We lack a lot of the heat for one thing and so the soil tends not to dry as thoroughly as in areas with both heat and dry conditions. Mulching heavily also helps. And we do irrigate routinely during our summers. I ignore the lawn and let it go dormant - IMO, an unconscionable waste of water and it will green back up with fall rains anyway.

Also because summer droughts are a recurring event here, plants become adapted to these conditions and send out roots deeper and farther in search of soil moisture than they would in typically wetter climates. And of course almost all our native plants are fully adapted to these swings of wet and dry.

I usually water inground plantings deeply once a week or so and containerized plantings every other day, if not daily.