Do those of you facing drought have mulcn on your plants? It really helps.

At our house, things are unusual. We are having our home renovated, and the dirt for the new foundation was piled up in a big mound. In time, the mound was spread over the back garden. In the front, construction work killed or covered everything. The result is that we will re-landscape half of property - it's a tabula rasa.

We are trying to make a garden with a mix of native plants and low-maintenance perennials, with consideration given for bad knees.