time being and re-purpose the stones later if we choose to change it. Some of the houses/mansions had that type of wall and it looked good. Plus, I think it’s something we could manage.

We visited Sepulveda Building Materials last weekend. Tons (literally) of rocks, boulders etc to choose from, including boulders for decoration as well as smaller ones for other uses (wall!).

I have to update the sidebar with native plant links — I’ve found a bunch over the last few weeks. We’re looking forward to the Theodore Payne Garden Tour the end of April.

Our goals include supplying plants for birds and butterflies and eventually getting the yard certified as wildlife habitat.