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abutilons are flower factories, producing quantities of blossoms and are very easy care

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As a nurseryman, I like things which are low maintenance and provide a long season of interest. Here I mention but a few plants which associate well in containers and also work well in the garden. This is by no means the opinion on this. There are MANY plants which work well in concert together, providing an eye catching spot of color for the garden.

Calylophus drummondii is a low spreading perennial with fine narrow leaves. It is almost continuously in bloom from spring to frost. Use it for trailing, or as a bright border edging. The yellow cups are bright and stand out among many other yellow colored plants. You can see this some distance away as its color is brilliant and goes on for so long. Purples, blues are classic combinations, but don't forget foliage. Black, maroon, bronze foliage colors work well with this heavy blooming performer as well. If you like vibrant hot colors, this can provide that sunshine bright yellow and use orange and reds with it for a firery combination. As a container planting, use things like black leafed taro (colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic'). In the garden, many of the purple things like Royal Purple smoke tree(Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'), bronzy Sambucus racemosa 'Guincho Purple' work nicely in combination, and provide vertical elements as well since they are shrubs. Abutilons are nice companions too, 'Tangelo', Victor Reiter' are amazing oranges and also lend an air of tropical lushness.

Indigofera incarnata is a mouthful to remember, I usually tell people to call it the 'miniature pink wisteria bush' and they always remember that! It is very elegant, with pendant clusters of pink or white clusters in the wisteria fashion. Divided feathery foliate appears as an elegant foil to the flowers which have a long season. The bloom in spring, rest, then bloom again until frost. Nice thing to have at the front of the border, foundation planting, atop a retaining wall by a bench, anywhere you want a show stopper! The blooms are displayed to advantage in containers. They drape over the container sides and everyone always asks what that plant is. Easy care, water and feed lightly and that is about it, more sun, more flowers. Associates well with everything! A companion planting with Japanese maples is superb! Any plant that looks good with pink or white will look good with this.

Aloe 'Johnson's Hybrid' is a low spreading perennial with constant bloom spikes. This is a short border type plant, of easy culture. You can even let it dry out and it will live! Bloom stalks come regularly and the leaves have the healing quality of Aloe vera. Flowers are orange tubes which hang down from the upright spikes. Many clusters appear all throughout the growing season until frost. Hummingbirds just love it. I have sold this to people that thought they never wanted a 'cactus'/'succulent' in their garden ever again! it is that good with those endearing qualities.

Calandrinia spectabilis is another plant of similar stature to the aloe. Low spreading growth (and it grows fast). This time you have slightly taller flower stalks which bear cups of magenta purple, each lasting a day, but many, many flowers come again and again. As the plant grows, more stalks appear, so the clump is quite showy for a very long bloom season. It is succulent in look with fleshy leaves, and is very easy to grow in sun. Think of it as a long blooming perennial poppy.

The flowering gingers are a large group which provide elegant foliage giving a tropical air and late season blooms which are often very fragrant in whites, pinks, yellows, oranges and reds. There are variegated forms of many and some are also edible(think Thai, Indian, southeast Asian cuisines). Humousy soil, fertilizer, and water yield lush results and the blooms delight with their often fragrant flowers. They also make wonderful cut material for the vase. Sun to shade(more sun, more water) but they are fast growing and the foliage in itself is ornamental. Variegated forms are splashed in white or yellow in striped patterns. Nice and different container subjects.

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A brief mention about the satisfaction of growing fruit trees. Fruit trees are a wonderful addition to any landscape/garden. They provide the owner with a great sense of satisfaction and the opportunity to enjoy the bounty of nature. A side benefit is that in addition to adding to property value, a fruit tree listing will add dollars to the sale of the property and when you show your garden, everybody will be drawn to the fruits on the tree. Fruit trees are easy care, they are forgiving with most pruning regimes (incorrect cuts will heal over and new growth replaces that which was pruned off quickly in the growing season). For those ecologically minded, you know exactly what is sprayed (or not sprayed) on your trees/fruit. We have enough chemicals in our environment and going back to learn what our grandparents did to culture fruit trees without sprays is a better way. This mindset will not always apply, but then if you have a bad situation which needs immediate remedy, if you must spray, it will be minimal, and you can also use more friendly solutions which are available nowadays.

Planting and selecting your tree is important. Try to find a vigorous young tree with good widely spaced branches for structure. If it is very young and only a single stem, that is fine, you just tip prune the sapling and it will branch later. Space branches at least 6-8" apart and try to have them arranged all around the trunk. In other words, if your first branch starts out from the trunk pointing west, then maybe try to encourage the next branch above to grow opposite that one, facing east perhaps, and so on. Look for a healthy plant, avoid ones with damage to the trunk if you can. When planting the tree, select the site carefully. It should be sunny and the soil should drain well (very important for cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches... less so with others, but still important.) Look for the graft union of the tree and where there is a slight bulge above the cut scar, face that toward north, or else you can either paint the trunk or use a tree trunk guard. The reason for this is that this area is still young and tender, vulnerable to sunburn and if that happens, the tree will take a long time to heal over the burned area with new bark. Those tree guards or painting the trunk will shade that tender area until the trunk matures and becomes tough and strong. If your soil is heavy, plant high on a raised mound, this will help correct the drainage issue. You can mulch the root zone area if you wish after you water the plant in well to settle the soil. Water regularly after to keep the plant hydrated, but do not drown the plant, let the soil dry slightly between each subsequent watering and your tree will establish itself soon.

Fruit trees are less thirsty subjects for the landscape. They are trees, remember, and with a larger root system, can tap into water in deeper soil levels and further out from the canopy of the branches as they grow older.

If your soil is poor, you may wish to fertilize. Nitrogen is the most important element to these trees and will give the best results for the efforts. The other elements are needed, but can usually be found in most soil types.

The benefits of fruit trees are many, you can enjoy a fully tree ripened fruit bursting with flavor and often so juicy the nectar runs down your cheeks and lips. Fully ripened fruit is often too tender to ship so you can have something rare nowadays.... flavor, juice, and the satisfaction of growing it! If you have youngsters around, have them sample the bounty of nature. You will be instilling childhood memories which they will take with them all their lives and maybe even pass on to their children as well.

In a later post, I will describe the several types of pruning techniques for fruit trees.

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It is very gratifying to go out to the nursery, etc. filled with enthusiasm that you are looking to plant drought tolerant species for your garden. One very important thing to remember is that your plants have been grown under nursery conditions and they are small and young plants. This is important because although they will tolerate dryness, they first need regular watering in order to become established in your garden. This time frame to establish deeper roots which provide drought tolerance can take anywhere from 1-5 years. Some small growing species like native bunch grasses can establish rather quickly, while trees and shrubs will take longer. An important detail is also how much regular watering the species will tolerate as it becomes established.

With all containerized material, you should plant slightly higher than grade since the soil will settle from the planting installation. If the root ball settles higher than grade, you can make up the difference by adding mulch. Thorough watering is key and deep watering will help get roots to lower soil levels. Then let the plant dry out slightly. You want to provide intervals where the plant stays hydrated and also have the soil dry out enough to allow air to return to the soil structure for good root growth.

You can plant from conatiners anytime. Fall is often recommended, but when in containers, plants are established in the pots, and will be anxiously awaiting in ground planting, any season. You will get much root growth in the fall and winter seasons when it is cooler and also wetter, but remember that the sooner you place the plant into the ground, the sooner it will start growting and get established in your garden.

If planting in hot weather, gently tease the roots of most plants if they are circling in the container. If you are planting many, then just make shallow vertical cuts into the root ball from top to bottom of the root ball and then underscore with an 'X' the bottom of the root ball.

Some nice species:
Arctostaphylos (the manzanitas) many from which to choose: ground cover carpets to mounding shrubs, larger shrubs to almost small tree like.

Ceanothus: (California lilac): a large group as well, these need excellent drainage. They are not extremely long lived plants under gardening culture with regular watering (on mature plants). Young plants can tolerate more watering than old established plants. ground cover, many intermediate shrub forms, and on up to small tree size, flowers in blues, white, rarely pink. For a nautral soap, wet hands in water, then grab a cluster of blossoms and rub vigorously to make a soap from the wet blossoms and they have a nice fragrance too.

Romney coulteri (matilija poppy) a subshrub, tall perennial poppy with crepe paper white petals and yellow boss of stamens on large poppy flowers. Fragrant as well. Fully open blooms look like fried eggs. Do NOT disturb the roots if at all possible since poppies resent root disturbance. Regular watering will promote longer blooming, but they are quite drought tolerant after the first year.

Lobellia laxiflora: one of the almost continuously blooming clumping perennials for full jot sun. They bloom in open clusters atop many stems in the clump. Narrow foliage, and clusters of red tubed range yellow petals. In bloom almost continuously. A great hummingbird plant. Very tough and drought tolerant. full sun.

Puya species:

These make formidable barriers since the leaves are hook spined. They are sharp all over, and picturesque in outline of clustered clumps of foliage. Spectacular bloom stalks arise and bear trumpet funnel shaped blooms in satin finished colors of metallic blues, and greens. Full sun, these form large impemetrable clumps which are showy in bloom. If you want a barrier planting and want to preserve a view, try this!

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irrigation systems and watering techniques

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