Last year, I planted violas over the mini daffodils in patio pots and want to do the same this year. Deer don’t bother these on the patio,…they rarely come up the concrete steps any more and they aren’t attracted to either plant. It’s a safe zone.

Every year, while visiting my favorite nurseries, I prowl the sale tables in late August and September. I cheerfully call these plants that I purchase “rescued plants.” I bring them home at a much discounted price and find them a home in my garden so that they can make it through the winter.

It is a commonly heard in casual remarks on gardening topics and maintaining a landscape in the Sierra Foothills that Manzanita and other chaparral plants must be cut down and removed because they are so very flammable.