I just dug these for Jeff and here's what I saw. I was disappointed by the root system. Hardly any added roots in a year compared to how thick they were last year. Partly due to transplanting but I think the main issue was lack of water. Two got very little water all summer or fall. One got adjacent water on one side. The one getting the most water had the most leaves...and that's the one that looked the worst after transplanting. This along with my previous experience of watering a lot leads me to think these need a fair amount of water for lots of growth. Like the same as for Mediterranean type plants. Maybe not so much in mid summer. They don't really seem to react like cactus and ocotillo. The trunks still look full and good so they certainly can survive without much water but growth slows to a crawl. I even wonder now if they're putting down roots in the summer if water is available. Don''t know.

So thankful for the rain last night! We have been dealing with a dry well for the last week..what an ordeal. No one can drill for another week. So we are making due with other means for the moment. I had to dig up some of my perennials yesterday because the driller said he could do it yesterday and the only way into the area of the well was to come through my perennial border! I started digging them out..those poor dry plants, with no water to water them in pots..and the yard pretty dry to transplant them in this hundred degree heat...I figured I'd buy some bottled water and put them in the garage for relief. I had a few potted then the guy said he wouldn't actually drill for a week...just bring the equipment here and leave it for 10 days, then drill.....we changed our minds with him..my husband told him to forget it...he felt so bad me working out there digging the gardens up to try to save some of them from the heavy equipment that was going to roll over them. We are trying to locate someone who can drill before 10 days...not commit to someone who's leaving their equipment here while they are on vacation. So I stopped digging them up. I didn't mind too much, water is a priority over the gardens...I was just trying to save what I could..let him roll over the rest. So for now, they are safe and the rain helped last night..hoping for a repeat performance. I will definitely look into getting some of the crystals and a rain barrel next season. This has just been an awful drought here for us. I will definitely concentrate on hosta more too. They are looking great through all of this. I was worried about them, I had just put in a few new ones not long ago...I think I must have put them in a good spot, they are doing really well, even the ones in the dry garden under the trees are doing great, they don't even look affected, while the other plants are looking really bad. The ones I put streamside look wonderful, even though the streambed is dry. The area holds moisture well, so they are happy there. Hey, how deep are your wells out there? I we were told we were at 360 feet when we bought the house, but found out the other day it was only 275 feet. One neighbor had their well pounded, the other neighbor drilled, both had success, we aren't sure which to go with. Thanks for the ideas and support...good luck with your gardens....relief is coming....thank you..JoAnn

I'm getting out of control! I just ordered another, bigger, blueberry bush - Semi-Dwarf Northland, a Pixie Crunch dwarf apple tree, and some Purple Passion asparagus starts! I wanted to hold off on the asparagus since I don't even have the ground ready yet and since it lasts 20+ years, I need to put it in the right spot from the get-go, but I couldn't resist. I almost bought some strawberry plants but I don't have room for what I already have yet so I told myself, stop!! Deanna - I have a marseilles fig and I love it. I grow mine in a pot and put it in the garage every winter and the next spring it leafs out and grows fine. The buds on mine just broke this past week as a matter of fact. It's now on my back, 3-season porch waiting for the temps to warm a little bit more before I move it out onto the deck. My grandfather used to bury his fig every year and my brother does that with his, but I'd rather keep it in the pot and just take it in. Altho it's getting a little big now. I'm going to have to keep it at the size it's at now if I want to still be able to take it in every year! My back is going to be killing me by the time I get all that lawn dug up and the veggie bed in order! I always bite off more than I can chew every spring and you'd think I'd learn by now, but I never do!! The next spring I'm doing the same thing again! Lisa

OK, I'm feeling better now. And wondering it I should move the three digitalis that I planted yesterday up to the raised bed. But then that would through off the arrangement of the azelias that I moved to offset the digitalis..... Amy, I think you win, though, with moving plants from home to home, though I could see myself doing that as well... if I had a vacation home. I love gardening and it is fascinating to me how some of the same principles that we use with our decor regarding color, scale and proportion work for the garden as well. It's just that we need to wait for the plants to grown and prune to the best shape! I'm also realizing that those with beautiful gardens have evolved over time through years of attention and care. You cannot just relandscape and be done with it. A few houses in our neighborhood did just that and now they are looking a little ratty. Every beautiful garden that I see, I always see the homeowners working in it--and not the mow-and-blow gardeners. I am looking on this as a grand experiment. When we bought our house almost 20 years ago there were all these little "decorative" stones in the back and front, basically a low maintenance/water landscape. It just stiffled creativity as we could never plant anything. First we dug up the front and last year finally got rid of the rest of the rock in the back. Problem is, I found my landscapers had burried some on the rocks in one of my beds so everytime I transplant, I am digging out more of the little red rocks.