I noticed when we bought our place in the fall of '09 that we seemed to have a LOT of honey bees. I was very pleased to see that. Not sure if maybe the folks that owned the orange orchard that has been abandoned, or maybe the working avocado orchard just above it are keeping bees. I have an entire hillside covered in lavender, rosemary, several large mature bunches of Pride of Madeira and I have 4 large ceanothus. All of which are absolutely covered in bees every day. If you walk out in my yard, you can hear my entire yard humming. It is really rather amazing. They never bother any of us, even though our pool is steps away from a huge rosemary and Spanish and French lavenders, but they never ever stop working. I end up with huge amounts of pollination for my citrus (hundreds of Meyer lemons for example), and I hope this will also be the same with stone fruit. My poor wee espaliered Anna, which is mostly in the shade (and my bees aren't very busy in the shade) already has 25 apples. So, maybe they've helped my little Anna. Almost all my bees are honeybees. I do have a fair amount of carpenter bees, but have never seen any damage to my house or other wooden structures. Some wasps and hornets, but usually later in the fall. Much less so than I remember in Indiana. I can't say I've seen any Mason bees, but maybe they're out there. I think keeping Mason bees sounds very interesting, though. Patty S.

It sounds like the land belongs to the county, perhaps as a 'green space'. That might mean that this property belongs to the community, but is under municipal control. I feel very strongly about taking plants from a woodland or native setting. I truly feel that those plants aren't yours to take. They are there for the enjoyment of all, not just you. And if you should take them, and I take some more, and everyone else who covets them decides to do the same thing....what then? We are losing a great many of our native plants due to this kind of attitude of entitlement. [I'm not saying that you are that way, but that so many people are it's become absolutely destructive.] But if you decide to go ahead and take plants, I'd do everything to positively identify them before disturbing them. If on the protected, endangered, threatened lists, you'd be breaking the law. There is also a Federal list of such plants, as well as lists for each state. The 'Name That Plant' forum is a great place to post pictures of these plants. You'll likely have an accurate response promptly. That way, you'll be better able to make the decision about whether or not to take the plants.

The rusted barbwire in the second photo adds character. It tells a story of a past time. The mushrooms in the first photo, and the parasite(worm) holes in the third photo also make the pictures more unique. Great Shots!! Kt

You can install hardwood floors over radiant, but the recommendation is to go with strips that are narrower (preferably no more than 2-3" wide), and to choose quarter sawn oak as it is more stable since it mainly expands more upwards than sideways when it gets warmer. Also, keeping the surface temperature of the substrate it sits on at 80 degrees F or less also minimizes potential issues.