Hi Bewitch - welcome to the wonderful world of geese. I agree with Maggie, be careful of what you wish for. We have two "africans" - turned out to be Brown chinese (Terrific watch dogs!) . We raised them from day-olds and they'll melt your heart at this age. Come next spring, you'll wish you'd have set up some boudaries. We were careful NOT to hand feed them and even got them some pals (gray geese) to round out the flock as they were getting a little TOO chummy at about 4 to 5 months. Glad we did. During breeding season, our gander still ran me around the yard quite a bit. He only charged me, never sank any 'teeth' in. Don't know if he ever really intended to go full bore, but it was a powerful bluff! Emden are apparently even more aggressive. We steered clear of them. Our advice? THink of it more as getting them accustom to your presence and establishing patterns. Get them used to being herded around, where to go and where not to go. Geese are very smart, they learn fast...and buckle up for breeding season. COuld be a bit of a ride. Well worth it, We were blessed with 8 goslings this spring, but our experience overall taught us that these birds required more 'management' than our other poultry to keep everyone safe, happy and supplied with ample space. As for treats, ours like canned corn and LOVE fresh greenleaf spinich. GOod luck. LF

I guess everybody but me could see the first one was a mistake. Duh... What was I thinking?? But at least I have the first one for myself at this point. ;> Patsy, it was very helpful for me to post each step. I got some great advice and ended up with a better top than I was putting together by myself. There is actually an online group (alas! lost the trail of breadcrumbs to it) that agree to show each step -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- so that they can each learn a little bit from one another's work. I think that's a great idea. Perspective is a wonderful thing as are additional eyes and combined experience. ;>

You don't mention the size of your garden and a photo would be a big help to see the specific problems. But the most common cause of "over-grown garden" is that it was over-planted and over-crowded to begin with. So for next year better organized may just mean better plant spacing. It also sounds like you have perennials (rhubarb, strawberries, etc.) mixed with annuals rather than giving the perennials their own separate space. And you have spring crops intermixed with summer crops. That makes organizing a garden even more difficult for many reasons. Lettuces in July? Potatoes should be done and dug by now given the heat. Just some thoughts for consideration. Dave

I love species roses! I have numerous CA native species and have seen others elsewhere. R. gymnocarpa at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden near me I've never seen get over 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. Short and bushy. Not a climbing habit. I didn't notice it suckering. I grow R. pinetorum 'Beatrice Howett' from RSABG. It is also a small rose. I haven't had it all that many years in my garden, but it hasn't suckered. However at RSABG it is well-established and suckering happily. It's more a lax grower there and doesn't look big enough to climb a fence unless it was a very short one. RSABG grows selections of R. californica from different parts of the state, and they do indeed have a variety of habits, from short and sparse to bushy to climbing, some even completely thornless. All of them I've seen sucker from moderately to A LOT. The one I grow that is capable of climbing (with support) is R. californica 'First Dawn'. Canes are long and pliable, it has only moderate thorns, and is in the moderately suckering category. It has the best rebloom of any R. californica I have yet seen. RSABG also has R. nutkana. It suckers pretty wildly, and the ones I've seen have gotten maybe 5 feet tall. Then there is R. minutifolia. At RSABG it has been growing for decades and it spreads rather than pops up in entirely new spots like the suckering champions do. I have numerous R. minutifolias in my yard. Two of which I am training to climb up Monterey Cypress 'Citriodora'. I decided to have fun and experiment since I like this rose so much, give it a challenge. It seems to be working with one of the plants already reaching around 6 feet up. Minutifolia tends to be an arching grower (but some plants are very shrubby), building big mounds that kind of spread like a fungus.;) R. minutifolia can become unhappy and die in areas with too much rainfall. RSABG also has R. spithamea. It is kind of short and bushy there (2 to 2 1/2 feet), but that plant hasn't been growing on the grounds very long so I don't know if it will end up getting much taller. I wonder though because they planted it right in front of a big educational sign and I would think they wouldn't if it was going to get huge. I haven't noticed it suckering, but it is probably too soon to say.