Re: NEW MEMBER

Hi Sylvia and welcome!

I am going to jump in here and I know others will do the same.

Hebes are NZ natives and do take some additional water, but many of the Australian natives are incredibly drought tolerant - the grevilleas, leucadendrons, and other members of the protea family in particular.   I grow them in western facing exposure here in San Diego County, full hot sun, watered once a week or less often in summer and they do splendidly.  

The biggest problem I find is when they develop root rot from too wet soil in the summer.  If you keep them dry, then they do great.  

On occasion, you'll find leaves pale or yellowing which comes from a lack of iron availability in our soils, especially the more alkaline soils.  When that happens, sprinkle the soil above the root zone with elemental sulfur and an iron supplement.  You can apply these any time of year, but I like to do it the beginning of the rainy season so the rain helps it infiltrate  the soil without any additional irrigation. After a few months, the leaves will color up again.  

Hope that helps

Nan 

On Jul 10, 2007, at 2:40 PM, Sylvia Sykora wrote:

Hi Gardeners -

I garden in USDA Zone 9, in northern California, in the Oakland hills, within sight of San Francisco Bay.  About 75% of our weather is marine driven; right now the typical summer pattern afternoon fog is roaring in.   Since we’re at nearly 1500’ elevation, we also get the heat from the inland valley, particularly in September and October, our fire season.

I’ve gardened at my present site for 20 years and came here with a host of English-oriented ideas and desires spurred on by an English gardener friend and my early reading.  I’ve only come to realize the necessity to give that up in the past five years or so and am having fun re-doing many portions of the garden, most recently a 100’ long, west-facing slope which we planted with California natives a year ago, in late winter with plenty of rain, and which has done remarkably well once we figured out how to discourage the deer, raccoons and turkeys which relish the site.

My question today is about using New Zealand and Australian plants in my garden.   My experience is that without adequate water they do not do well or even survive.  I can keep Hebe going but only in pots which get irrigated.  I’m working now on three areas, all of which get brutal western sun.  I’d like to keep my irrigation to an absolute minimum once the plants are established and wonder if looking to the native plants from NZ and Australia is a good idea.

I’d be grateful for any suggestions about their use you may have.

Thank you.

Sylvia Sykora

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