Sometimes time is not an issue on threads as researching plants goes, I was grateful to read from experiences and settings esp micro zones of ones landscape needs .. So Love Your Purple Queen, Thomas too! I have an orange Boug that is a bright deep orange, Im in a 10a micro setting for it, as afternoon intensity suddenly upon it then later day til sundown fully in west blazing heat and the soil is sandy sortv a clay as is close enough to foundation, the only saving grace for it is that being morning condensation likely gives it some sustainance of moisture. It became a forgotten experimented twiggy thing lol after planting about say 2yrs of season cycles. Well, we had a drought as well during this time and we too had had some happenstance excess water there on it during the spring timing accumulate from a nearby piece of plastic just one certain weeks worth. IT WAS BLOOMING more Bolder than When we bought it!!! Discovering it still alive, we gave it some surrounding soil help/ breakup some hardness and watered with a barely noticeable vinegar amount solution of water with drops of white vinegar. Its going to be possible to be our privacy fence we needed Badly. We had a purple queen with no activity as well along a south fence, left it alone, not blooming we feel too low to get enough sun, then planted another PQ boug near but in more sun, it's fine and watering it in as well w one weak tweek of the white vinegar drops in water. The fuscia bougainvilea are almost invasive BUT MOST DEPENDABLE !!! The power company trimmed our fuscia HALF to death, it came back with a bloomimg Vengance LL!!! Good for it, though it's the one of the colors that's most thorny, only use it for keeping a kind of security placement plant away from people or where they shouldn't go. It seems too that planting depth is a sneaky seemingly adapted issue But one that is how success is acheived overall. We have planted Tibuchinas (Princess Bush an Asian/India tree that has african violet soft leaves and deep purple blooms/ isn't hard on allergies! and is semi-decidious) it is fussy only how planted /different situations and with tests came to realize how much it as with any plant any where how much you need to adjust the root ball as plant so it's in the right height/depth from the soil surface, it's immediate drainage-retainage for the plant's life and seems to help some doubtful plants cheat problems. It's an adjustment to watch for if failing in first weeks, a chance to replant it quick could help, as we did with these Tibuchina trees saved within a month, became showplants of neighborhood. Bougainvilea as attested, have determined tap root systems so reach down below the heat and make it so well without us understanding how, thus, in a planter I Would Never put a fuscia hot pink one against a house (again L! it's far too big anyway), the purple one grows smaller lesser thorn-harming secondary to it in activity plus will obey better, and very much can trust the deeper orange one to cooperate as well less and shorter thorns yet like PQ than the fuscia monsters!L/ LOVE THEM THOUGH as they can protect property and the Most beautifying even in drought!! ... These boug's petals are the solid colors, the boug with pastels petals of pinks and the gold ones are not much help coloring landscape or even bloom or height and tho have lesser thorns and train easier, I'd rather have that coloring and believe in the deep purple such as Purple Queen if want height almost the small tree size or the deep orange for sure it is workable and both bloom magnificently almost as much as the fuscia, if have a little nudge of help that you'll likely learn more as time goes with them. Bougainvilea are so rewarding they are addictive, help make the deep orange ones more prominent! I too relate with finding west faced plants and slender trees in narrow spaces in hot climate too, so yes, keep thread going. THANKS!!

I have a beautiful ceanothus hedge in my yard. Right now it's in full beautiful lilac blue bloom. It shapes into a hedge very nicely. Dendromecon is a rangy bush and doesn't form a hedge. I have a flannel bush as well and it's pruned into a nice box hedge. But it grows very quickly and has to be pruned back every summer. It's also in full bloom and is covered in waxy yellow flowers. Maybe even Toyon can be hard pruned to a hedge. Or even a california laurel. I never tried though I have both plants. Both have to be pruned because they are very fast growers in Southern Cal. Manzanita makes a good bush, but I've never made it into a hedge. You really want to see those striking red trunks and limbs. Maybe even try California bush poppy: Carpinteria. It has lovely white poppy-like blooms each spring. It is a very compact grower. At least for me.

Anytime can theoretically work, but it's definitely more difficult during the dry season. Many natives are very sensitive to transplanting stress, which is greater if you're transplanting them in the summer heat. If you plant any natives in the summer, I recommend planting them at night, so the roots aren't exposed to quite as much heat during the transplanting process. Planting them during the very end of the wet season can also cause problems, because the plants may not have time to get their roots out before the summer drought sets in. I planted a silver bush lupine this past March, and it grew a foot, produced a flower spike, then shriveled up in May and hasn't recovered, despite the fact that I'm now watering it considerably more than before. (It's not actually dead so far, but it looks terrible, and I don't know whether it will survive or not.) My other silver bush lupine, planted in January, is still perfectly healthy - probably because it had more time to get its roots out before the summer. A lot of natives are also prone to die from overwatering, especially in the summer, so I think it's much safer to try to plant natives early in the wet season and let them get their roots out before summer, rather than planning to give them extra water during the summer to keep them alive when they're newly planted.

All the birds adore our little native Oak grown from an acorn. It's about 12' tall now. All the birds stop in there. It's like a magnet. Plan so you have bird-attractants throughout all four seasons. For example, Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia attracts cedar waxwings in the winter. They will come through and strip off and eat the berries and it is amazing to watch. Lemonade berry Rhus ovatifolia is also popular with the birds here. Having said that, California is a big state, and native plants that grow in one area won't necessarily grow well in yours, so select natives native to your microclimate and region.