Al and Nathan, I hope that you don't mind my sharing a humorous story about Turface, that really highlights your points and underscores how respected a product Turface is in the industry. My son is a Turf Grass Agronomy major at a large Southern university, and did an internship last spring/summer at one of the major league baseball spring training facilities in Florida. Turface is used for excess water on the fields that occurs during rainstorms, especially those "popcorn" showers (downpours) that occur frequently in Florida. It has helped prevent many a game "rainout" due to its effectiveness. It takes many bags of Turface to do this (for one game), which can become a bit pricey---so it's a protected commodity in the baseball industry. During one sudden torrential downpour, the Grounds Crew quickly pulled the tarp over the infield, and then took cover in the visiting team's dugout to wait out the storm. The Turface bags were kept to the side in the visiting dugout, near where the Grounds workers were standing. The visiting team's pitcher had a bad inning just prior to the rainstorm, and came into the dugout kicking and throwing things, as they sometimes do. As he looked for things to use to vent his frustration, he eyed the bags of Turface to the side, and the Grounds workers caught his glance, and could tell that he was tempted to kick them, also. They immediately, in *unison*, said "don't even think about it!". Throw your glove, knock over some bats, kick the bubblegum containers over, but don't mess with the Turface...unless you want to take on the Grounds Crew... :)

I'm a grad school trained Biochemist w Botany (physiology) minor. Mostly worked with mycology lignocellose biodegraders and bioremediation R&D, including some work with biodegradable plastics. Worked quite a bit with shiitake mushroom cultivation and enzymes and biological pulping of wood too. My passion since 12 yr old was growing plants. Mostly indoor orchids. Over last 16 yrs worked to get outdoor gardens at home lush enough to make them feel lush and maybe a little tropical. We live on a circle, which limits the front yard size. These are a couple photos of the front yard design going in last summer. With so many deciduous bushes there I have a lot of spring bulbs. Crocus, Hyacinth (50!), small yellow and large Mt Hood daffodil, Poet's Narcissis, Muscaria. Along the other side of the walkway are highly fragrant Sarcococca coning into bloom now. In summer the hydrangea will fill on and just touch eack other. The tree rose at 5' now is a nearly thornless 'Zephirine Drouhin'. An heirloom of that's still popular, it's a quintessential 'Old Bourbon' fragrance class rose. It runs 20 - 30'. So, I'm going to run it up the front house corner and also over the front porch. Late fall 2016 plant design staging in the back yard. Much installed just before first freeze. Japanese Iris Bog is behind the canna on right. Yes, this is the same area above with Canna 'Tropicanna'. On left of walkway are rainbow of German Bearded Iris (not in bog) and modern warm colored Echinacea and Red Hot Poker varieties. Japanee Iris, Peruvian Daffodil and Colocasia 'Diamond Head' stage for planting. Now much is planted. This is the Japanese Iris Bog (connected to Giant Gunnera bog water pit, but not the fidh pond). Late season with cold nights just before frost makes it look rundown. Some of the varieties installed here are below. They are sorted in the yard by increasing height but are random by color. The goal is a mind boggling changing landscape of color. There a other places in the yard with banks of color, such as a fragrant moongarden, where my wife likes to hammock bask in the summer evenings. There's some nocturnal fragrance magicians there such as Brugmansia 'Little Angel, Nicotiana 'Fragrant Cloud, Night Phox 'Midnight Candy', 4 O'clocks and Evening Stock. As you walk there or the wind changes direction, one detects new scents. During the day the Echinacea and Oriental Lilies are quite fragrant too across the yard. Then we have Hydrangea with cool blue, white, purple, pink and red colors all around the yard and gazebo edges. Lacking warm yellows and oranges, they contrast with the perennials.

Some plants that have done well for me in dry situations: They aren't very formal, but rugosa roses have a strong, sweet scent, beautiful foliage, and large red hips. They only bloom once, but I like them quite a bit. Flowers are single or double in shades of pink, magenta and white. They sucker some and have wicked thorns, but will grow in beach sand. Penstemon pinifolius is a relatively short plant with typical tubular penstemon flowers in early summer in shades of red, orange, and yellow and fine needle-like foliage. If you typically have good snow cover, it is worth trying Caryopteris which I have found works for me, rather to my surprise: small tidy shrub, late summer violet-blue flowers, and either silver or gold foliage. In the coldest areas it works more like a perennial, dying back to the ground each year. 'Arthur Simmonds' has trialled as the hardiest selection, though I haven't grown it. (available at Lazy S's Nursery via mail order.) I have 'Sunshine Blue' with gold foliage which experiences some dieback but comes back every year and either 'First Choice' or 'Dark Knight' which has survived just fine for several seasons. This does better than lavender for me which survives, but takes too long to recover to look good most seasons. I do replant lavender (small inexpensive plants) most years and it grows well as an annual since the insects and humming birds like it. The only western Agastache that has survived at least one winter for me has been A. rupestris. It is a short-lived perennial for me, lasting at most 4 or 5 years, but I really like the silvery foliage and August salmon and smoky lavender blooms, so I replace it when it hasn't survived a winter. You may find that some of the blue Agastaches work for you, but I haven't grown them since they have a reputation for self-seeding. I have had Weigela grow well on a completely unwatered slope, so it should be fine. However, the Cornus kousa that is in an unwatered dry spot doesn't look nearly as nice as the one in a more average setting, and the serviceberry that I planted in a dry spot died the second season, despite my hauling water to it all of its first season. Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' is a long-blooming, bright red selection of a native vine that does fine without supplemental water in a well-drained bed. I have only had mine a couple of years, but I really like it. It should do fine being trimmed to its support, an iron trellis of 3/8" rod, if I decide it needs it. Daffodils should be fine if you are looking for spring bulbs. Plants that others have mentioned that have also done well for me in well-drained situations include bearded iris, flax, rose campion (though it self-seeds ferociously unless deadheaded), coreopsis (both lanceolata and verticillata), daylily, Baptisia, Liatris, Sedum, Semperivirens, Amsonia hubrichtii, Nepeta/catmint, Alyssum, and columbine.

Hi Nancy, I use the Control Wizard, Soil pH and Moisture Meter. It works good, but it does have to be cleaned before using, so one would not work long if left in the ground. Plus, I think too expensive to have many of them. Got mine through Amazon. True crown-rot is when the crown rots. The foliage turns yellow and quickly falls over as the crown turns to mush. The root system stays firm and looks healthy. Typically you get an oniony smell from the rotting crown. There's also a bacterial rot that affects both roots and crown. It usually starts in injured roots in poorly established plants. The whole plant turns brown and disappears. There's no single thing that causes crown-rot and the causes are widely argued. We down here in the gulf coast seem to experience it more often than other regions. From my experience, I quit planting in open beds end of April. After It gets hot, middle of May - first of June, I don't water heavily. I prefer to water lightly regularly than soak the soil occasionally. I think soil aeration is very important. Watering heavily allows the water to transmit heat to the root zone and allows pathogens easy access to the plants. The main thing is to keep the plants as cool as possible with good air circulation. A mature plant's leaves shades its root area. Small divisions alone in the sun are in jeopardy. Plant in some shade or pot the plants up and keep them in the shade. Wait until it cools in the fall to plant. Pat Stamile authored an article in the Daylily Journal a couple of years ago that informed us about K-Phite and other (Agri-fos) phosphite solutions that were effective against water molds. They also seem to help prevent or treat crown-rot. They aren't 100% effective, but do help I think. Sorry to be negative, but the feeling is, this year is shaping up to be a very bad year for crown-rot, especially if we get a tropical storm after it gets really hot. Hope this helps some, Ed