Wren - C. Moonbeams spreads with division quite well, and if there are any plant exchanges in your area, you might get some there. I often see it fairly inexpensively at some of the nurseries near me. Another suggestion that I have found has done well for me in droughty conditions, but doesn't seem to mind some moisture in winter is Penstemon pinifolius, pineleaf Penstemon. I have tried a couple different varieties from High Country Gardens and they have survived well so far in an area that's on a steep SW facing slope that gets no extra moisture other than what mother nature provides. I mulch them with gravel. Different selections have different heights and they seem to be red or yellow. Mine have retained foliage all winter. You could also look at some of the western Agastaches, which come in various shades of pink, apricot, red, and purplish. Don't cut them back until spring, and mulch them with gravel also since they don't like water sitting around their crowns in winter. Gorgeous in summer, but not too ornamental in winter. HCG, which carries all of these, is currently getting reorganized after having to close their brick and mortar nurseries, but you can get on their email list for when they have their online catalog up and running. You may get other ideas from their catalog since they specialize in plants with low water needs. Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

Caesalpina gillesii (shrubby but can be trained as small tree) Arbutus unedo Acacia aneura Olea europea 'Wilsonii' (fruitless olive) one of the larger growing ceanothus ('Gloire de Versaille', 'Ray Hartman', Gentian Plume' - all kind of shrubby but easily trainable into a tree form. None should need any supplemental irrigation once established but establishment takes time. I would agree with the above that now is not likely a very good time to plant. And being stingy with irrigation tends to limit or slow growth as well, so all should remain around 20' or less. And there is nothing particularly drought tolerant about anything in the Prunus genus, so skip the flowering plum. And even ornamental or flowering plums and cherries (and pears) can produce fruit. There are none that are entirely fruitless all the time.

First, a small tree is considered to be 20-35' tall. Widen your search to medium-to-large shrubs, as they are more appropriately sized. Pittosporum 'Marjorie Channon', for example, can be limbed up into a lovely somewhat airy small tree of 12' or so. Avocados can be cut back really, really hard, and they grow back and do fine. The growers come through their fields with these huge motorized cutting machines, like a windmill set horizontal, and mow their avocados down to a reasonable height every few years. A good hard trim by a trained arborist could make your sister's life a little easier.

Getting worse by the day (and no rain in sight). I am trying to hold my nerves as any watering now, unless deep and plentiful, is going to be worse than none at all...since roots have been reaching deep into the soil and I do not want to tempt them into thinking surface water is available. Yep, the baptisia is now a withered stump, various campanulas are also diminished...all in all, the allotment is a bit f a disaster this year. I am planning on removing quite a lot of plants and really doing xeric planting as I actually have rainfall somewhere on a par with Israel or Beirut...ie. not very much at all. Mediterranean plants are OK to a point...and I do have an urban temperature hike, unlike Norfolk, where my wood is much colder over winter. Rouge - nearly all the roses (I have around 80 or so) are OK, although most are single flowering. The remontant roses have shut down their bloom cycle...but, with a quick trim, should have at least another decent flush. True, I also grow 'no fuss' ones such as species roses, ramblers, chinas, gallicas, rugosas, and burnets.