http://groksurf.com/2009/10/18/planting-time/ Local observations on water, environment, technology, law & politics Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:41:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://groksurf.com/2009/10/18/planting-time/#comment-88 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:17:38 +0000 http://groksurf.wordpress.com/?p=1848#comment-88 Nice choices, and great seeing you at the sale! I saw the sage and was tempted by its linear leaves, and the manzanita should be a nice low contrast that should grow a little faster than some selections. My favorite way to get natives established in the landscape is to plant them and water them really well. (Spot watering with a hose works great.) I might water every 3-5 days, depending on the weather, for a couple weeks, then taper off to weekly, bi-weekly, then monthly as the plants get established. Any rains along the way will of course mean you can not water until the soil dries a bit. By late spring you should be able to water them very little (the manzanitas) or not at all (the sage). The secret to drought-tolerance is as much a deep root system as any adaptive mechanisms above the ground, and a potted native plant may need as much water as any other potted plant until it gets established. Good luck with the plants!

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