Peach and apricot often bear heavily in alternate years. IOW - a heavy crop one year and a light crop the next. If you can detect and identify this habit in your trees, it would be best to root prune while dormant in the spring of the lighter years. That said, for the peach/apricot trees, root pruning shouldn't have much of an impact on yields or fruit size. In fact, root pruning of in-ground trees is making a comeback as a way to tame wild growth and increase yields in for many types of fruit. It is a fact that root pruning is an ESSENTIAL part of long term care of trees in containers, unless the tree's care giver is willing to tolerate the decline and loss of vitality that always accompanies root congestion. So, even if it did have an impact on yields, you'd still be pretty much obligated to do the root work. You probably have seen how growth can come to a virtual standstill due to root congestion. A famous tree biologist pioneer, Dr Alex Shigo, contends, "A tree that isn't growing is dying", and it's true. Trees grow when they create more food/energy (via photosynthesis) than they need to maintain respiring organs and keep their systems orderly, simply because they need a place to store the excess food. Trees stop growing when they make as much as or less food/energy as they use. No organism can sustain itself long term when it uses more energy than it can produce. So literally, as a containerized tree starts to slow down due to root congestion, it will eventually stop growing and start its terminal decline unless the grower intervenes on the tree's behalf. One might think that trees suffering from root congestion in containers regularly die from the fact they are using more energy than they are using, but that seldom occurs. Plants have a 'pecking order' determined by how strong different organs are in terms of their demand for energy. The stronger the energy sink, the more obligate the plant is to deliver energy to that part. Energy is first allocated to respiratory function, i.e. to maintenance of living tissues, then, to production of fine roots, followed by flower and seed/fruit production, then primary growth (extension of both roots and shoots), then secondary growth (thickening), and finally, the synthesis of defensive chemicals. Notice that defensive chemicals are at the end of the list. Most plants in steep decline, regardless of the reason, usually die from insect herbivory or disease pathogens due to the plant's inability to defend itself. You can also see by the pecking order (1 - living tissues, 2 - fine roots) that fine roots get the lion's share of energy outlay when the plant's chemical messengers signal an imbalance between top mass and root mass. So the first thing that will occur is, the plant will start regrowing the the roots you pruned off. That puts a temporary hold on top growth until roots catch up. For dormant tree which have been root-pruned, root pruning puts a temporary hold on bud activation until enough new roots have developed to support more top growth. Let's say you start 2 tree cuttings from the same genetic source in the same size pots. One gets potted up in the spring after you notice the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, while the other gets a full repot based on the same trigger (root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact). After 10 years and all other factors equal, the repotted tree will be many times larger that the tree potted up, it will have far greater vitality, will have produced much more fruit/ nuts/ seed/ ....., and will still be growing in a pot a fraction of the size of the tree that was potted up. Root pruning makes that much difference. Al

If you are looking for unusual plants for your balcony, don't restrict yourself to only local nurseries. Check out on-line nurseries as well. My favorite local nurseries, including two Internet nurseries, in ranking order are: AnnieÂs Annuals I love Annie's. Located in Richmond, CA (northern California). Some of her plants can be purchased at Rogers Gardens or you can order on-line. She has a great catalog! Annie's Annuals Buena Creek Gardens They have some plants in the ground so that you can see what they look like as mature plants. Fantastic nursery and worth the drive. 418 Buena Creek Road San Marcos (760) 744-2810 Buena Creek Gardens Brita's Old Town Gardens 225 Main St. Seal Beach (562) 430-5019 Brita's Old Town Gardens RogerÂs Gardens They have all the big-box store plants and much, much more. They cater to Newport's wealthy and thus their prices are little higher. 2301 San Joaquin Hills Rd Corona Del Mar (949) 640-5800 Roger's Gardens World Wide Exotics Located out in the middle of no-where and they do business beneath a shade tent. They have many interesting plants. 11157 Orcas Ave Lake View Terrace (818) 890-1915 Open Wed-Sat 9:30-4:00 H&H Nursery They will have all your big-box store plants and much more. 6220 Lakewood Blvd Lakewood (562) 804-2513 H&H Nursery Epies By Pat This is a local on-line nursery. Epiphyllum are wonderful balcony plants. I've included a photo of one of mine. Epies By Pat Epiphyllum do well in hanging pots in a shaded area.

I am presented with similar problems, but am in Bakersfield, CA, not LA. In BKF, things are even more scrubby and sandy. I know however, that simply saying LA, does not mean mediterranean climate. LA is a big place and has several regions or zones with their own micro climates, depending upon whether you are close to the coast, inland or at a higher altitude up the side of some range of hills or low bergs ( mountains ). Heck, after they changed location of a weather monitoring station in LA, they found they had to change it back because the new location, completely threw off the mean temps and rain fall averages. If you are near the coast and have that Santa Barbara-like zone 8/9 weather, I envy you. But what I am going to suggest may get me some hisses and cat call rejections from the bleachers, but let me give you the reasoning ... Every well populated area uses hired landscapers. They in turn, know what will survive in the area and what won't. Further down that economic pipe are the suppliers, nurseries and the local gardening section of stores like Home Depot, Orchard Supply, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Target and humble K-Mart. If it sells, they stock it. There is no demand for plants that die. Go to Home Depot or Walmart and you'll find that they even separate out the house plants and keep them indoors while the outdoor thrivers are ... fancy that, out in the outdoor area. Does that help to give you some clues about choosing outdoor plants? It's when you order stuff over the internet that you can get in trouble. In those cases you get unique plants, but you take your chances whether they will thrive in your region. Going down to the HD or WM gets you some assurance based on experience and demand for plants that thrive in your area that you'll get exactly that. However, you pay a price. Your neighbor's plants will often look exactly like yours. ;-) Might I suggest something that you probably can order over the internet and have it survive there in LA? Pacific Iris and the further north, Douglas Iris, the wild flower varieties of Iris native to the West Coast. These critters can flower in several color variations and are just the height you are looking for. Douglas Iris however, are always lavender colored. It's the Pacific Hybrids that vary in color.

Those wildflowers at the top of the slope look like mallows of some kind, maybe Lavatera. I like your palm tree. Looks like Trachycarpus. Very hardy and has flowers when it's taller. It also drops fronds, but not often. What you put on your bank really depends on how much time you have to stay on top of the care needed for the first year or so until any plantings get established. There have been some lovely suggestions offered already: the iceplant and the local Ceanothus. There are varieties that spread beautifully to smother. Otheres are taller and more bushy. They come in a small range of colours, mostly blues and purples and they can provide a succession of flowers over weeks. I liked the idea of the California poppies. They are so tough! And there are colours other than the standard 'orange'. You might want to plant 'pools' of them among Ceanothus to give a fairly strong visual impact. A 'Pacific' colour scheme suitable for strong sunlight. Pastels tend to get a bit lost in hard light. The iceplants can be very effective - big sheets of colour usually in 'hot' tones, although there are softer pinks available. And, for seriously tough sites - Gazania, Arctotis, Anigozanthis (kangaroo paw - which comes in a pleasant range of flower colours dark red to interesting green.) They're usually perennial. Climbers and sprawlers - Bougainvillea, Campsis, Trachelospermum (which smells delightful). Instead of climbing a trellis they can sprawl down the bank, needing only a trimming with shears to stay civil. Bougainvillea has thorns, however. As do the carpet roses and Rosa 'Nozomi'. That's a fairly steep slope so work across it rather than 'up/down' to reduce the risk of rain damage. Leave strips of grass to catch the run-off and protect your pool from mini-mudslides. At least until your plantings are spreading out. Before planting ANYTHING - check with your local garden centre to see if it's safe for newbies. Some things look so innocent when you see them as a cute little cutting in a teeny pot... and then you find they have rule-the-world tendencies. English ivy would be one. Cortaderia would be another. Many South African bulbs, such as Watsonia, can happily fill acres. So can Ornithogalum. And, if it's not too hot where you are, asparagus fern and ginger plant can take over in no time. If you should chance to like them - and don't mind some spiny-ness consider bromeliads. There are many hardy varieties that happily live outdoors, flower fairly regularly and make a good groundcover. And aren't fussy.