I live near San Francisco, in California , which also has one of the few Med. climates. We have 3-4 months of continuous drought, each year during summer, so water preservation is a concern. Any plant i list here regarding water use, is a mature sized plant. Drought tolerant: I've never watered any of the Mexican Sage, which were on my property when I bought it, because they never need it. Long flowers of a deep lavender hue attract hummingbirds every day. c. 5 feet tall by just as wide. There are many forms of salvia that are drought tolerant. - It took me a long time to take to Succulents, but after I remembered my grandmothers growing ' Hens and Chicks' in her cottage garden, I added a dozen or so to my rose garden. I have several growing in a low bowl shaped container to show off their growth habit. I find their smooth texture adds interest to a rose garden. Pomegranite I keep mine to c. 5' tall by 6 feet wide, by never watering it. Since reading that the climbing rose, 'Sombruiel' is drought tolerant in our area, I plan to move mine so it is in the same bed as the Pom. Mexican Primrose, pink flowers that bloom nearly constantly through summer. plants are about 2 and 1/2 feet tall. can be invasive if given the right conditions. -Allysium, the white form has longer roots and needs less water. -Many of the native Med. plants are drought tolerant, allysium, lavender et cet. Shrub;'Breath of Heaven' has a great scent, and can be grown as a fragrant hedge. Last year I decided that any plant in my garden was going to receive a minimal amount of water during our drought and those that lived could remain. This did, to my great delight. Snow in summer' sorry I forgot the Latin name which begins with C... a low growing plant that spreads over an area of c. a yard. silvery green foliage and small white flowers. Rose Campion, another med. native that has silvery gray leaves. a flower that has been growing in cottage gardens for hundreds of years. I have it growing beside 'Westside Road Cream Tea' I do like herbs planted amongst my roses: smaller forms of rosemary, oregano, there's some fancy forms 'Kent Beauty ' is one of those, mother of thyme makes a deep green carpet and the flowers keep the bees happy. Lemon verbena near a path gives off a lovely and refreshing scent as one walks by and touches it. Poets Jasmine, again on a north facing wall so the shade lessens its' need for water. I'd plant it by a pink remontant rose as the jasmine does not re-bloom. Nasturtium. The hummingbirds love 'Empress of India', a red nasturtium. Forget-me-nots, I plant them on the sides of rosebushes where they only get half a days sun, and need less water that way. Average water: Scabiosa, there's a mauve form and a purple form that are very pretty. Violets and Parma violets give winter interest, Parma violets are water wise plants when grown in partial shade. Pelagoniums, I grew up calling them Geraniums, I have 'Roxanne' and 'Electric Blue'. Lilys. I prefer the scented Oriental lilys to the scentless Asian hybrids. I had to move all my 'Casablanca' lilies to a pot on a pedestal because snails ate an entire bed of my lilies. Water Wise, (Not quite drought tolerant, need to be watered twice a month in summer here) Lavender. I water French Lavender 2-3 times during a summer and Spanish lavender once a month. I find the shorter forms of lavender need watering more often so I don't grow them anymore. I plant any of my largest rosebushes which don't need support furthest out from the faucet, because they get watered only once a month in summer, and rarely in the other seasons because we do get some rain (usually) the rest of the year. Large self-supporting rosebushes: spray 'Cecille Brunner' I've seen this grown so it has one large basal cane and been pruned: -Into a large balloon shaped shrub. -into a hedge. Each plant makes a wonderfully fragrant hedge with good re-bloom, c. 8 feet long, by 3-4 feet tall, depending on how tall the person wanted it. My neighbor grows hers on the side of a shed. Mme. Alfred Carriere, this is drought tolerant when mature, in our climate. I only watered it twice this summer. I keep it to c. 6 feet tall by c. 5 feet wide, by shearing it 2-3 times back, each summer. Monsieur Tillier, can reach 10 feet tall by nearly as wide. In general the larger the canopy of a large rosebush, the deeper the roots grow, and are able to access levels of water that shorter rosebushes cannot. Susan Louise' a marvelous Hybrid Gigantea that blooms from February through December locally. Produces large roses in profusion that are a fresh hue of pink. Can be grown as a self supporting shrub, c. 18' tall by 9' across, which has the sillouette of an apple tree if limbed, I've also seen it grown as a 25 foot long climber on a 4 foot tall fence. A nice but light fragrance. - since your sister loves Lady Hillingdon, perhaps she'd like 'Anna Olivier' a shapely honey hued Tea rose with an intense fragrance, it's more richly hued sport is called 'Lady Roberts' and I envy her having such a sublime rose given her name. -Mrs. B.R.Cant' big pink roses on a big plant. I water this only half as often as I do my smaller rosebushes, such as my Hybrid Teas, and it doesn't seem to mind. Clematis; I plant them on the North side of the house so they get shade, and therefore need less watering. c. jackmanni is easy to grow. Best wishes Luxrosa

I am in Western Australia (Perth) and a newbie to the garden Forum.I have grown crops in England and Canada in the past. RE: Growing weeds to eat: I grow plantain (only very young leaves are palatable and even that is a matter for debate!), wild dandelion(leaf and root),cultivated dandelion,burdock(root),lambs quarters,sow thistle,pigweed,nettles,chickweed,wild lettuce,purslane,evening primrose(leaves and root),chicory(Leaves and root),yarrow(only when very young and in small quantities),lambs lettuce,gotu kola,vegetable amaranth,grain amaranth,wild rocket(of course this is fashionable currently!),sorrel,clover(leaves and roots),mallow(leaves),watercress - all of which I eat in addition to what I plant in my vege patch.There are many edible grasses also which I have tied in my area but do not know the name of.If my guinea pigs eat it by choice, I know it won't kill me! I have grown shepherds purse but it took over the garden.. I would love to hear of ANY more edible wild plants to grow, of whatever climate... I would especially like to hear of anyone growing skirret in WA or who knows where i might obtain it here.It is my namesake until I find it!Or of anyone anywhere growing unusual coloured carrots,or strange strains of sweet potatoes...my list is endless really. I found a site created some years ago(some links do not work) which has some information about about human nutrition and development and which I found interesting,http://www.naturalhub.com/ I am about to purchase and try to grow some more unusual wild edible plants I have sourced.There are so many people have almost forgotten about.I am trying to collect the oldest seeds (from the 1800's)I can before these are lost. And I have not even begun to look at the native plants here,which are completely undeveloped by humans.It is difficult to get hold of unusual seeds here as the quarantine restrictions and limits on what is allowed are prohibitive compared to the rest of the world.This is to protect the crops presently grown here that are currently disease-free. And because of the above I am doubly fascinated to hear of anyone growing unusual plants. I am presently trying to get some red huckleberries to germinate,which will be quite a feat here in Perth if a success, given the much warmer climate, so here's hoping!

Zabby, The whole cloves (Spice World) peeled garlic that I buy in 3 lb containers aren't packed in anything. The minced garlic (I don't buy anymore) is packed in olive oil. Garlic remains the only thing that I have been unable to ferment by itself. Really convinced me just how good its anti-bacterial qualities are. Salsa...... Subbing chopped parsley leaves for the cilanto really helped for me. Yesterday batch #1 4 cups tomatoes 4 cups peaches 1 1/2 cups sweet onion 1 1/2 cups green bell pepper 1 Biker Billy jalapeño 2 Bhut Jolokia peppers (very hot) 7 garlic cloves 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper 1/8 cup canning salt 1/8 cup parsley 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup lemon juice 15 oz can tomato sauce 12 oz can tomato paste BWB for 15 min = 6 pints Batch #2 8 cups tomatoes 4 cups peaches 2 1/4 cups green bell pepper 2 tbs manzano pepper powder (hot) 10 garlic cloves 3 1/4 cups sweet onions 1 tbs cumin seeds 1 tbs fresh ground black pepper 3/16 cup canning salt 3 tbs parsley 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 cup lemon juice 15 oz can tomato sauce 12 oz can tomato paste BWB for 15 min = 7 pints and aprox 2 for the fridge to be frozen today. I forgot the tomatillos and will just chop them into the 2 or so pints that I'm going to freeze. Or I might pressure process them. The peach skin didn't seem to hurt a thing. The peaches were a bit hard, but I liked the flavor and they sure diced nicely in my new onion dicer. Tomatoes are the only thing that I have to dice by hand and they took forever as I am so stinking slow at things like that. Thanks again, Annie!! jt

So sorry about the loss of your dear son. Can't imagine your pain. My sister lost her only daughter 7 years ago to cancer at age 29. She was like my own baby girl. She was so tough. Made jokes about the cancer right up to the end. We used to have a heavy competition with games on her Atari when she was 9-10 or so. When she called me in to say her goodbyes, she said that whenever I see a blank TV or computer screen she would be playing Atari with me from heaven. I had totally forgotten about it, it had been so long. She left each of us with such personal goodbyes. She asked me to take care of her mom, she said mom will be busy taking care of her brothers and my niece's own little boys but mom needed looking after too. One of our favorite moments was after a month or more of not being able to keep down a single drop of water, she asked for a beer. So at 9:00 in the morning, her brother smuggled in a 12 pack. And my niece, her brothers, her parents, doctor and her pastor had their beers. Niece had 2! She didn't feel too well the next morning, but she felt triumphant at her accomplishment.