"gardenlover" wrote in message
...

HELP!!! This hot summer weather in California (90F) is killing all the
plants in my backyard. To make it worse, the state is putting a limit
onto our daily water usage. Any suggestion?!?

How about lots of mulch? Can you buy bags of shredded hardwood or cedar
mulch out there? It'll probably cut your water needs by at least half.

The other solution is more painful. I'm basing this only on what I hear from
an ancient gardener friend in L.A. Not sure about other parts of southern
CA. Apparently, all the lush plant life that existed in L.A. for many, many
years consisted of species that looked great, but had no business being
there. Apparently, L.A. is a desert, except for all the water people use to
force the wrong species to grow there. Now, there are lots of resources
which will help you gradually replace your plants with native ones that are
better able to cope with the climate.