I was admiring a pair of Arbutus a couple of weeks ago. They were planted over ground cover so fruit drop and bird poop were not a problem. Crape myrtle, on the other hand seem to mildew badly for me, here in Orange. Of course, my favorite tree is probably not a good choice, but if you have the right conditions, a coast live oak is a fine tree. When we moved into our house in February, 2005 I almost pulled up a "weed" in the parking strip which was actually a newly sprouted acorn that still had seed leaves and only four true leaves. I left it alone and shut off the sprinklers to the juniper in that strip (not so good for the junipers). By early spring, 2011 it had grown into a bush about 6' tall. The city came out to trim the sweet gums in our neighborhood about that time. One of the sweet gums in the other parking strip was diseased and planted too close to the sewer line. However, before it could be cut down, the city forester had to come out and sign off on the plan. Well indeed he did the next day. I was sure that my oak would be toast once he saw the tree growing in my (really the city's) parking strip. To my amusement, however, he took one look at the oak bush, pulled his pruning shears out of a pocket, and limbed it up into a tree. He didn't mind the contraband tree as long as it wasn't badly grown. My baby had grown up. It's actually about 8' tall this year and starting to look like a tree. I'm prejudiced, but I think it's beautiful. There are no other oaks in the neighborhood so it's origin is a mystery.

Ooooh! NatvTxn! I love those Friktari Asters! Do they grow from seed? Where can I get some of those beauties? I would suggest to ShariDiane that you plant a lot of plants native to arid climates, like Yuccas, Agaves, Cacti, Succulents, Moss Rose, Sages/Salvias, and etc. You might be surprised to know that these were /are grown in traditional English Cottage Gardens, too. In England they are considered "Exotics" and lusted after as much as we desire to have their lush garden plants and bowers filled with roses. Ornamental grasses add colour and texture. Make sure that you get the kind that are not moisture loving varieties. Mulleins grow very well in hot, dry climates and look spectacular with their tall spires of buttery yellow flows that sway in the wind (and birds love the seed in summer and fall). Verbascums too love hot dry places and come in many varieties and color combos. Tall spikes covered in delicate looking flowers in vivid color combos. I have Verbascum nigrum. Yellow flowers with purple throats. The flower buds are purple. Beautiful grown with Mallows. Beautiful planted in with Purple Coneflowers and spikey purple Liatris (two ohers that do well in drought conditions and high temps). ry California poppies and Baby Blue Eyes for Spring colour (and sometimes they bloom again in Fall). They reseed like crazy and you will love it! A great Cottage Garden flower is the Garden Phlox. They do really well once establish. Mulch around them to keep their feet cool and help hold moisture. They are great drought indicators too. If those babies wilt, you will know the rest of the garden is in serious of need of a good watering. Mine just bloom right through the hottest times every summer and we get temps comparable to yours. (And we are having a severe drought here in Oklahoma). Phlox make a good background plant, adding colour and heavenly fragrance to any garden and they come if a variety of colours and sizes. When I lived in the Mojave Desert we planted cannas. They loved the heat. I just ran a soaker hose around them early in the nmorning once a week. Talk about a colour and beauty! They add a tropical look to the Cottage Garden and they come in dozens of sizes and colours too. Dianthus are very sturdy little perennial plants in hot, dry climates and well as annuals like zinnias & marigolds. 'Clove Pink' is a Cottage Garden must in any climate and they love full sun in dry places. And their fragrance - Mmmmm. I have mine growing amongst rocks in the hottest area of my entire property. Sunflowers, Strawflowers, Heleniums, Amaranthas do very well for me too. Sweet Allysums, both annual and perennial love the heat and talk about perfuming the garden air! Planted around rocks or along the garden path edges or stepping stones they thrive and bloom all summer and reseed themselves too. Snow-in-Summer loves dry, hot rocky places. Queen Anne's lace does well, both Cottage Garden classics. Nigella does well in many dry, hot places too. Winter Sow directly in your garden in late summer for best results. I agree that Irises are a good choice, and don't forget Daylilies. They are tough little plants and come in a 'kazillion' colour combinations with endless entries of fun names to choose from. Both of these are Cottage Garden favourites, too. There are many more. Hope these help. ~ Annie 5th Generation Californian now living in Central Oklahoma

Water, water, water! Tom: as for the water soaking in. when I planted mine I created a "berm" about one foot from the tree all around--for 90% of them. The other 10% take as long to water as all the rest of them. The main batch that don't have a berm are the last ones I planted--the extras or potential replacements. I was in a hurry to finish up. DUMB! A few others the berm I created had a gap or two. DUMB! Those with a good perm, they get the water as fast as it can pour out of the jug, the berm holds it all and it soaks in, in its own good time. The others take forever--pour a little bit, let that soak in, pour a bit more, let that soak in. When I am doing this I pour some, set the jug aside, and go to another tree, pour a bit, to another tree, etc. etc., then back to the first one, pour a bit more. AAARRRGH! Sometimes I have 10 or more jugs going at one time in this "replacements" area. Never again! Anyway, with the trees with the proper berm, each watering, including filling the jug and getting the water to the tree, takes maybe, at the most, as much as two minutes per tree. It took me an average, all parts of the process included, 30 minutes to plant each tree (not counting fencing, which was extra time). So I could water each tree 15 times and not spend as much time as I did planting. I guess so far I have watered each one 4 or maybe 5 times. And even if only 30% would have died, timewise I am way, way ahead. And, the watered trees, now with really nice looking buds and thickening leaders will grow beautifully next year, cutting down the time I will have to look after these trees. Water!! But, Tom, where you are where it is much cooler and not quite so drought prone, in a good year you should not have to water. I never did at my timberland. But of course there were three years in the last 20 or so when watering was necessary--one of those years--1988--I planted a lot of seedlings--mostly larch that year, and I don't think any survived. Pam, in places like where we are, we can almost certainly anticipate that we will need to water every year if we want to avoid losses and/or weakened seedlings. If a little tree is struggling to stay alive, it is not really growing roots very well, and not creating the strong top foliage that is necessary to manufacture the elements that go into growing roots the following year. --Spruce

Dorothy, I have been watching your county on the drought maps and had noticed your usual waterfall of rain had stopped falling. At least you probably have good, residual soil moisture a few inches down which is great for the trees, although it doesn't do much for the more shallow-rooted plants, does it? Recession and drought together. Perhaps we are about to relive the 1930s. Doesn't that sound depressing? My dad told me that they lived on what they could grow during those horrible years, and about all they had to eat was red beans and corn....corn bread, corn meal mush, etc. At least they had food though. And, for the rest of his life, one of his favorite meals was red beans and corn bread and he ate it at least once a week. Jessaka, Y'all are not supposed to have drought up there is lush and lovely Tahlequah! It isn't fun, is it. I am sure you are watering enough. Your plants ought to be fine on 1 to 2" of irrigation a week. If you want to measure how much moisture you're giving them, and if you are using sprinklers, just set empty, clean cat food or tuna cans around the yard (you only need a couple) and turn on the sprinkler. Once the cans have an inch of water in them, you can turn off the sprinkler, or empty the cans and refill them again. Most winters, I only water my landscape if we're getting less than 1" of rain per month. However, because our drier than average conditions are in their 18th month here, I am trying to give the landscape area around the house 1" a week to make up for all the moisture that didn't fall in 2008. Y'all, this drought is starting to worry me. Last time it was this dry, even my native pasture grasses and forbs died and it took a long time for them to make a comback. Some of the pasture land around us where cows actually graze was so overgrazed in 2006 that it really hasn't even recovered well yet--the pastures are thin and patchy and now they're overgrazed again. I'm glad we don't have cows because, if we did, we wouldn't have anything growing for them to eat. The deepening of the drought really concerns me. Our ponds have never stayed dried through the whole winter before...even in 05-06, there was rain in Sept.-Oct. 2005 that kept water in the ponds for part of the fall and winter. This is the first time they've gone through the whole fall/winter empty. One still has a foot or so of water but it is very stagnant and yucky looking. The wild ducks are swimming on it every day though. Dawn