Fires
Marguerite English (Sat, 13 Dec 2003 20:27:05 PST)

Hi all... I got my phone back last week and am back on line after my long
recovery period from the fires. I now have power, phone, propane and a
temporary line to my well. Whew! This has been an eventful time in my
life. Thank you all for your good wishes and personal notes. I will be
responding to some of them later in the week, but just want you to know how
much I appreciated your kind thoughts!
The fire crossed almost all of my ten acres, and it is fascinating to
already see some of the native plants regenerating through the upright
burned stumps. The Salvia Apiana has prominent small growth at its base,
and there is about an inch of grass across all of the meadows. On the
other hand, all of the bulb collection in my greenhouse survived. They
were on sparse water for the month after the fire, since my son-in-law had
to carry all of the water we used from his well about a mile away. Some of
the Moreas have even been blooming.

Marguerite - Gardening with bulbs and perennials at 3500 feet in the
mountains of southern California. Extreme temperatures in our
Mediterranean climate from 0 to 110 degrees F. Average temperatures 15 to
90 degrees F. A few days of snow in winter and a few days of extreme heat
in Aug-Sept. Drought conditions seem to be changing to an 'El Nino'
year. (I think that's long-hand for USDA zone 7B.)