Hi Ken, Well, first of all, he needs Rooting Hormone on the cutting. Second of all, he need to NOT stick the cutting into Perlite. You cannot see white roots in white stuff, and the roots MAY need some darkness to start to form. Light penetrates very well into pure Perlite. Coleus rooting in water is not typical. I don't separate the rooting from the potting up. My cutting starts off "potted up" on "day zero". I just insert my hormone-dipped cuttings into the medium that I want my new plants to grow in, so the plant is technically growing when those first little rootlets emerge, very possibly on day one. My cutting is in Pro-Mix medium in a "clear" pot. When I see white roots growing down the sides of the clear pot (in a week to 10 days) I know the cutting can grow on its own and I remove the humidity dome, and when the plant begins to crowd the pot I re-pot it to a larger pot. My cutting-plant is on "life support" while it is under the humidity dome. There is nothing to be gained by withholding nutrients on day zero or day one. ZM

I want to thank everyone who took the time to post such detailed and wonderful advice here! My renovation is finally done and I am getting ready to plant. At last! I have been closely reviewing all the suggestions and advice and have come up with what I hope is a good plan. I had 6" of sand removed, added an equal amount of compost and have irrigation going in as soon as I finalize my planting scheme. I have been using Pinterest to gather images of all the plants you recommended and narrow down selections. The San Marcos Growers site as well as some of the other links posted have been invaluable as a resource for what is available in my area and in helping select appropriate plants. I am attaching my plan. The house faces the ocean but there is a parking lot & a lot of tourist foot traffic in between so we put up a 4' wall with another 2' of semi-open wood fence on top. Also, just to the south west of the house is a large lifeguard station / maintenance area that isn't pretty to look at so the tree is placed to soften the view of that. Finally, the sides of the house remain sand in this plan. On the north side, there is only 16" to our property line and on the south side, the same plus another 3' that belongs to our neighbor. That area is needed for access and I'm not sure what else to do with it. I am imagining gravel would just get mixed in and covered with sand soon anyway? I guess we could pour concrete?) I am also including a link to my Pinterest page with the plant selection. There are a couple extras as I can't quite decide which Leucadendron & which Protea I prefer. I would love to hear any thoughts or comments before I start buying plants! Thanks again!

Thanks to Jeff, I too use tree chippings. Yesterday I got ~25 yards delivered from one of his sources, for the second time enough to cover my yard ~8" deep with enough leftover to cover spots that get bare for the next 6-8 months. The last time this guy delivered oak and pine, this time mostly Mango tree chips. Like Jeff said it decomposes fast so I learned from the last time to lay it down REALLY heavily. Getting a reliable source is important. You do not want palms, or anything with thorns like citrus, robellini, or Bougainvillea or anything of that sort as thorns decompose REALLY slowly and will stick dogs, and children (and yourself) even through thong footwear. On the down side, it cost $100 and days to move it to the back yard. On the plus side, it appears to enrich my already not too bad soil, and provides nutrients that make fertilizing more of a spotty affair than I think it would if I used something like cypress. Anyway, my stuff is growing really well and I have no complaints. Gary

Greg wrote: Nathan, these sorts of examples are broadly accepted and acted on by environmental scientists, governments, CSIRO, government land managers, Greening Australia, conservation organisations and now many farmers. You can't seriously be suggesting that they are all be acting on flawed logic and false assumptions! Goverments have a good record of doing things for reasons other than logic. I am constantly amazed how people do the wrong things for all the right reasons. Just the other day in my work I discovered that the 'right way' to solve a certain computer algorithm was slower than another way known about for even longer. After a certain point behaviour becomes entrenched and self-catalysing even when it is known to be wrong. Nathan I reckon that no matter what evidence or logic anyone puts in front of you it will not change your mind because it doesn't fit your own belief system. Au contrair, I am far more likely to change my belief system than you. As I said, I used to believe what you believe, but then I began to doubt the fundamental assumptions. I notice that you still haven't managed to write an argument. Is it too hard? Robert wrote: There is an obvious philosophical line and/or point of view, that goes through Greg's posts. It may well be one that we disagree with, but it is clearly there. There was an obvious philosophical line etc from Stalin. It is possible to be convinced about one's beliefs and yet be wrong. It is also possible to write scientific papers, and be wrong. Sometimes people even retract their statements, but this seems to be very much in a minority. Nathan, consistant ridicule and condescension might satisfy your ego but it unfortunately inhibits constructive debate. Actually, as far as I can tell, I've been trying to have constructive debate, but it's hard to debate when the counterviewpointholders don't even know what they're arguing for. I've tried asking indirectly, I've tried asking nicely, I've tried giving hints and even suggesting methods and started writing greg's argument for him. But he refuses to actually state his cause. How can one have a constructive debate when one isn't sure what the other person's reasoning is, and when at the same time, one feels that that person's actions are illogical and harmful? Whether the issue is the threat of exotic garden plants becoming weeds and therefore their resultant impact on biodiversity or whatever native plants we plant and where we plant them, bludgeoning someone who has not provided the right words for you, is unhelpful. You mean saying things like 'in the big picture you are irrelevant' and 'Clearly there are people in this forum who are not 'converted''? I'm just asking for a simple sketch of why greg believes that we should grow indigenous only gardens with base beliefs, middle deductions and final conclusion. There is no 'right words' about it. Lets say I were a medical scientist, and I...