I agree, not everything we want, will survive here. For various reasons. But..You can grow more, than you may have thought. I am retired, and there is no HOA. My goal has been to amend my environment to take the heat off during the summer. To cool my yard and plants and home. So far, the more shade I create; by tree or structure, the more survives and thrives and the more pleasant outside is during the summer. My husband shrink wraps my patio in the winter, lol, and hangs a heat lamp on a timer; instant greenhouse. Tomato's and peppers thrived and bloomed and set fruit very early. Right now, I have hung sheets along with the other shade cloth over my veggies, and I am picking peppers and cherry tomato's daily. Almost total shade and new blooms daily. I think summer shade, over everything, makes a huge difference for most things here. Even the desert plants, the ones that grow in full sun here, look lusher and happier under summer shade..Just my personal views. And yes, my backyard does resemble a Bedouin camp right now, lol, but the neighbors haven't complained and enjoy the baskets of produce we give them.

Baccharis isn't ugly, it's just boring. It's easy to get started and great for slope stabilization. Decorate it as needed (afforded!) with some flashier plants like Joyce Coulter or Yankee Point ceanothus or one of the lower growing manzanitas. If the space works for taller plants, then the lemonade berry or tall ceanothus are good if you need slope stabilization, but if your slope is pretty gentle, you've got a world of choices. If you want some non-natives, rock-roses and cottoneasters are awfully pretty too. Anything is better than that infernal red apple or, God forbid, ivy. I'd leave the junipers in place and just clean out any dead stuff as it occurs. If you have fire issues with your slope, then a pretty fanatical attention to the removal of dead material is a good idea. And buy yourself a big packet of California poppy seed and sling 'em around everywhere. If the water/rain is right this winter, you may wind up with a blazing sheet of traffic cone orange just for fun. Nil13: Thanks for the info about the newer sprinklers. I was not aware of them.

I can sympathize with your predicament since I've had severe allergies since I was a kid, although not asthma. I would take some of the article above with a grain of salt, since for instance some maple trees have both male and female flowers, so would have seeds and pollen, or he treats all mold as one, but your allergies won't. I can't deal with mildew or penicillin, but have no issues with using organic mulches such as woodchips. You have to figure out what you react to and avoid it. In my case, DH waits to mow the lawn until I will be out of the house for several hours and he makes sure that all windows and doors are closed since grass is a major trigger for me. I have adjusted my life to avoid triggers and learned to jump in the shower and change clothes if I get into something by accident that makes me sneeze and itch. I would recommend allergy shots since my list of triggers is much shorter after a bunch of years of them and my quality of life much nicer. My view is that allergy-free gardening is an oxymoron, especially given that wind will blow microscopic allergens quite far, but that I can make choices that will reduce the impact of my allergies on my life. I would tend to doubt that Nicotiana is the culprit for you. Most of the flowers that shed lots of pollen are wind pollenated, not insect or bird pollenated and have unobtusive flowers. In the spring much of the pollen is from trees (in my area oak, maple, and pine) in the summer, it's grasses, and now it's various herbaceous perennials. A flower like Nicotiana with its showy blossoms is insect and bird pollenated, while the wind pollenated blossoms tend to be small and greenish since they don't need to attract attention. Thus, many folks think that they are allergic to goldenrod (with showy blooms) while they are in fact allergic to ragweed which blooms while the goldenrod is blooming but with virtually invisible tiny green flowers, but lots of pollen. The other frequent allergen blooming right now is plantain, also having tiny green flowers. I have learned to wear gloves (and I wear long pants all summer since skin contact with grass, among other plants, gives me an allergic reaction) to pull these plants in my yard early in the season before they start blooming. I wouldn't be surprised if you look around the Nicotiana bed and find either ragweed or plantain nearby in bloom. Out of the growing season I rarely work in the garden on windy days since I've found that fungal spores like mildew are flying around more. My best recommendation is to keep track of what seems to bother you and at what time of year and then do your best to avoid those things. Shower and change clothes if you find yourself sneezing or itching (to remove allergens) and don't handle the clothes after your shower - put them right into the washer. Have allergy testing done if it gets too bad, and/or talk to your doctor about medication if you feel the need. I've managed to accomodate, but if it gets too bad, find a different pasttime that will be healthier for you.

Hi Heather, I just wanted to make a couple of comments. It seems most of your questions and concerns were addressed quite well already from other members, inlcuding tips about compost and mulch which I also really reccomend. About the mango. I can't tell you for sure because I live in the American Midwest, a completely different climate from yours! However, I love tropical plants,and especially mangoes as they are my favorite fruit, hence me being on this forum, so I've read as much as I can on them and have tried to grow tropicals in anyway possible, and I've visited Hawaii and South Florida often. Mangoes are grown all over India, and many parts of India are very hot and dry, with temperatures getting into the hundreds(farenheit). Supposedly they fruit better that way. I think the leaves should get used to the sun as it gets older. And as long as you are irrigating it and mulching it,and all of the other plants you plan to plant, I really think it should be ok. I would really try frangipanis again. Three of the four that I grow seem to be VERY drought tolerant and tough. It can get very droughty here in the summer and they are in pots, plus it's very windy too, so they dry out very quickly. I have a book on them and it mentions that frangipani trees grow wild in the Central American deserts, in rock crevices, among cacti. And I've noticed that they grow very well by the ocean. And they cast lots of shade. I would definitly try date palms. They are beautiful, love hot, dry weather, are salt tolerant, and produce delicious fruit. Antother palm that you could try is the pindo palm or jelly palm. They are supposedly very heat, cold, drought, and salt tolerant. And the fruit can be made into jelly. The sea grape is another option that might work. I believe that they are almost as salt-tolerant as coconut palms, and you can eat the fruit too. Autograph trees are also mildy salt tolerant. The sea almond mentioned above is a really good idea. Try a dragon tree, I think that would proabably thrive there. There are tree-like yuccas that you might want to consider. In fact I think a lot of succulents and cacti as well would be the way to go. Apparently Crinums are salt-tolerant too. There is also the sea lettuce. Bromeliads- I believe the species would be hoyas and puyas(I'm not a bromeliad expert). There are cycads that you could grow, and there is one in particular that thrives in hot, dry areas, unfortuneately I cant think of its name right now. Good luck with your gardens. I hope you can create a little paradise!