This thread is closed, now. I'm all traded out. Thanks everybody!

Thank you, everyone - you've given me lots of plant ideas. I agree with you, Blueangel, about planting by groups of water needs. I have tried to do that in at least one area. And I certainly learned that some plants should not receive too much water. I had a waterline leak for two months (because they wouldn't fix it until I took some action) when we were having our wettest spring in a long time, and had a number of plants die. I also agree with Lorna that mulch is the best thing you can ever do for your plants. That's why I'm trying to mulch everything really well this year. And I should have learned this in prior years, but I should not give in to my impulses and purchase plants after the middle of May. It's just too hot and they don't have much of a chance of survival. I think the penstemon I just planted from Bluestone are already goners. Thanks, Mary

Dear All, thank you very much for your suggestions and tips for growing drought resistant/tolerant vegetables and varieties. I am busy in reading all your posts and simultaneously taking notes on the varieties to order. Its looks i not have all those varieties recommended expect couple of tomatoes. I am going to look at my seed stock filled in 3 big storage boxes before I place order. Jay, Thanks for your suggestion on NuMex chillies. I am going to order couple of varieties, by the way which is your best flavored chilly? I too often see that doughnut hole around our property in radar. I hope growing condition will turn better for this year. I love see my garden looks like jungle! Last year was really bad tomato year, but we have good harvest in the fall from fourth of july and sweet million. I will look for those new tomatoes you and Dwan suggested in seeds catalog and online. I am growing only dixondale this year but I love to hear back from you on your new and drought resistant onions. Thanks for all those points, I still feel a newbie when I read post here, so much to learn! I will keep experimenting with new varieties and note down good performer every year and tally those with climate, I guess may need many year to chose best for my garden... long way to go. Dawn, Wow that is awesome list to try! Growing less water drinking vegetable is to cut down water bill while not sacrificing yield. I also learned that water use efficient (less water drinking) vegetables and/or varieties have more flavor and taste and high nutrient that their counter parts which consume more water. This I also noticed last year with eggplants and chilli. Paula's Mild Jalapeno which was grown under less-frequent-watered-bed has stronger flavor than one that grown in bed which received more water. I try short DTMs and start as early as possible. This is already pushing to start my starts this weekend. I need go thorough each and every variety your suggested. By the way, I have not much success with broccoli and cabbage in the last years. But I am trying again this year with some row cover to check my luck. I will check Willhite and SESE. Yep that is true, most herbs did pretty well last year. Fowler Bush Bean sounds good. Dawn, you are right, I almost forgotten about the wind and hail tolerant variates, you know how much garden trashed by wind and hail last year. Carol and Dorothy, Thank you, I am envy on your rainfall pattern. Even thought you may not be growing drought tolerant varieties, but you always very nice trips and tricks to deal with problems. Dorothy, I am glad to know new salad mix of violets, burnet and swisschard. Carol,I know guys love eggplants, I bought few new types of eggplants from India, please let me know if you want some seeds or I will grow few extra plants for you and share with you later. All these are Indian types (drought resistant), but not sure how they will do here in OK. George, I will try you Fowler Bush Bean as well as Woody Mountain Crazy Bean. How is their flavor of these beans in comparison to blue lake? Yes yard long are must to grow, we had great harvest last year with out much care or watering. Any good recommendation on yard long bean with respect to flavor and production? I glad to know you are belong to SSE We love yard long beans, Priya makes curry and subji with very tender long beans and they also great for still fry. By the way, is there any difference between yard long and asparagus been? By the we not have any problem with large animals but bugs, the only two bugs I am afraid of with are squash bugs and borers. Seedmama, Thanks for offer, if you have extra, I love to have some. Hmm Bean called "Tepary"? you know the meaning my village local slang for "Rough and Tough" Lets grow that one as well. Thanks again for all these wonderful suggestion tips. Cheers -Chandra

Shelley, You're welcome. I usually see almond trees in big box stores like Home Depot or Lowe's in spring at the same time they have fruit trees. I have native pecan trees, which produce pecans with great flavor but the nuts are smaller than commercially available, grafted and named varieties. Scott would be the person to recommend a good pecan variety for your yard. He maintains a large pecan grove. I like Kanza, but haven't grown it here. I have friends who have it and like it. Pecan trees can be nice shade trees, but I wouldn't put one too terribly close to a house and certainly not near a sitting area or patio that does not have a covered roof. They drop lots of messy stuff at various times of the year, including all kinds of limbs. They drop limbs right and left for any occasion at all, which is what I like least about them. Every now and then they get aphids that leave everything under the tree a sicky, honeydew-coated mess. We have a large pecan tree in our front yard, but it is at least 40' from the house. We have some closer to the house on the north side, but not terribly close--maybe 25' from the house. The north side of the house is the least used side of the house. It is the quiet side of the house because the front of the house faces east, the back faces west and that's where the detached garage and patio are, and the driveway is on the south/southwest side....so the north side sort of gets ignored, which is why the pecan trees are there. They are decent enough shade trees, but messy ones, and I am not sure I'd deliberately plant one in a yard, especially in a smaller urban yard. We have one because it was here when we bought the property. It was big and we knew it would provide shade, so we saved it and worked around it when building. I've never heard of a semi-dwarf pecan tree. They become huge monster trees, and I wouldn't attempt to keep one a smallish size. You can, to a certain extent, manage their size with pruning. Would I try to keep one yard-sized via pruning? No. I'd select a tree that would be lower-maintenance for the front yard. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: OSU: Recommended Pecan Varieties for OK