It would be great and beneficial to you if you update your profile with the name of your city and your USDA zone as well as your SUNSET ZONE. Your Sunset Zone will allow for many suggestions for those of us that have Sunset Books.

Finally, digging a hole and removing the native soil and replacing with anything other is going to result in almost certain death. Especially just mulch. You can lightly amend your native soil with a bit of peat moss or compost but no more than 1/3 parts of the amendment you choose. A fine mulch could be used as an amendment, also. Very small/fine pieces of pine bark for example but not stringy cypress or stringy "common bark mulch" or longer chips of any type of mulch. You need to use a fine bark mulch. Sawdust is excellent, also.

What you did will create a pool effect causing root-rot and certain death.

So do your best to update your profile and there are a lot of people here that can give you the correct answers to selection.

And regards,

Dax

I've also searched for a state or county based soil and water conservation website, and haven't found anything. I did however, update my profile to reflect what town and growth zone I'm in. We get big storm systems referred to as monsoon season around here. They blow up out of nowhere, dump rain for 2 hours and then disappear. Last year we had record rain fall for probably 12 to 16 inches over 4 months. Normally it will be 6 to 8 inches over those same months from June until late August.

The two trees that I have been recommended are the Leyland cypress and the Arizona Cypress ( cupressus arizonica). I like the Arizona Cypress, but was curious of other options.

Dax, thank you as well for your reply. I'm sorry if I was unclear in original post, but when digging my hole, I do keep a majority of the natural soil for back fill. I would say a 60/40 mix with a fine mulch, and I've purchased a water meter to avoid over watering. Doing a quick Google search, as best I can tell, Sunset zone 2B would be my area.

Keep in mind I am a St Louis boy where we deal with the nation's (Continent's I think) two largest rivers.

What are lawns like in your area? I don't want to give ideas and sign you up for 50 years of watering to keep things which are not natural alive in the desert. 16 inches is a fair amount of rain over 4 months I suppose. 4 to 6 over the summer reminds me of the year almost everything in my yard needed watered twice a week.

I live in the Salt lake area with somewhat similar conditions. There several varieties of Junipers that will do quite well in your situation. If want a very large dense bush form, I would suggest the Pfitzers They can get up to 8-10 feet. I have seen some people trim off the lower branches to make them small trees. One thing to remember about junipers is that even though they are very drought resistant, when they dry out, they are explosive fire fuel. So it is a good idea to keep them either watered during the summer or keep them from your house, if you live in an area that is prone to wild fires.

Other ever greens that you may want to look at would be the Incense Cedar. They are native to the California Sierras and when established, quite drought tolerant. Surprisingly, the Sierra Redwood is also a good choice in your situation. Both of these are fast grower and fire resistant.

The White Fir is also a good choice. It is native to the mountains in the intermountain areas so you probably have seen them in your mountains.

Some may recommend the spruces, particularly the Blue Spruce. I would avoid those as they do not age well, and by age, I mean after about 20 years. They get straggely and loose their lower branches.

In the deciduous group, I would recommend the upright or Fastigiate English Oak. The go up rather than out. There is, or was, an long row of them at BYU, which is where I got my seeds. The grounds staff kept them more narrow than normal but they reached at least 50 feet tall. The normal spread is about 10 to 20 feet and they grow very fast, up to three feet a year in my experience. They also grow very easily from seed, which are either picked up by me for growing or squirrels for eating. They have very deep tap roots and don't mind the heat. The seeds will come about 90% true to the parent tree, but some will revert to the standard form, which is a great shade tree by the way.

If you can get the seeds, I got mine on eBay, the Osage Orange would be a good choice. Again they are drought tolerant with a deep tap root. They do not get too tall, about thirty feet. If you trim them back while young they make a largish bush. They do have wicked thorns on the young branches. The female will drop softball size fruits in the autumn. This species was becoming rather scarce until the government started to grow them as wind breaks during the dustbowl. They proved to be excellent windbreaks. Growth is about 2 feet a year.

From the maples, there are various varities of the Norway Maple that you could chooses. Most are gong to be spreading trees of one type or other. There is a fastigiate or upright variety. Most maples grow at about 2-3 feet a year. They do require more water than the other deciduous trees mentioned. There is another maple that would work in your situation. It is the Acer ginnala or Amur Maple. It is more shrubby than other maples and lower growing.

The Siberian Pea tree is a fast growing shrub to about 8 feet. Drought tolerant. Easy from seed. The flowers are quite attractive yellow in the spring. The seeds are edible, like beans more than peas.

Although not particularly drought tolerant, the old standby the lilac is good for this situation. No shrub row is complete without at least one. Plant it with your maples and it will be happy with their watering regimen.

The seeds for most of these deciduous items are available on line. They are mostly easy from seed. I plant my oaks right in the ground where they are to grow. The cats take care of the rodents that might want to eat them.

DO NOT grow just what ever comes up in your yard. Unless you know exactly what it is, it is probably a weed tree and will be nothing but a problem.

DO NOT grow Russian Olives. They are weeds.

DO NOT grow Tamarisks. They will take over.

DO NOT grow willows or birch. They are no where near drought tolerant.

BEWARE of the big box stores. They will have a large selection of plants selected mostly for popularity rather than compatibility with local conditions.

DO talk to some one local who knows the conditions. If they have a real nice yard, so much the better.

DO visit local nurseries. Many people are no looking into water saving plants and they may be able to stear you to more choices.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Lawns don't really exist here. It's very rare to see a full on lawn other than a very large house or some kind of government building. Lots of rock, crushed granite, cactus, tumble weeds.

Hi Tom,

This is your Sunset Zone information:

ZONE 10: High desert areas of Arizona and New Mexico

This
zone consists mostly of the 3,300- to 5,000-foot elevations in parts of
Arizona and New Mexico. It also includes parts of southern Utah and
Nevada, and adjacent California desert. Zone 10 has a definite winter
season—75 to more than 100 nights below 32°F (0°C).That favors deciduous
fruits, though late frosts can work against apricot
crops. In Albuquerque,New Mexico, and Benson and Kingman, Arizona,
average winter minimums range from 32 to 23°F (0 to –5°C). Lows of 25 to
22°F (–4 to –6°C) often come in.The
cold winter season calls for spring planting. Growing seasons are very
long—up to 225 days. More rain falls in the east than in the west, and
the Pecos River drainage receives more precipitation in summer than in
winter.

This climate zone shares similarities with its
neighbors—the cold-winter Zones 1, 2, and 3, and the subtropical low
desert, Zone 13. Like Zones 1 to 3, Zone 11 has cold winters, and like
Zone 13, it has hot summers. Hot summer days are followed by mild
nights; near-freezing winter nights are followed by daytime temperatures
near 60°F (16°C). On average, there are 110 summer days above 90°F
(32°C),with the highest temperatures recorded between 111 and 117°F (44
to 47°C).About 85 nights have temperatures below 32°F (0°C),with lows
between 11 and 0°F (–12 to –18°C). If soil moisture is inadequate, the
characteristic winds and bright sunlight may combine to dry out normally
hardy evergreen plants, killing or badly injuring them.

These trees are recommended for your zone:

Acer palmatum

Cercidium

Chilopsis linearis

Chitalpa tashkentensis

Cotinus coggygria

Crataegus

Lagerstroemia indica hybrids

Lysiloma microphylla thornberi

Malus

Pistacia chinensis

Prunus cerasifera 'Purple Pony'

Heteromeles arbutifolia

Nerium oleander

Rhaphiolepis 'Majestic Beauty

Sophora secundiflora

Albizia julibrissin

Fraxinus holotricha

Fraxinus velutina

Gleditsia triacanthos

Laburnum

Nyssa sylvatica

Parkinsonia aculeata

Prosopis

Prunus (fruit trees and ornamental flowering types)

Punica granatum

Sophora japonica

Sorbus aucuparia

Tilia cordata

Tilia

euchlora

Vitex agnus-castus

Arbutus unedo

Eriobotrya japonica

Pithecellobium flexicaule

Umbellularia californica

Ginkgo biloba

Robinia pseudoacacia

Zelkova serrata

Quercus agrifolia

Quercus ilex

Quercus suber

Quercus virginiana

Maclura pomifera

Populus alba

Populus fremontii

Populus nigra

Prosopis glandulosa torreyana

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

-------

Evergreen trees for windbreaks:

Calocedrus decurrens

LIgustrum lucidum

Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii

Pinus leucodermis

Cupressus arizonia

Juniperus chinensis

Cedrus deodara

Cedrus atlantica

Cedrus libani

I gotta get back to what I was doing. Maybe I'll add some more, later.

Dax

See the suggestions linked in my post in here...
And then add the Chinese Fringe Flower shrub to that!