Sometimes time is not an issue on threads as researching plants goes, I was grateful to read from experiences and settings esp micro zones of ones landscape needs .. So Love Your Purple Queen, Thomas too! I have an orange Boug that is a bright deep orange, Im in a 10a micro setting for it, as afternoon intensity suddenly upon it then later day til sundown fully in west blazing heat and the soil is sandy sortv a clay as is close enough to foundation, the only saving grace for it is that being morning condensation likely gives it some sustainance of moisture. It became a forgotten experimented twiggy thing lol after planting about say 2yrs of season cycles. Well, we had a drought as well during this time and we too had had some happenstance excess water there on it during the spring timing accumulate from a nearby piece of plastic just one certain weeks worth. IT WAS BLOOMING more Bolder than When we bought it!!! Discovering it still alive, we gave it some surrounding soil help/ breakup some hardness and watered with a barely noticeable vinegar amount solution of water with drops of white vinegar. Its going to be possible to be our privacy fence we needed Badly. We had a purple queen with no activity as well along a south fence, left it alone, not blooming we feel too low to get enough sun, then planted another PQ boug near but in more sun, it's fine and watering it in as well w one weak tweek of the white vinegar drops in water. The fuscia bougainvilea are almost invasive BUT MOST DEPENDABLE !!! The power company trimmed our fuscia HALF to death, it came back with a bloomimg Vengance LL!!! Good for it, though it's the one of the colors that's most thorny, only use it for keeping a kind of security placement plant away from people or where they shouldn't go. It seems too that planting depth is a sneaky seemingly adapted issue But one that is how success is acheived overall. We have planted Tibuchinas (Princess Bush an Asian/India tree that has african violet soft leaves and deep purple blooms/ isn't hard on allergies! and is semi-decidious) it is fussy only how planted /different situations and with tests came to realize how much it as with any plant any where how much you need to adjust the root ball as plant so it's in the right height/depth from the soil surface, it's immediate drainage-retainage for the plant's life and seems to help some doubtful plants cheat problems. It's an adjustment to watch for if failing in first weeks, a chance to replant it quick could help, as we did with these Tibuchina trees saved within a month, became showplants of neighborhood. Bougainvilea as attested, have determined tap root systems so reach down below the heat and make it so well without us understanding how, thus, in a planter I Would Never put a fuscia hot pink one against a house (again L! it's far too big anyway), the purple one grows smaller lesser thorn-harming secondary to it in activity plus will obey better, and very much can trust the deeper orange one to cooperate as well less and shorter thorns yet like PQ than the fuscia monsters!L/ LOVE THEM THOUGH as they can protect property and the Most beautifying even in drought!! ... These boug's petals are the solid colors, the boug with pastels petals of pinks and the gold ones are not much help coloring landscape or even bloom or height and tho have lesser thorns and train easier, I'd rather have that coloring and believe in the deep purple such as Purple Queen if want height almost the small tree size or the deep orange for sure it is workable and both bloom magnificently almost as much as the fuscia, if have a little nudge of help that you'll likely learn more as time goes with them. Bougainvilea are so rewarding they are addictive, help make the deep orange ones more prominent! I too relate with finding west faced plants and slender trees in narrow spaces in hot climate too, so yes, keep thread going. THANKS!!

tinasam, I admit that until AlbertoÂs question I had just taken a very quick look at your posting before, since although Georgia and NJ do share quite a few plants in common, I didnÂt think itÂd be that useful to me. I hadnÂt noticed the similarities between your user name and the authorÂs name. Correct me if IÂm wrong, otherwise congratulations on your book! Always good to see another book on the topic! Alberto, youÂve asked a question I definitely care about. I hope other people add to this, but there are some thoughts. I let nurseries I go to know IÂm interested in native plants in the hope theyÂll start carrying moreÂand of course that would make my plant buying much easier. Two things that I remembered from reading about what individual people can do (I donÂt remember where I saw these; maybe it was on one of these forums) are to start writing articles or letters for local papers, and to get involved in local government to get more natives plantings done in public areas. (or write a book on the topic for that matter) I suppose having an absolutely stunning native garden might get more people interested. Sharing native plants from my yard that people like is one definite way to get natives in their yards. I mostly just try to get people interested when I can. IÂm usually focusing even more about the negative effects of invasive plants, and so while IÂm very glad if people become interested in natives, itÂs even more important to me that they know the reasons to avoid invasives. If thereÂs an appropriate opening in conversation IÂll bring up the topics. In terms of invasives, IÂve actually printed out a short handout from the US government that explains the issue that I like because I think it gets the point across quickly and clearly. Depending on somebodyÂs interest during such conversations IÂll just about always offer to supply them with links, and might lend them books and/or offer to research which native plants might work well in their gardens. If somebody is already interested in gardening for wildlife I think pointing out the benefits of using native plants is often much easier for them to see. A book that many people will tell you is inspiring and that I also found very easy and enjoyable to read is "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards" by Sara Stein. It tells about how she became interested in this and her experiences in it. She was gardening in New York state, but I think the main points would still apply. If you havenÂt read the thread on this forum on "Explaining Why Natives" you might find it interesting. It doesnÂt really address your question, but part of it kind of related. The first half of it had its last post in early September. Good luck making progress. -- Lori

Ahhh ok. Drought is quite a bit different from an arid climate. I do recall seeing that NW Georgia has been in a rather severe drought for some time. Still, I don't think that climate is anything close to what could support Joshua Trees. We have TONS of Yuccas here in our area, and they do just fine as well in our humidity, including a few "tree" type, such as Y. Rostrata. I know of several that are 15+ feet tall and branching. They actually look a bit similar to Joshua trees when they branch, tho to me they are more graceful and have a slightly more tropical look. Ive seen some significant re bloom on Yuccas up here this fall as well. Probably because it got cold briefly, then warmed back up. You could always just try and grow Y. brevifolia var jaegeriana, but I would expect it to die in the long term and not attain too much height. That way, if it DOES actually survive, you (and many aothers) will be pleasantly surprised. =o) I still think that they are a long shot anywhere out east tho as they are VERY particular about their climate though, especially the need for extremely low humidity, and some very cold spells.

I have been reading through the interesting posts on the Joshua tree, especially from the original post of kazooie(kapiti coast, NZ}. I think someone forgot to ask how much rainfall that they get on the New Zealand coast. That would be the first thing whether or not you could even grow it there. It is a true desert plant and survives on very little rainfall/snowfall in one of the driest deserts in the world. No drip systems or anything is needed, but it has to be a climate that is very comparable to the Mojave. We grow them successfully here in southwest Idaho, but we are an extension of the Great Basin Desert, and only at 2,600 feet. We range in rainfall here in our valley from 3 inches to 10 inches in good years, which is not very often. And they can take extremely sun, but humidity is another factor that could be lethal to the plant. These true desert yuccas tend not to survive in semi to tropical countries unless there is a greenhouse situation. Also, it must have a definite winter resting period, or the plant will not survive long. Doesn't like much of the winters in Phoenix, Palm Springs and such. It never quits growing. There are related species from Mexico that do much better and thrive without that winter cold.