Given so little rain, how does it stay so green in SoCal?

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

The gardener in me wonders if the soil where you're from back east is maybe clay? Sounds like it doesn't hold water. CA for the most part, has great soil.

I think a lot of people have switched to more native plants, too, that don't require as much water as non-native plants. So, even if they water, the plants don't need to be watered much.

I've always loved the way the state plants oleander bushes along the highways. They stay lush and green and bloom constantly, without being watered, all summer long.

https://www.google.com/search?q=olea...w=1440&bih=754

I've seen some yards around San Jose that use aptenia instead of a lawn. It's a succulent ground cover that's bright green with little hot pink flowers - really pretty and doesn't need hardly any water. I swiped some cuttings from a medical building landscaping and have some growing on my balcony.

https://www.google.com/search?q=apte...w=1440&bih=754

It's fun to read your posts about how you appreciate CA. We normally hear people complaining about the state lol. Welcome! I moved to TN for about 5 years a long time ago, and couldn't wait to get back to the west coast and away from the humidity and bugs. Except fireflies. I do miss the fireflies :-)

[Astral_Weeks]

Mediterranean costal sage scrub defines much of the Santa Monica Mountains as well as other costal parts of So.Calif. As was mentioned upthread, though very dry in summer, the coastal fog provides additional moisture to keep the area looking relatively green.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_sage_scrub

Also, with 17 inches a year in rainfall, Thousand Oaks gets more rain than other parts of So.Calif. For instance, Riverside in the I.E. only gets about 11 inches a year.

Not to be too pessimistic but the native trees (sycamores, oaks, etc.) that give shade and the hue of green we do have here in SoCalif. are dying in large numbers due to a particular strain of beetle.

The trees that make Southern California shady and green are dying. Fast

[TheLonelyGoatherd]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

The gardener in me wonders if the soil where you're from back east is maybe clay? Sounds like it doesn't hold water. CA for the most part, has great soil.

I think a lot of people have switched to more native plants, too, that don't require as much water as non-native plants. So, even if they water, the plants don't need to be watered much.

I've always loved the way the state plants oleander bushes along the highways. They stay lush and green and bloom constantly, without being watered, all summer long.

https://www.google.com/search?q=olea...w=1440&bih=754

I've seen some yards around San Jose that use aptenia instead of a lawn. It's a succulent ground cover that's bright green with little hot pink flowers - really pretty and doesn't need hardly any water. I swiped some cuttings from a medical building landscaping and have some growing on my balcony.

https://www.google.com/search?q=apte...w=1440&bih=754

It's fun to read your posts about how you appreciate CA. We normally hear people complaining about the state lol. Welcome! I moved to TN for about 5 years a long time ago, and couldn't wait to get back to the west coast and away from the humidity and bugs. Except fireflies. I do miss the fireflies :-)

Thank you! You know the 80s movie Splash with Tom Hanks? My husband said I sound like the mermaid when she was oohing and aaahing over things like street lights in NYC, lol. I'm just amazed at all of the beauty in this state. There is no other state that has so much diversity in landscape. Just the other day I was walking and came across the strangest looking tree. It was white with bark all over the ground. I took photos and came home to look it up. It looked most like a eucalyptus tree. I'm thinking, like the koalas eat in Australia? No it has to be a different eucalyptus. Turns out it is the exact same tree as Australia! They were brought over here in the 1800s. And it turns out all of that bark shedding makes good kindling for fires. But still how amazing that I can walk around the block and see pine trees, mountains, palm trees, cactus, juniper, oak trees, Mediterranean cypress, lemon trees, orange trees and eucalyptus trees. You can't see that anyplace else!

Oh and the dirt in the south was very much like clay. In Virginia we had this red clay that if you got it on your clothes, the stain was never coming out. I had a shirt that I often wore to garden and the same red clay stain stayed on that shirt for years with a hundred washings. In the northeast it was sometimes clay and other places dark nice dirt. But I think you may be right about the dirt not holding in the moisture. Because the rare times you'd get a nice stretch of no rain in the summer, like maybe a week to 10 days, you'd start hearing people freak out about drought and how we need the rain.
Well in California you don't need 40-50 inches of rain just for plants to survive. Wussy plants. California has the Dwayne Johnson of plants.

[DKM]

The winters will be green too while Virginia will be grey. Welcome to paradise. Just wait until a few winter storms water the hills and really make it green. Then the next day its 74 and you can't believe its "winter". I too will never leave...

Agave plants blooming, I still can't believe it, look like a miracle of nature. Make sure to drive up to Santa Barbara and check out the stuff growing there.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by TheLonelyGoatherd

Thank you! You know the 80s movie Splash with Tom Hanks? My husband said I sound like the mermaid when she was oohing and aaahing over things like street lights in NYC, lol. I'm just amazed at all of the beauty in this state. There is no other state that has so much diversity in landscape. Just the other day I was walking and came across the strangest looking tree. It was white with bark all over the ground. I took photos and came home to look it up. It looked most like a eucalyptus tree. I'm thinking, like the koalas eat in Australia? No it has to be a different eucalyptus. Turns out it is the exact same tree as Australia! They were brought over here in the 1800s. And it turns out all of that bark shedding makes good kindling for fires. But still how amazing that I can walk around the block and see pine trees, mountains, palm trees, cactus, juniper, oak trees, Mediterranean cypress, lemon trees, orange trees and eucalyptus trees. You can't see that anyplace else!

Oh and the dirt in the south was very much like clay. In Virginia we had this red clay that if you got it on your clothes, the stain was never coming out. I had a shirt that I often wore to garden and the same red clay stain stayed on that shirt for years with a hundred washings. In the northeast it was sometimes clay and other places dark nice dirt. But I think you may be right about the dirt not holding in the moisture. Because the rare times you'd get a nice stretch of no rain in the summer, like maybe a week to 10 days, you'd start hearing people freak out about drought and how we need the rain.
Well in California you don't need 40-50 inches of rain just for plants to survive. Wussy plants. California has the Dwayne Johnson of plants.

Oh, I love the smell of the eucalyptus trees! There's a stretch of them along a highway near Monterey, CA, and I always open up my windows to just breathe the smell.

CA has a Mediterranean climate. I'm guessing that other places with this climate have the same type of flora - like southern Italy, Greece, Turkey, southern France, etc.

I did enjoy the evergreens when I moved to WA. The forest there has it's own green beauty and it's also not humid. And when I moved to TN, I found an appreciation for deciduous trees and their beautiful fall colors - not a lot of that in CA, though you can find it. And I loved the fireflies and the cardinals (birds), so pretty and they have such a pretty song. All of the pretty birds in CA have horrible voices - like blue jays.

The old neighborhoods have the best old landscaping, in my opinion. That's where you will find a lot of orange, lemon and lime trees. Newer developments consider them messy. But, in my old neighborhood of San Jose, there are citrus trees everywhere and people put their extra fruit out on the sidewalk for anyone to take, which I take advantage of :-)

And so many things grow so well here because of the climate. I highly suggest you try growing your own tomatoes next year at least.

I do remember the movie Splash and I completely understand what you are experiencing. I moved away from CA for around 20 years, and told myself when I finally land for good, it will be somewhere that palm trees and bougainvillea plants thrive, and where there isn't high humidity, and hopefully it will be back in CA, where I also love our progressive environmental and political attitudes that include taking care of the less fortunate.

I love my state. I'll never leave again. I'm happy you appreciate it :-)

[dontbelievehim]

Socal is the waterhog Mecca
It's all an illusion

Meet California's Biggest Water Hogs | TakePart

[NativeOrange]

Nice timing for this article.

https://la.curbed.com/2018/8/23/1772...e-jasmine-palm

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

Nice timing for this article.

https://la.curbed.com/2018/8/23/1772...e-jasmine-palm

Great article, thanks for posting. I learned a few new things, and my wife will love it. We already had, have planted, or plan on planting most in this article here in San Diego, now we can add a few more to the list. While I have great memories climbing on them as a kid, unfortunately I don’t think the fig tree will make the cut. Thanks again