I'm here. Zone 8 in Texas...you can't be far away. Growing St Aug is very easy once you get the hang of it. There are three elements to it. Watering, mowing, and fertilizing. You did not mention mowing but I suspect you were mowing way too low and that's why your grass died. Otherwise, if your grass was being mowed at the highest setting on the mower, then watering an hour a week, all at once, should have been enough to at least keep it alive. St Aug will do a good job of filling in the areas that are dead now; however, not good enough fast enough. In the spring (late February) I suggest you get some pieces of St Aug sod to cover the areas where it is dead now. They will be a dollar per piece. Get the Floratam variety if you can find it. If you are in San Antonio, Milburger's nursery carries it. They have Floratam Fridays. Putting the sod down is all you need to do to keep new weeds out. St Aug is amazing like that. When you put the sod down, walk on every square inch of it to make sure it has good contact with the soil underneath. Roots will not grow through the air to reach the soil below. Also water it 3x per day for 10 minutes each time. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are perfect times to water. Do that for about 2 weeks and then back off. Eventually in the hottest part of summer you should be watering for an hour a week. If you did that last year and did not get good results, then you need to water more. I water for 3-5 hours per week to get 3/8 to 5/8 inch with my oscillating sprinkler. I am in fairly deep shade on shallow, limestone soil. You'll have to adjust for your conditions. Do not fertilize the new grass until after you have mowed it for the second time. That ensures you are fertilizing actively growing plants and not dormant plants. Mow at the mower's highest setting. You will NEVER have to mow it at any other height. Ever. If you decide to use organic fertilizer, you can apply that in Feb. If you decide to use synthetic fertilizer, you can fertilize in March after the second mowing. Then fertilize again with either one on Memorial Day. If you want to apply fertilizer in the summer, the only choice is organic because the synthetic might burn. Organic will never burn. Do that on July 4th if you do it. Then fertilize again on Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Those are all easy dates to remember. None of this should impact your tree at all. Other than that do not use any weed killers or preventives. If you are mowing at the highest setting and watering infrequently, you should never get weeds. The weeds to watch out for are the broadleaf weeds. While St Aug will out compete grassy weeds, it will not out compete broadleaf weeds. Anything that looks like clover needs to be pulled before it gets started.

The thing is though that my trees don't look stressed, well, other than the color change. lol They are COVERED in buds for next year. Almost to the point of looking like they're suffering a bud disease, like a child would covered in chicken pox. Plus, depending on their size when planted, they've grown anywhere from 1 foot to 3 1/2 feet their first 5 months in the ground this year so I believe they all have decent root growth growing on. Unless that isn't a reliable indicator of root growth. However, I concede to you Whaas, because one, you know a lot more than I do, and two,because trees were not made to be supplemental watered by people, but by Mother Nature herself, and just as breastfeeding is best for a baby, so is rain for trees. I totally get that. Oh and all the trees I received are from zone 7 if I remember correctly. (Forest Farm) Which is 1 zone warmer than I am. I guess I was just hoping this wasn't drought related, but evidently it is. :( Uuugh.

Aloe variegata and Haworthia limifolia are the only two that I agree. I have two Aloe that started out the same until they flowered. Both are single tree species. The last Aloe hybrid I don't agree with at all. I have several different that look like that one from the top, you will know for sure when you see the flower. You asked for an ID and I am trying to be honest with you, if it is important don't guess. I have all three Aloe names mentioned. The Aloe will be difficult to get an accurate name. You can still enjoy a plant with out the name. I just now have a Hawothia limifolia in flower now with pink flowers, I will need to inquire about it and find out if it is natural or a hybrid. Will not put a name until I'm sure. I will write a note to John Pilbean or Bob Kent perhaps Steven Hammer. One of them will know for sure. I lost the documentation, darn that is the reason documentation is so important. Good luck with your search. Norma

Super cute ;-) Every cottage garden needs a cat to complete the "picture" I think. WHAT!!?? You are getting sunshine over there while over here in Spokane we are being drenched with more rain?! If you get a chance, see if you can't blow some nice weather my way, LOL. Lovely pics and kitty CMK