Gadzooks, The Bustopher, your Kleopatra is a good-looking rose! And I think your Royal Highness looks finely crafted with her beautiful form and color. So you were touched by an angel, hehe,; I'll say!! ;) Thanks so much for sharing these lovelies with us. :) Debbie

another common houseplant that is poisonous is dumb cane.. aka Dieffenbachia .. you ought to research all your plants.. knowledge is power .... i dont understand why there is any issue about how to get rid of it.. open the front door.. and lob it out into the street ... hopefully in front of a large truck ... i might also note... MIL friend probably had it for years.. and she lived long enough to give it away ... how poisonous can it be ... though of course.. you learn all about it.. and treat it with respect ... btw .... it doesnt look like it is in prime shape anyway ... you might be better off.. just being done with it ... regardless of the other issue ... ken ps: bet you my shiny penny... if you put it at the curb ... in the appropriate season ... not winter ... someone would take it .. lol... not your problem anymore ... hey craig.. wheres your list??? https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=dumb+cane&ia=web

Well, I looked at your link. Is your home a recent rebuild? If so, I'm sure you did some state-of-the-art things to fireproof your home as much as possible, like vulcanvents (self-closing in the event of fire), fire rated windows, automated fire suppression systems, sprinklers, and many more things. As all of us fire victims are doing/have done. I am not an expert, by any means, but only pointing out that no one, from the fire department (who signs off on plans), the landscape architect, the extremely rigorous planning department of our city which is pretty near to Santa Monica, has suggested that there be a "droughtscape". Again, I'm no expert, but I am concerned that you are overthinking it, and to the detriment of lifestyle and comfort, for reasons that *might* not make sense, but just make you feel better--which is important, too! I am just suggesting that you go get professional landscape design help. The landscape designers in the area and the nurseries are very knowledgeable about the requirements and advisories. I'll step out now, and just say that DG might be more comfortable than rocks. Maybe look at pea gravel as is extensively used by pros such as Scott Shrader in the link I provided above. By the way, our properties are both on a steep-ish slope but not canyon. Good luck to you!

where are you in z5... its about half the US and very divergent ....does your ground freeze?? in my z5 MI.. i would have to cut it to about 6 to 8 inches.. bury it in mulch and cover with a rose cone .... watch for very warm zone suggestions.. if you dont cut it back.. winter winds will most likely kill it back to snow cover.. or lower... hence the rose cones and mulch ... your plant looks like its planted very deep... cant really see properly in the pix... if so.. it might not thrive properly... why it MIGHt be struggling... the usual suspect for winter problems in colder zones .... is prevailing winter winds.. and sun.. the canes thawing during warmish winter sunny days.. and refreezing ... even freeze drying during the night... i used to say.. a plant has a sense of humor about it the first time it happens.. is rather upset the second time it happens showing significant damage.. and will just about outright die the third time... and it seems you do not have some little winter wind free micro climate.. in that first pic.. looks sorta prairie like... i bet the winds whip thru there when the corns gone.. if in fact that is corn over there... fertilizer is never really a remedy for anything.... applied properly.. it rarely hurts.. as long as you stop by 9/1 in z5.. but it seldom ever fixes a problem ... ken