Garden advice needed

Can't help you with the cats, but moonflower has a very pleasant smell...

Mothballs might deter the cats--or they might not.

A dog might be helpful.

The cats are probably marking the boundaries of their territory which seems to run through your flowerbeds. You want to tell them either that the territory is highly undesirable or that the turf is already claimed.

Good luck.

I've heard of shaking cyan pepper in your garden or flower beds to ward off pesky animals. Once a cat gets it up his nose or licks it off the bottoms of his feet, he'll think twice about using that spot again.

I'd try colorbook's cat remedy first. Moth balls would probably work, but they are unpleasant to humans as well.

I'm not so well-versed in SoCal's climate, but I'll look around for a vine.....

Could you look at this link and tell me what zone you think you're in? You could guess by the map, or you could plug in your zip code.

What zone?

Plant 3 clematis vines together the first blooms early spring, the second in the summer and the third in the fall. They all have fragrant blooms and should be easy to care for after they become established (after the first year):
Clematis Armandii ( www.floridata.com/ref/C/clem_arm.cfm )
C. flammula
C. ternifolia ( www.floridata.com/ref/C/clem_ter.cfm )

Jasmine need a lot of watering, but they are wonderfully fragrant. Maybe find consecutive bloomers to plant together like above:
Jasminum polyanthum ( www.floridata.com/ref/J/jasm_pol.cfm )
Jasminum x stephanense
Trachelospermum jasminoides

And this one I didn't know much about - it's well contained (won't grow out of control) and easy to care for. It's even drought tolerant in case you forget to water it:
Gelsemium sempervirens ( www.floridata.com/ref/G/gelsem.cfm )

Another thing to consider is how much of your pergola you want covered with vines. Some of the above vines are vigerous growers.

Jasmine grows like crazy in SoCal. Loves it. Honeysuckle, too.

(I used to live in Pasadena.)

Other vines I had in my garden were clematis and climbing roses -- Joseph's coat, I think. The Pasadena/roses thing is well known, but I have never ever been in a climate where they grew so quickly or so well. Lots of fragrant climbers out there.

Soz - I was thinking about lloking into rose climbers who were happy with partial sun.

ok, this rose is a hybrid musk rose. This old variety tends to be able to handle a bit more shade than most roses. This on is a climber.
www.rosegathering.com/felicia.html

and then there are these climbers - "The ones I grow in part shade are Mme. Alfred Carriere (a white noisette), Awakening (a soft pink large-flowered climber), and New Dawn (a soft pink large-flowered climber)." (I'm running out of search-engine steam).

I use the cayenne pepper treatment in my garden to ward off cats. Buy several jars and sprinkle it well over the area they've been visiting. Works like a charm, and it has no smell to most humans. (Most of the commercial cat repellents I've tried smell even worse than cat poop.)

Jasmine is great but in ten years time you might regret it - it can take over the whole garden.

Great ideas - THANKS!!!!
What a wonderful e-community this is! Thank you so much for the suggestions.

I'm definitely going to try the pepper idea. I totally agree that some of the store-bought solutions are worse than the poop! LOL! I'd tried some little pellets of some type years ago and the smell was AWFUL!

I didn't see a link on littlek's post, but found a "zone map" on line, and it looks like I'm in 9 or 10 (Los Angeles area).

Thanks for all the links - I'm definitely going to have fun deciding what to plant next. I really like the idea of the consecutive bloomers. I hadn't thought of that. duh! Seems like a great idea.

trumpet vine---and the Hummingbirds love it

Your welcome 2wheeling!

Dys - trumpet vine is good, but not so odiferous!

I lived in southern California for years, and gardened there.

I urge you to run right out and buy Sunset Western Gardens book. (It is about an inch thick, and lists plants that do well in western US states.) It categorizes by 24 zones, and lists what are probably thousands of plants alphabetically, and describes them. It also has dozens of lists of plants for different situations, such as wind, shade, etc., and lists of vines, trees, shrubs...
This book is invaluable, as the many climate zones do matter for plant selection.

It's also valuable to get to know an excellent local nursery. The best ones have knowledgeable people who can help you select plants for your needs. For example, to grow certain vines on a pergola - wisteria, for example - the pergola needs to be quite sturdy. There is a wisteria in a suburb near the County arboretum in Arcadia that is, I think, about a hundred feet long.

Alternately, some vines look a little wimpy on a pergola, even if they are pretty in themselves.

Oh, on the Sunset Western Gardens book, there are really two of them an inch thick. One tells you a lot about gardening in general, and the other has all the plants listed and the zone maps.
Many people combine two plants for an overhead trellis structure, for example a climbing rose and a clematis.

If you pm me and let me know where you live, I could probably suggest an excellent nursery or two.

Also consider checking out the arboretums; there is a nice one in Palos Verdes (Southcoast botanical garden, I think is the name), the LA county arboretum in Arcadia, Rancho Santa Ana botanical garden (natives). In Corona del Mar, Sherman Gardens is a small but lovely garden with a library.
They have a nice overhead trellis structure with both a vine cover and hanging pots...

flower questions
Hi, I need some help with annual flowers. Planting in Boulder Colorado i have trouble keeping things looking good all summer. I plant for clients who expect spectacular showing and hard as I try I never get the show I want. I plant in window boxes and pots mostly,some shade and some sun. This year i am considering planting trailing geraniums but in the past when I tried them they never do much. I use 4" pots of these to start with. Also I want to use some petunias for the trailing effect..does anyone know the best one for that? I have had alot of trouble with bud worm in the past. I most often use 4 packs and plant them whole but this year I am considering starting with 4" pots in hopes the root system will be stronger. When we empty the past years plants from the boxes the roots never seem to have developed very much. The soil we use is a mixture of top soil peat and pearlite....altho last year I used the soil with polimers in it to try and extend the watering time. i do not think that soil was a good idea. Can I now mix last years with some new...it is too costly to remove all the old and replace. Iwould love suggestions for plants. Of course they all want flowers,but in some places the shade is very strong, I am considering putting in colorful tropical plants in these areas instead of flowers. I have use impatiens before and really they do best when they get sun not shade. i also need to know what some plants are....Tradescanta? Starburst Ice plant(Delosperma Floribunda) Trumpet blue ice petunia ?(hears it was good for shade) and Torena? Any info on these or other ideas would be very welcome. Thanks to all.

Hi, Linda, welcome to a2k!

Delosperma floribunda, I think that may be the rather fluorescent mauve ice plant, well, hey, that can light up a hill (or possibly sag it downward.) Don't know about it as a pot plant, I presume it is good as it is a trailer, as long as it doesn't sit in water all the time. (It may not be the really bright one, could be the lighter pink flower... which seems a better bet to me.)

You can check google for different plants, but my reference bible is Sunset Western Gardens book, the one that has alphabetical listings and descriptions, and also lists of plants for diff conditions. Many of the plants that grow in the western US grow other places too, and the information in their books is continuously updated with new editions. I have several year's versions, but they are at work.

Consider looking a website that may mention hanging pots. There is a big retail nursery in Orange County, California - Roger's Gardens - that may list what is in their pots.

Personally I like rather odd things in pots so I am not so much help on regular pretty pots.

Where are you? (not specifically, but generally). There may be an excellent nursery, wholesale or retail, within a hundred miles or so that has a lot of information for you... you can visit them, ask for lists or catalogs; in some cases you have to pay for them.

Hi osso, and all.....

Linda, welcome to A2K!!

here's my question.... I bought 5 lily-of-the-valley bulbs (but are they really bulbs?).... anyway, the guy said they like shade and acidic soil and like to be under a bush or a tree..... so..... I tucked them in a pretty horseshoe shaped area formed by the roots of a big cedar tree.... BUT.... I think I blew it.... I left the little pink tips exposed above the dirt line.... I think I was supposed to cover the whole 'bulb'????.... they were exposed for 2 days, before I came to my senses (or at least a portion of my senses... LOL...).... should I have buried the whole thing, like when I planted the daffodil bulbs??

Anyway, last night I scattered some potting soil over the little area, so the pink tips were no longer showing, but still very close to the surface....

Do you think I stunted my lily-of-the-valley bulbs??? If I shocked them too much this year, will they come back next year???

PaL
:-)

It doesn't sound fatal to me, as long as you've covered them now, PaL. If I remember I'll look up at work how much to bury them..