Cameron, I started the Inula from seeds obtained from Gardens North a few years ago. If you want a few seeds, just send me an e-mail. I did get a new one this year from a private garden centre. The leaves are spectacular on that one as well - more ridging, leaves much wider, but not as long - and I am waiting to see how it performs next year. So far so good. Newbie in NJ, Yep! I just think it's a nice plant in the gardens. It gives architectural structure, foliage is resistant to disease and pests and retains it's beauty for the growing season, great for late season pollinators, etc. :O) It also won't fall in the many winds we have here due to tropical storms coming up the coast. Oh yes, PV is growing it on her balcony. LOL! The shrub in the front is a variegated Forsythia known as Fiesta. The stems are a maroon red and it grows slowly. Mine has never flowered, but I grow it for the foliage.

In the Puget Trough Pinus contorta is basically a wetland indicator. I've stood in a stand east of Everett, WA where the winter high water mark on the trunks was well above my head. Associated species included Sitka spruce and red-twig dogwood. The same species can have marked differences in functioning within different parts of its range. For instance, Sambucus canadensis in the northern part of its range requires cold exposure for germination and in the southern part does not. Garry oak has no particular apparent soil or precipitation requirement, one of the largest WA examples I have been on hand to see measured was in one or two feet of mud - in some locations it can be seen mixed with Oregon ash in swamps. Annual rainfall totals throughout its range go from 13 in. to 103 in. What it does need is lack of competition and shading from other trees. Soil flora and fauna in all these different habitats must vary considerably. And of course ubiquitous local species such as Douglas fir must be growing under a very wide range of combinations, including which mycorrhizal fungi are present. So maybe Ponderosa pine is somehow able to function where the fungi that would be present in dry-lands are not represented.

I have my fingers crossed the websites help you. Someone posted a question to the Texas forum about what tall, narrow evergreens might survive the heat, but I don't think anyone ever figured out a plant small enough for the space described. I think the poster was yearning after the smallish junipers that go next to front doors in magazines... in cooler climates. If memory serves, ligustrum and cherry laurel can be made into topiary, too. Older cultivars of ligustrum can be invasive via seeds, so some people hate it. By the gulf coast, it gets mildewy. On clay in the Dallas area, it seems to be very hardy. It might get too big for your deck, even in pots, though. Ditto with cherry laurel. Your containers should be large enough, definitely. The Container gardening forum has people who know about drip irrigation in containers. Conventional watering in containers is supposed to be done until water runs out the bottom of the containers, and then you let the dirt dry out according to the needs of the plant. I'm not sure how that translates into drip irrigation watering. You can't forget the fertilizer though (like I just did -again-). Hopefully you got the following message directly to your email address, but I'm not sure I've figured how to do that correctly, so here is a resend: The board won't let me post again so soon. Thought of this after the first post. I should have included chinese garlic chives, sweet potatoes, native honeysuckle, iris, day lilies, cannas, rosemary, jujube, and sweet bay. Laurus nobilis, not California Bay. The Herb forum and the Container Gardening forum might be helpful, too. You -don't- want japanese honeysuckle. The yaupons, sweet bay, and rosemary could lend themselves to topiary, similar to your poor, lamented spiral junipers and the ball gardenias. In our area, don't gardenias need morning sun, afternoon shade or light shade all day? They are an acid soil loving plant, so I've never grown them. We have a south facing, full sun back yard, with poorly draining clay full of nutgrass and bermuda .grass. I've been gardening these last years in big yard buckets that hold about 20 gallons of potting soil. Just wait until the nutgrass is gone, then I may make some raised beds! The yard is fenced, so is not as windy as your deck. The containers successfully hold sweet bay, fig, rosemary, jujube, day lilies, chinese chives, yaupon, iris, and cannas in full sun throughout the year. A fig might get beat to smithereens in your location, might not. The containers successfully hold onions, french sorrel, violets, salad burnet, swiss chard, potatoes, sweet potatoes in full to mostly full sun throughout the year or throughout their growing season. I did haul the tubs of plants into the living room during the nasty cold snaps this past winter, otherwise I don't think I've ever done anything special about them during the winter. Hope this helps.

When you do decide what to plant, I would strongly suggest using a granular polymer such as "Soil Moist" in the planting hole. I buy mine in 3 lb. size from www.snow-pond.com because it's cheaper & I plant a lot; Ace hardware usually carries it; other store like HD and Lowe's have a similar product. It really soaks up a lot of water & releases it slowly so your plants can handle dry conditions MUCH better. It lasts in the soil 3-5 years while your plants get established. Don't put over the recommended amount, though.The first time I added it I was thinking,"some is good, more is better" - then when I had to dig up the plant to move it, the poor roots were growing is almost pure expanded Soil Moist! Put a single granule in water and you won't believe how huge it gets!!! I'm convinced that this has saved many of my newly-planted azaleas, flowering cherries, hydrangeas and dogwoods from all the drought we've been having for the last few years!! Sue