Hi all, weighing in nearly one year later on my growing experiences: Last summer was unusually cool for this area, with most daytime highs in the high 60s and low 70s throughout the season, up until late August when it got into the 80s. I was able to garden all these berries organically--organic slow release fertilizer and no spraying. The Rosanna raspberries all died early, despite being watered regularly and planted in a sunny but not hot location. I think they were probably poor quality plants however The Heritage survived but didn't produce that much. As of this spring it has a bare handful of berries forming. It got 2 and 1/2 feet tall by the end of last season. The Brandywine lived through last summer but died unexpectedly this winter :(. I have no idea what did it in. It only grew a few feet tall last year. The thornless boysenberrys absolutely thrived last summer, grew several feet in all directions and went dormant for the winter. About 2 months ago it suddenly woke up and "exploded" with new growth and flower buds. Currently I am looking at several quarts of boysens forming--what a treat! I think the lesson in all this is that yes, some raspberries will live and produce small crops in coastal southern California, but truthfully it isn't their ideal climate. I am predicting that the surviving Heritage plant is not going to like a warmer summer this year which is more normal to my area; highs in the 80s most of the summer, into the 90s by late August. OTOH this is the birthplace of boysenberries, and it really shows. My advice to Californians is; for the easiest, most satisfying berry growing experience, grow boysenberries.

I am presented with similar problems, but am in Bakersfield, CA, not LA. In BKF, things are even more scrubby and sandy. I know however, that simply saying LA, does not mean mediterranean climate. LA is a big place and has several regions or zones with their own micro climates, depending upon whether you are close to the coast, inland or at a higher altitude up the side of some range of hills or low bergs ( mountains ). Heck, after they changed location of a weather monitoring station in LA, they found they had to change it back because the new location, completely threw off the mean temps and rain fall averages. If you are near the coast and have that Santa Barbara-like zone 8/9 weather, I envy you. But what I am going to suggest may get me some hisses and cat call rejections from the bleachers, but let me give you the reasoning ... Every well populated area uses hired landscapers. They in turn, know what will survive in the area and what won't. Further down that economic pipe are the suppliers, nurseries and the local gardening section of stores like Home Depot, Orchard Supply, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Target and humble K-Mart. If it sells, they stock it. There is no demand for plants that die. Go to Home Depot or Walmart and you'll find that they even separate out the house plants and keep them indoors while the outdoor thrivers are ... fancy that, out in the outdoor area. Does that help to give you some clues about choosing outdoor plants? It's when you order stuff over the internet that you can get in trouble. In those cases you get unique plants, but you take your chances whether they will thrive in your region. Going down to the HD or WM gets you some assurance based on experience and demand for plants that thrive in your area that you'll get exactly that. However, you pay a price. Your neighbor's plants will often look exactly like yours. ;-) Might I suggest something that you probably can order over the internet and have it survive there in LA? Pacific Iris and the further north, Douglas Iris, the wild flower varieties of Iris native to the West Coast. These critters can flower in several color variations and are just the height you are looking for. Douglas Iris however, are always lavender colored. It's the Pacific Hybrids that vary in color.

Odinthor - Just checked out Duc de Bragance since I don't think I've come across this gentleman before. Mmm...very nice. Not a great deal of info on HMF; did eventually find an obscure German site with v.g., detailed photos and what looked like excellent information, but my 'Translate' function wouldn't work on it for some reason. I did manage to glean that it fades to purple/violet and its scent is sweet/spicy and 'strong/strong exuding' - maybe that = wafting - but can vary a lot from am to pm. Is that your experience? I'd also love to know how big he gets for you (H and W) - he looks quite upright in the pix I've seen - and whether he's reasonably disease-free. I'm assuming he's a HP? Do you know if he copes with full (inc pm) sun? And, sorry, yet another Q - does he have some sort of main flush, or is it literally just scattered blooms all year? By the way, for those missing 'Preview' - you probably already know this, but in case anyone doesn't - if you just click 'Submit' you can then edit, like we used to do on Preview, by clicking on the little pencil that appears after you submit, top right; then Submit again when done. I don't know whether the uncorrected version stays on the screen for everyone else, while you're doing it - it would be better if it didn't appear, until we'd got it right. The jiggling thing - I've done some pretty long posts, and not usually had this problem; I wonder if it's because I break it up into paragraphs??...May be nothing to do with it, but just a thought.. Comtesse :¬)

Saw a funny old circa 1960 promo video on TCM for Hollywood. Leads me to believe it is that area's man-made flora if you will that is most intriguing, at least to the novice, which I most decidedly am when it comes to the plantlife of SoCal. All the big crazy yuccas and whatnot, numerous succulent genera, the liberal use of groundcovers, the palms of course, the mostly non-indigenous conifers, all led to what was-in this video of some decades back-a most beautiful and interesting effect. It may be that just as the Great plains prairie (where it still exists) almost could be said to take practice to learn to appreciate, so too with the native scrub of the S. Cal. region. That can surely happen. But for instant gratification, this unintentionally humorous old bit of film was chock-full of horticultural eye candy.