Mastic Tree

We have a mastic in the yard of our new house. It has always had sparse folliage and looks nothing like other mastic trees I see around o...Read Moreur area. All of a sudden the new growth has dried up and I worry it is dying. I am watering it more thoroughly hoping that might help but now I worry it could be getting too much water? Its high summer in AZ! Can more water really hurt right now? A nice little drip going all day?

I have this tree ...its beautiful, dense and lush.
I have it in a pot by an east facing wall in a south facing garden in London UK...Read More, its nestled under a grape vine and under tall bay trees and an olive tree. I have been growing it for 3 years now and am hoping for some flowers this spring and then some berries come autum as I use them in cooking. I don't give it much water, but it does get a shot of nitrogen every now and then and its rather shaded in summer under the vine and trees. so far so good, I love my little mastic tree.

This plant is native here - it's a very typical Mediterranean bush or small tree. It loves hot, dry conditions and never seems to suffer ...Read Moreas a result of drought. Sometimes there are four months in a row in summer here with no rain at all, and daily temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius (95F). Pistacia lentiscus takes this in its stride.

It's not a particularly showy plant, but has attractive evergreen foliage and makes a very good background. It should be hardy down to about -10C (14F), maybe lower.

Highly recommended if you need a tough, very drought-tolerant shrub for a dry, sunny position.

This is a wonderful, evergreen, extremely low-litter tree which provides DENSE shade. Ours is in a side yard (east/west exposure) and we ...Read Morenever water it. Despite that, this little tree is thriving to the point where I have to trim off 2-3 wayward branches every spring.

If you need a nonmessy, densely-shaded tree for a patio or pool, this is it. Plant 2 or 3 to increase the shaded area. It wants to grow low and wide, rather than up, so keep that in mind when selecting your site.

I would avoid specimens that are tightly strapped to a stake every 6 inches (like ours was) unless you don't mind an "interesting" shape later on. Ours kept flopping over in every conceivable direction during that first summer, so we had to prop it up with flexible ties so it could strengthen its very weak trunk.

It eventually did develop a sturdy, freestanding trunk but the tree is bent over in the shape of a "C"! (You can't see it because the foliage is so dense, but if we could do it over we'd pick a smaller specimen that can stand up on its own.)

This tree is rated as slow-growing, but ours is moderate - with no irrigation.