interplanting borders with drought tolerant natives

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deependr Santa Paula, CA Apr 29, 2017

Hi all,
I live on a citrus farm in Ventura County CA, in zone 9. There has been a riparian right and unlimited water for this property since 1908, that is until the Anthropocene, and our last round of drought, which, despite Jerry Brown's confident announcement that it is over, is still very much in play where I live. The previous stewards of this land decided to plant masses of irrigated ornamentals. I have saved our water for our crops, so now I have very crappy looking beds and borders with the few survivors, and lots of opportunistic volunteers.
I am trying to think this is an opportunity, not a disaster, and I have a plan to start interplanting drought tolerant natives and Mediterranian friends amongst the patchy agapanthus that still survives in the anticipation that as the meds and natives get settled I can heel off the irrigation entirely or very seldom, and have borders with lively camel plants that look good and support our native bees and butterflies with little or no additional water. Is this a pipe dream?

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growin Beautiful, BC(Zone 8b) Apr 30, 2017

No. Sounds practical. There's a number of nurseries that offer odd or rare drought resistant plants such as Annie's Annual and Las Pilitas Nursery for reference. You might also look at purchasing seed of annuals and perennials, which is much cheaper than grown plants for coverage. Rototill the weeds in as pulling takes forever. Draw out rough sketches of how it currently is and add material of how you want it done and pick an area to start with. I'm doing the same with my property, albeit much smaller.

ps. You might want to invest in a few yards of compost and divide and replant what has survived. Build small moats around the plants so that when you water, it goes in the roots. Amending the soil should be a primary focus as it goes a long way to plant survival and moisture retention, even in drought.

This message was edited Apr 30, 2017 2:05 PM

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