California Gardening: Lovin' this SoCal weather, 1 by fabooj

fabooj wrote:
Hi all...this is my first post here, so if I break community rules (which I hope I'm not), please be gentle.

We had our little freeze and managed to lose a lot of plants. Most of what we had at our apt. that we moved to our new house. I've spent the last few weeks buying up all my dream plants but this heat is killing them. Actually, I can't say that...it could be a combination of me over/underwatering some plants AND the heat. All that being said, I'm pretty lost. As I mentioned we moved from an apt. where we lived for 8 years and everything was in containers. We had no sun on one side and too much sun on the other so now I'm trained to plant that way. I need to relearn how to garden with all these different areas available and figure out water needs. I'm hoping someone can give me some pointers.

1. Plectranthus - I planted this on the north side of my house because of the shade. What I stupidly forgot was that a) my house is only one story and b) the west side still gets afternoon sun for a couple of hours. Now the leaves are losing their purple and some are burnt on top. Suggestions?

2. Primula malacoides - Planted in the same area as above, I think they're getting too much water, but not sure. The leaves are wilted and yellow and the soil is moist if I stick my index finger in. I'm still getting some new blossoms, but they're much smaller and tend to last only a few hours.

3. Viola - These things are weirding me out. I've never had a probably growing them before. Every morning when I wake up, the plants are all wilted and just laying there looking sad. I mist them, and they perk up, but with this heat I'm out there spraying them about 4 - 7 times a day. I may move these to where our water fountain will go. Will that be a better solution?

4. Australian Tree Fern - Sigh...this thing is killing me. We had it delivered a week ago. I had it in the shade and it immediately started to wilted. Moved it to a partial sun spot where I thought it was doing better, but it was really playing a trick on me and slowly wilting anyway. Now I have it in the middle of my back yard where it gets full sun all day long. So far no wilting, but none of the frond thingies are uncurling. I water it throughly in the morning or late evening and mist it throughout the day. Is it safe to assume it needs full sun? I've seen these things all over Los Angeles in the shade and out in the sun and they've always just been there. I can't believe I'm having this much trouble.

5. Shaded yard: My front yard is east-facing. Nice in the morning, very nice on hot days, but what can I grow there. I had intended on putting some jasmine and calla lilies there, but I think maybe there's not enough sun. Are there any vine plants beside vinca that can grow in the shade?

That's about it. I've been lurking on other forums for help, but for whatever reason feel like this forum is 'home'...probably because I've spent so much time lurking here.

TIA
fabooj