Front Garden In Heatstroke Update

This plant symbolizes how I would like my garden to look - tropical, lush, green.... Unfortunately, this is the only really lush green thing in the yard and this is because he is underneath the awning over my front porch.

I'm really excited that this plant has grown so much since we bought it 5 years ago, although I'm a little afraid that it may outgrow the space underneath here. My plan is to train it so it looks really cool and tropical underneath this sheltered area.

The coolest thing is that I NEVER water it! We are in a severe drought, here. It actually rained for like 2 minutes the other day because of the humidity, but it was so sad that it didn't last. I was born and raised just outside of NYC and I miss a good rainstorm very, very much.

In the meantime, we are not irrigating anything besides using water we reclaim from the showers as they warm or rinsing organic fruits and veggies.

This is what the rest of my garden looks like right now... desert.

Hubby is in the finishing stages of working on this patio and pouring the last bag of rock on the outer edge.

Many other people on our block have lawns and waste water. In fact, I often find damp soil when I dig in my barren desert because I'm downhill from a neighbor that regularly waters...

We are going to add more plants once the rock is done. We just like to carefully select plants and trees that we just fall in love with, and add cuttings from other plants that are already here, so we like to take our time.

We have some large rocks we are going to use to help with the slope and add some interest.

We will not be planting any more hydrangea. She is a thankful recipient of shower water but got fried when we had the 100 degree heat and wildfires. Despite that, I think she'll do a lot better next year, and she is surviving heatstroke just fine I suppose.