Well, I'm having fun learning the natives here...natives in a climate of 60" of annual rain are certainly different from SoCal natives...lol.
The natives make sense...you're planting something that is suited to your area, rather than ...in your case, having to supply all that extra water and, in my case now...having to make sure that whichever plants can take all that extra water and not drown.
After 32 years in SoCal in SoCal on two adjoining properties, first one and then the other, with the worsening water situation and water bills going higher and higher despite me using less and less water.....finally I saw that I was fighting a losing battle and if we'd stayed, I would have gone to all natives. Even though everything I planted was more or less 'drought tolerant', it still wasn't enough, so I was gradually switching over to the natives line of thinking.
In SoCal, I thought I was fairly knowledgable, I get up here and learning the natives is interesting...lol..even in the grass in my own yard here, there are constantly new things popping up that keep me asking, "What is that?"
