i have rosary plant vines, they start very well in water, greenish silver heart shaped leaves

Hmmm. Sounds like you made a major investment in your landscape. I'm not an expert, however, I do have a mix of drought-tolerant plants, natives, and traditional plants, but I only hand water once a week, and the natives only once every 2 weeks. Usually, I try not to water unless it's a new plant, or I see something wilting. Plants, in general, seem to be a lot more drought tolerant than we think. But it might also be the frequent shallow waterings. I might try longer, deeper soaks less often. It could be your soil. I recently went to Las Pilitas and they have some very strict recommendations about planting natives. They tell you to do a deep soak when you first plant them (which is very important) and then once a week or so (depending on the plant) for the first few months (sometimes up to a year) and then back off. I recently planted 3 drought-tolerant plants in the same general area, did my deep soak...and a three weeks later, 2 are going gangbusters, and one is shriveled up and brown. The only thing I can figure is there's something in the soil that killed it.

LOL.. I think it's hilarious. I just didn't see it before now. I have some Japanese Honeysuckle I can trade for some of that Poison Ivy.

FAWNRIDGE: Thanks, I thought about Agave and Aloe as they are pretty common around here but am still holding out to see what my quest turns up. LOU: would you believe I thought of that this morning! When I go away a few days I do that with my herbs, except I coil the rope on top of the soil and bury it under the mulch. It wicks what it needs from a big bucket of water. I was going to ask if anyone thought something like that would work but thank you, you have confirmed that for me. That is excellent. HESTER: Container gardening is all IâÂÂm familiar because IâÂÂve never owned a home but IâÂÂve been keeping small herb/veggie container gardens for about 20 years. Putting plants around my screen porch is going to triple/quadrouple my container gardening work load, and IâÂÂve never grown flowers/shrubs before except a few short lived annuals. The easier, the better. I am going to order that book you recommended on Amazon right, thanks so much, I just wish you could get royalties for selling it. All my container gardening books are from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens up north and have been pretty useless since I moved South a few years ago. AMBERROSES: Yes, thatâÂÂs along the lines of what I was hoping to do... get some pots around with easy, sure-fire plants and shrubs. IâÂÂll probably add annuals in the mix here and there. Yes, majority of my pots are plastic, and IâÂÂve just inherited a big stack of plastic milk crates I plan to line with grow-bags and poke holes in them. I can camouflage them with some window boxes placed strategically in front of them or some dollar store plastic mini border fence I have. CORRIE: Lantana I recognize, and they always have it at nurseries around here though I never grew any myself. Your suggestions sound perfect, just the kind of thing IâÂÂm looking for. I also found one on my own... butterfly weed (not bush), a native weed but colorful and orange. Sounds hard to kill. Everyone, thanks for all the help... YouâÂÂve given me some great suggestions to look into and by all means keep them coming if you have any more.