November is still a great time to add plants to your San Diego garden. It’s also a good time to add or renew mulch. That will help keep weeds down once our seasonal rains have started. And if we’re lucky enough to get rain in November, it might be time to adjust your irrigation.
Plant Cool-Season Annuals
Avoid warm-season plants like petunias and zinnias. Instead look for cool-season annuals like African daisies, calendula, dianthus, Iceland poppies, pansies, snapdragons, stock, primroses and violas. Choose plants that haven’t bloomed yet or are still in bud. They’ll bloom longer in your garden. You can also grow poppies, flax, forget-me-nots, godetia, larkspur, linaria and sweet peas from seed.
Update Your Irrigation
If you’re refurbishing a garden bed or two this fall, think about updating your irrigation too. If you’re still using sprinklers, there are new, rotating heads that deliver water more like rainfall. Better yet for rain-starved, San Diego gardens, swap out your sprinkler system with a water-saving, drip system. Although the original drip systems using individual emitters are getting replaced with in-line, lower maintenance ones, both are available and help you deliver water right to your plants’ roots. And if you really want to create a water-efficient irrigation system, install a smart controller and rain barrels.
Grow Ornamental Grasses
Add some ornamental grasses to your San Diego garden now so they can get established during winter rains. Try these drought tolerant, easy-care and often colorful options:
- Dianella caerulea 'Cassa Blue' – blue-green foliage, yellow-throated dark blue flowers spring and summer, followed by blue berries.
- Dianella revoluta 'Little Rev' and 'Big Rev' – flax lilies with stiff, straight foliage. Compact, drought tolerant, good with succulents and Mediterranean-climate plants.
- Lomandra longifolia 'The Breeze' – shiny deep-green, gently arching, 30-inch tall blades. Creamy yellow flower spring and fall. Once established, minimal water.
- Muhlenbergia capillaris (Pink Muhly Grass) – North American native covered with pink flowers September to December. Drought tolerant, 3 feet by 3 feet, semi-deciduous in winter. That’s pink muhly grass in the photo above.
- Muhlenbergia emersleyi (El Toro or Bull Grass) – blue-green, thin-bladed, U.S. native forms tight clumps 2 feet tall and wide. In fall, purple flower panicles dangle on stiff 3-4 foot long stems. One of the most drought-tolerant grasses.
- Muhlenbergia rigida (Nashville Grass) – 2 feet tall and wide, upright with fine, light green leaves and fall-blooming purple flowers that fade to wheat. Cut back in spring to reinvigorate.
- Muhlenbergia dubia (Pine Muhly Grass) – Southwest native, 12-18-inches tall with compact clumps of light-green foliage that fades to tan. Cream flowers on slender stalks more than 2 feet high in late summer. Adaptable.
- Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks' – fountain grass with variegated pink and white-striped foliage. Adds a rich purple as seasons change. In the summer, purple tassels above 2-3-foot tall clumps. Cut back to 6-8 inches tall in early spring to freshen.
- Stipa arundinacea (New Zealand Wind Grass) – fast-growing, olive, amber and gold, arching foliage that grows to 3 feet by 3 feet. Low-maintenance with rosy flowers in summer that turn bronze in fall. Cut back to 8-12 inches in winter.
San Diego Garden Tips Source
A lot of information for San Diego Garden Tips comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.