Many native California plants subsist on fog and dew for moisture. The dew collects on the leaves and drips to the ground. Furthermore, many native species usually go dormant during the summer or don't like summer watering (only if if gets too dry, do you water.) But your tropicals and moisture loving plants will have a hard time this summer if we don't get rain, and if there will be mandatory water rationing. I live in Long Beach and we have mandatory water rationing. The dog day of summer, I let my lawn go brown. Right now it's green (Bermuda grass) because of our last rain. But in the backyard, I pulled out much of the lawn and used ther area for planting more drought tolerant native plants.

I had one of those bugs show up in my house this fall. It looked just like the photo above in the thread. First time I've had that. Very few pine trees around my neighborhood. One in yards on either side of me but none in a position to do damage to anything on our property. One tree is hidden behind our large Maple tree and it was planted way too close, so the tree is half dead anyway. I can't see it and don't have to look at it, but when I go by that side of the property, which isn't often, I've seen broken branches in the winter. Isn't it odd, that pine trees grow in the coldest parts of the country where there are ice storms but they are so vulnerable to breakage. Sorry to hear about the tree problems ladies. It's so expensive to have tree work done. Our son, just took down a 15ft Amelanchier tree for us with a chain saw and ropes. It was multiple trunk and the diameter of one was not more than 3 or 4 inches. It was having some kind of disease process going on for years. That was as large a tree as I would feel comfortable for him to do himself though. He didn't have to climb in the tree or anything. Lots of trees in general are having issues. Glad I don't have an Ash tree to worry about. It makes me think I should keep planting new trees to always have a few coming along. Placement is not easy though if you suspect a tree might be coming down in the future.

PJ, exactly! It might dip to freezing for a short while tonight. It would be nice if it was enough to send the aphids to aphid heaven or at least to cause the pecan leaves to drop. Problems like this are why pecan trees aren't recommended for shade trees where they are native. Too many pests. My tree was very small and looked more like a bonsai when we moved here, even though it was probably 20 years old. The big flower bed I built around it caused it to get enough water and nutrition to grow tall, but it doesn't get the thousands of gallons of water it would need to produce a good crop of pecans.

Bedroom windows are open in the summer,closed in the winter. Our bedroom window is a huge triple slider with both ends that open. It's a pita to have open and still have it covered for visual privacy. We've considered replacing it with two or three narrower windows either casement or double hung so we can use blinds or shades that are independent of one another. The view is a side fence just 4 foot away so we really don't need the big single. Egress issues are also something we need to consider. We may just replace it with a sliding door even though it seems silly for the space. Every single window in our house is not a standard size for changing out window coverings without paying an arm and a leg. If we remodel my rule will be no windows wider than 36". You can always have more windows without the huge sheet of glass.