Cheryl, IâÂÂve never lived anywhere but in New England. Living in the Southwest, there is a whole palatte of plants that are suited to that low rainfall. Plants that wouldnâÂÂt work in New England gardens with the amount of rain we get. Like you said, âÂÂa different worldâÂÂ. Sounds very challenging, but IâÂÂve seen some examples of Southwestern gardens that were very beautiful too. Rouge21, thanks for the photo of your rain barrel. IâÂÂm sure every little bit helps, but how much of your garden can you water with just a watering can and one rain barrel? In areas where there is serious drought, IâÂÂve noticed that sometimes they build water conservation into the home design. Large capacity storage underground and better ways of collecting. What slows down the process of getting that rain barrel, for me, are, IâÂÂm always concerned that IâÂÂm not going to be able to adapt the downspout to the barrel right and/or IâÂÂm going to pull down the whole downspout or gutter while trying to, or I wonâÂÂt be able to set up the hose out part of it and the mosquitoes that would be attracted to one. Cheryl, That is the reason I have hesitated to add drip irrigation, the pain to install and having to move them every time you rearrange your beds. IâÂÂm constantly rearranging and moving things, so itâÂÂs just one more thing to complicate it. And the clogging, I forgot about that. IâÂÂve heard others complain about that in the past. I hate to say it but it does sound like a headache, but maybe the reality isn't as bad as it sounds. Heighte, IâÂÂm curious how you attach the main hose from the spigot to your soaker hoses? Do you have to make repeated trips to the yard to disconnect from one 50 ft hose and reconnect to the next? GardenEcstasy, youâÂÂre right, we naturally all want what is âÂÂeasy and the least physical effort solutionâ and nothing is perfect. I also have the same concerns about economy, and chlorine/flouride free water. I suspect my garden would do much better without city water for that reason. A2zmom, I believe you, that our plants are more resilient. IâÂÂve had that experience too. But itâÂÂs also about growing a garden that is attractive and if your plants are lacking water to the point that the they are looking awful, then you have a pretty unattractive garden to look at the rest of the season and forget about a fall garden.

Second the Audubon tree guide (the Eastern version) - that is a very good book. Eventually, you'll be able to pin down groups of trees easily: an oak vs. a maple vs. something else. Also, you'll see that certain trees are common to various areas, so you may be in a forested region and ID the half-dozen main canopy trees common along the marshy lowlands, than higher in elevation you'll learn the main trees there, etc. Some trees are much easier (and often more common) than others, so don't get frustrated when you hit the inevitable "strange tree" that may not be easy to ID. Also, if you can accurately ID even half of the common trees you run into, you're way ahead of most people. One more point is to try to understand the trees as part of an ecosystem. As you gain the ability to ID them, you'll see that certain trees live in certain places, often in groups with other trees. Oaks and hickories like to hang out together, for example. Have fun!

The winter honeysuckle IS very nice. It's listed by the U.S. Forest Service (among others) as an exotic invasive plant of Southern Forests, but I've had one growing in a sort of forested area in my back yard for many years, and I've YET to see a single volunteer spread up around it, so I'm not sure how much of a threat it is... The scientific name is Lonicera fragrantisima. They bloom from as early as Thanksgiving to as late as March, with white or yellow honeysuckle-looking blooms on a shrub that grows to 10 feet or so and have a wonderfully sweet, rather powerful, sort of citrus smell that can catch the nose from many feet away... In full sun, they may completely defoliate in winter and bloom with no leaves at all; mine gets only partial sun, and blooms with most of its leaves still on (it never loses all its leaves), so the blooms are difficult to see at a distance, but you sure can smell them) Another shrub that blooms prolifically once established in January and February with small yellow flowers is Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). It truly DOES bloom when there are no leaves, and even when it's REALLY BIG, the height tops out at about 4 feet because it has relatively thin stems which tend to grow in an arch and end up back on the ground... The really NEAT THING about that is that every stem that touches the ground on any soil with the least bit of looseness and fertility WILL ROOT and sprout a NEW plant, and thus the shrub continues to spread and branch out into an ever-bigger shrub... I got mine by digging out a few of those new shoots from the back of a HUGE one at Hatcher Garden (with their horticulurist's permission a few years ago, as I'm a volunteer there). It was early March and I left it out, bare-root, on my patio for about three weeks for about three weeks before planting it, with NO WATER, and it STILL LIVED... Took it a couple years to start growing well, but this past year it really took off and I should have a sizeble shrub in another year or two. There are LOTS of other choices, but you can really find what suits you best by doing a search best suited to your needs, and I have a GREAT new website put together by the S.C. Native Plant Society to link you to below that should REALLY HELP. You can search for plants there by a lot of different parameters, including color, bloom color, season of bloom, etc., and while the website's database is FAR from comprehensive, most of the plants it does have include pictures -- many shot locally and including shots taken at various times off the year. Best of luck and Happy Plantings! Jeff Here is a link that might be useful: NameThatPlant: Native Plants of the Carolinas

That's a beautiful viburnum in the above post! I am trying to landscape for wildlife in my yard, and this has been such a useful thread! So far, in my yard, a large holly seems to be the "favorite" of most wildlife. The birds use it for shelter year round, and it comes alive with bees in the spring when it flowers. Much of the recent plantings I have made (I only moved into my current house ~3 years ago) haven't been super succesful in attracting wildlife. I suspect the problem is that my yard is in the midst of a suburban residential area that almost entirely consists of manicured, empty green lawns. Maybe my lone yard, diversely planted as it is becoming, just isn't enough attraction for most wildlife? Birds in particular seem few and far between, though I do notice a variety of bees and other pollinators in the spring. Sadly, my neighbor just cleared out all the undergrowth and brush in a small patch of woods on his property because, as he told me, he was "afraid of snakes." I am worried that the brush pile I am trying to create on my own property will not last long...the folks in this neighborhood like to complain about any landscaping that deviates from the manicured norm. But I am trying! Claire