Question
re:watering. I have 4 related questions: (1) Lavatera Maritima in 1/2 wine
barrels facing south along the back of the house. I get yellow leaves (&
sometimes buds) that yellow and drop.  I've been told both over/under
watering and I can't figure it out. (2) Phomium Cookianum (flax) fronds either
turning brown completely of half way down the leaf, get full to partial sun,
little shade. What would cause this? (3) Our lawn dried up in large patches
because I forgot to turn the sprinklers back on after the rain.  Now that it's
getting water it is better, but everywhere it seems that there is dead grass
woven in the good grass.  Are these insects or strictly a water problem?  (4)
Just in general, rule of thumb on watering gardens and lawn?

We have automatic sprinklers, a few drip lines to the Lavatera & porch pots,
we live in Modesto, which has been in the 90's and low 100's lately, then a
few days are in 80's & 70's.  We got the backyard landscaped professionally
almost one year ago but haven't gone through a summer with it yet.  The
front area was landscaped by the builders and is on an auto sprinkler system
as well.

Thanks for any help you can get.  Our backyard is on the southern side of the
house and the front yard is on the northern side.

Answer
Hi Margie,
Thanx for your question.  First of all, the plants ine the wine barrels...do the wine barrels drain freely?  If they do not drain or drain slowly, there is too much water.  Another thing about bud drop is that there is an insect that causes this.  Immediately collect dropped buds, put them in a plastic bag and seal them.  The bugs (if there are any) will come out of the buds.  This would be the caterpillar larvae of the leaf gall midge.  You can control them with pyrethroids available at your local DIY or nursery.  Secondly, the Phormium cookianum (Mountain flax) may be getting too much water but check for mealy bugs too.  Thirdly, I am not a lawn expert.  But, I do know that there is a fungal problem with certain grasses in the summertime where there are hot, humid conditions.  Even though you may be dry a lot in the Central Valley, the irrigation and other watering can contribute to this problem.  Here is a link to lawn diseases from North Dakota State University.  Even though this comes out of NDSU, much of it can be applicable to Central California.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/landscap/pp950w.htm  You may want to make sure that your landscapers are using turf that is good for Central California.  People often use turf that looks good where it is native say Florida which won't necessarily work in California.

Here is a link to your local California Cooperative Extension Service in Stanislaus County.  The folks there can be a lot of help with horticulture and turf problems for your local conditions.

http://cestanislaus.ucdavis.edu/

I used to live in Monterey (not the Central Valley but relatively close by...) many, many moons ago and I still get to the Central Valley every now and then through work (Fresno).  Good luck and I hope this helps.

Tom