California Gardening: Desperate Beginner Gardener with a challenging yard, 1 by margu

margu wrote:
Hi Sherri;

Sounds like what I went through when I moved into my house in Eagle Rock, in Los Angeles. I think that in your area, it is very dry and brushy, and I right? All the stuff that you planted needs a lot of coaxing and care and water to get established in that kind of environment, especially through the hot summers. I think you would probably do better with plants that thrive in dry heat and drought. Lavenders, sages, agastaches, probably geraniums, maybe bouganvilla. I discovered that I need to plant in the winter and early spring, once it starts getting hot it's almost impossible to keep the new plantings alive. And you need to find plants that do well in "dry shade", the hostas and such like it moist. I've tried them to no avail. I do have a camelia that is finally taking hold after 3 years, after plenty of summer watering.
Take at look at this nursery, High Country Gardens, for plants that will do well in your area:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/
But once again, if you order from them, you need to plant very early in the year. Those little plants are too tender to make it in the summer, even late spring. I know, I've murdered a lot of them! ;-)
Another suggestion: drive around and take note of plants that are doing well in your neighborhood. And lastly, I bought an inexpensive little sprinkler watering system from Home Depot, it came in a kit and during the summer I was able to soak the whole garden (mostly new plantings) at night 3 times a week. Everything finally thrived this year. Next summer I probably won't need to water as much, as everything will be better established.
Oh yeah, if you are fighting a lot of weeds or natural growth, as I was, what I did was I covered the whole garden in black plastic and let it stew for 6 months in the sun! That killed everything and gave me a very rich soil to work with.
In the pic: yellow daisy bush (I don't know the real name), bird of paradise, the purple bush is Mexican Sage,( those are great in the heat), and the red berries are a firethorn, which should grow great in your area too. I'm in zone 9 / 10, very hot and dry from May through..well, even now, in November. This pic was taken just a couple of weeks ago.
Good luck!
Lynne