Oddly enough, I am presenting Phase IV of a 1970' condo redo tomorrow morning. The thing that you might find interesting is that they are converting a lot of area into lawn to save on maintenance costs. The cost of bark mulch and weeding has been killing them. The maintenance crew cheif loves it more than anybody. Mowing equipment is very fast and just about anyone can do it with good results. Environmentally incorrect? Well, here's the thing. There is high nitrogen in the ground water from septic systems that migrates from miles away toward the coastal ponds in the area. Lawn is a heavy consumer of nitrogen. One way to look at that is to assume that excessive fetilizer will be dumped onto the grass to try to make it greener than green resulting in the excess going into the groundwater and eventually causing algae blooms in the ponds. An alternative is to harness the grass's ability to consume nitrogen by using wells to remove the existing groundwater with its excessive nitrogen from the ground and feeding it to the grass. The water returns to the ground and continues on to the ponds with less nitrogen than it had before because the grass uses it up. I'm sure that it is a very different ecosystem where you are than what we have up here, but it is interesting in terms of regional differences. Think about all of the conditions the various parts of your site are in such as lawn, natural woodlands, perennial beds, younger shrub plantings, treed areas, understory areas, buildings, pavements, surface water or whatever else there is. Ask yourself and others what they really like about where the current landscape. That is how we started with this and another similar condo redo project that I was involved in. That will give you (the collective you) a better understanding of the quality of life issues that are part of what you as a community value. Those quality of life values have to balance out with other values such as cost, environmental consciousness, or others. It can be very easy to make a mistake in applying only your own balance of values and imposing them on your community with only the best of intensions. You stated that one of the problems that is driving up the cost of your maintenance is the mature planting. You also make a strong statement about the unused lawn area in terms of energy, water, emmissions, and money. The assumption is that what lies between these two extremes of conditions is either very little in terms of area, or does not drain your resources. Could converting toward those undescribed conditions keep maintenance costs down without introducing an experimental condition or changing the quality of life that the community enjoys? Look around your area to see what is working on other sites before you become a pioneer. Usually, good ideas catch on and become common place especially if they are economical. If you don't see fabulous swathes of wildflowers as you envision it is much more likely that they are not so easy or not so economical than thought rather than you being the first to consider it. One of the best things you can do for economy, environment, maintenance, and successful landscaping is to put in place what would grow naturally. You need to be more proactive than just getting a list of native plants. You need to know the local conditions very well and recreate what would grow there if we all disappeared and nature reclaimed it. You also have to be very aware of what might try to "reclaim" your plantings. The biggest problem with the wildflower "set it and forget it" seed mixes is Darwinism. Competition. Sometimes it is competition between what comes out of the seed bag, but more likely it is going to be some other crop that is better suited than what was in the mix. Local conditions are going to weaken some plants dominance while enhancing anothers. What will you wind up with? Hopefully, others in your area have found out and it is good, but you should do your best to find out before you commit.

There are so many variables - soil type, atmospheric humidity, temperature and some others - that it is very hard, probably impossible, to come up with rules for watering. IMHO, 2 gallons or so per week delivered by soaker hose is not likely to be nearly enough unless there has been a great deal of rain. The browning needles are likely an indication of too little water. It isn't tremendously accurate, but reaching down to the root ball with your fingers and testing for dryness is better than relying on some sort of formula. If the root ball feels dry to the touch, water it with a hose. 45 minutes as the tree guy said seems pretty reasonable and I doubt very much if he was talking about 45 minutes worth of soaker hose. Another thing that is very helpful for summer planted trees is to spray them with a fine mist such as that produced by a Fog-It type nozzle. This lowers the temperature, increases humidity and slows transpiration of moisture even if none is directly absorbed. This can be done several times a day. For large trees at this time of year and assuming decent soil drainage, under watering is usually a greater danger than over watering.

If the humidity level is high enough, the fan won't be a problem, but if it's sub-40%, it will be. I'm not sure how you have your plant set up for drainage, but at least one hole should be through the bottom at some point. Even if the holes in the sides are 1/8" above the bottom - that's a problem. There should be no way the effluent that exits the drain hole should have a pathway back into the pot. If it was my plant, I'd be using a wick to assist drainage, I'd water it over the sink, then tip the pot at a 45* angle with the wick hanging down from the lowest point in the pot bottom (as though you tipped figure E 45* to the right)until the planting stops draining. 3 weeks between waterings is a certain indicator you're leaving a lot of your plant's potential untapped. Another way of saying that is, 3 weeks between waterings is a sure indication there is a significant degree of limitation in play due to an overly water-retentive soil. You would be doing well to flush the soil and fertilize with regularity, and plan a full repot (as opposed to potting up) into a medium that allows you to water correctly. Al

Thanks all! I replanted the tree with new soil when purchased. It was a standard potting soil from Home Depot- I was told the plant wouldn’t be picky. The new pot was slightly larger than the original, which I know an be problematic because of how it likes to be root bound. I’ve watered this one 3 times, with two weeks spacing in between. Today is a week after last water, and the soil feels ever-so-slightly damp about 2-3 inches down. Plan would be to water again a week from now? Now wondering if it needs more sun, although nursery told me NOT to put it in front of a south or otherwise well lit window. So many conflicting kernels of advice! I’m not sure what to do