PCNs & Other Natives

PCNs are among the plants I don't try to segregate by color in my yard --
this is because of my interest in California native plants, although I do
admit to an unreasoning bias at this time and in this garden against more
than just a bare trace of red or orange!  Can't have a garden without
California Poppies, though, and then there are the lovely red blossoms and
fruit of my pomegranate.

My yard slopes down from the street; because I didn't want to put in a lawn
which would have to be mowed, and thinking drought tolerance and low
maintenance, I planted baccharis (coyote brush) and rosemary as a high
ground cover in front, with a small cactus/succulent bed on one side of the
path which leads down the west side to the back yard.

When it came time to plant flowers, iris and geraniums seemed to me to
provide the most amount of color for the least amount of effort -- still
thinking low maintenance (!) and that is what they got for a number of
years.  (The geraniums are planted on a slope in the back; iris bed is
visible from the street.)

This last year was when the rocky streambed was installed along the west
side of the lot, with native plantings on each side and also replacing some
of the rosemary and baccharis in front.  There are only 4 or 5 PCNs along
the streambed and I'm very interested in acquiring more.

Actually, for aesthetic reasons the streambed crosses the path (stepping
stones provided) and curves into and then out of a portion of the iris bed
and on down into the back yard, ending in a SMALL wetlands area.  This lower
portion of the streambed is needed because the next door neighbor drains his
washing machine water along there and special care had to be taken to choose
plantings that could handle grey water.

Plantings along the streambed, including the PCNs, are on an automatic drip
irrigation system and this spring (rains stopped early) when it got up to
the high 80s and into the 90s I had it on once a week for 2 hours at a time.
All plants seem to be thriving.

Any comments and/or advice gratefully received.

Dorothy C. Frisbie
Woman of Many Interests
Escondido, CA
AIS Region 15, Sunset Zone 20/21
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