Are you afraid to say she lives in the decomposed granite foothills overlooking Riverside? Or that she lives between Chicago and Alessandro? Don't be shy. Every little bit helps. You said they rototilled. The decomposed granite in the foothills overlooking Riverside cannot be tilled. It can be jack hammered but not tilled. How deep is this soil? Can it be dug up without a jack hammer? How deep? Does high drainage factor mean that it drains fast or slow? Again, the decomposed granite I am familiar with is impervious to water. I grew up next to the orange groves (now gone) between Central and Arlington east of the 91. The foothills all around were solid decomposed granite. Princess 77 is not Tifgreen. Calling Princess 77 a hybrid is sort of a misnomer. It is a variety of common. It is more closely related to common bermuda than to the TIF type hybrids. Fescue is definitely not the grass to have in SoCalifornia in 2014. It needs too much water to keep it alive. After you get the lawn changed over to something more drought friendly, you'll be changing your watering schedule to once a week during July and August. The rest of the summer it can be once every 2 weeks and monthly in the fall, winter, and spring. And yes, I realize this flies in the face of what everyone in SoCal does, but everyone in SoCal is wrong. I'm growing St Augustine in the Texas desert and have not watered my entire lawn yet this year. It's a matter of growing deep roots. That's why I need more info about her soil. If she has loose decomposed granite or soil on top of it, that's different. Need more info.

elbeardo - I can't help you on the dormant look, cause I haven't had it long enough. But it will go brown eventually, which doesn't bother me. Just give her the "brown lawns are really GREEN" spiel, or let HER take care of it. If you plant in early September with 12" spacing or closer, you should get full coverage. We went with the 18" spacing because of budget. A few places where we used up the extra plugs had 9" spacing and they were touching within a couple of months. We probably has the first batch out the door after a Nebraska winter ... they weren't exactly out of dormancy yet. Getting late-summer plugs might give you faster results.

From San Diego edible.org Pomegranates for the Coast � Sunset zone 24 Granada Warning to those who are growing short season pomegranates in warmer climates the cultivars bred for cooler climates might develop hard seeds and an off flavor when grown in warmer areas. The reverse is true too. Warm weather pomegranates grown on the coast your fruit might not mature or come to its full flavor potential. I was unable to get information on seed hardness for most of the short season pomegranates. Golden Globe ~ softish seeds with bright reddish-orange flowers that bloom over a long season. Eversweet ~ Red skinned fruit with clear arils. Juice from arils is reported not to stain. In some areas seems to be bi-annual bearer but may depend on area. Granada ~ Sweet with a slight tart taste. Skin is dark red and fruit is medium sized Francis ~ From Jamaica, frost sensitive has large sweet fruit with some split resistance. Good fruit producer. Sweet ~ Large light red/pink fruit with very sweet taste. Early bearing productive plant. Frost sensitive.

I'm in Oceanside along the coast,and we grow all kinds of lilies,daisy's,petunias,gerbera daisy's,geraniums,yarrow,freesias,glads,daffodils,roses,snaps etc etc.Of course we've amended our soil over the years,and i usually add the bayer rose and flower food when planting.It has a systemic insectide in it.HTH Take a trip to Green thumb nursery in San Marcos,Andersons in leucadia,any of the armstrong nurseries or just what ever you have in your area.They can be a lot of help.I personally like all the others i listed better than Armstrong.JMO HTH Kathi