Hi everyone,

I recently had a landscape architect install a large number of plants on about 8,000 sq feet of hillside at my house. I had my lawn irrigation system added to so that sprinklers would cover the hill from both the top and bottom of the hill. The plants that were installed include:

1) Live oaks, 2" caliper

2) Magnolia, Brackens Brown Beauty

3) Forest Pansy Redbud, ~ 1-2" caliper

4) Hydrangea Limelight

5) Tea Olives, appx. 1 gallon

6) Winter Honeysuckle, appx. 3 gallon

7) Viburnum Macrocephalum, appx. 1 gallon

8) Driftroses

Our landscaper recommended we run the sprinkler system on the hillside for 20 minutes twice a day for the first 2 weeks after installation. After that, he recommended once daily for 30 minutes for 2 more weeks. Then 2-3 times per week for 20-30 minutes.

Since we invested a lot of money in this, I want to be sure we are watering properly. We are in zone 7b-8a. Our soil is clay.

Does anyone have any advice to be sure we are not under or over-watering our plants? Are the instructions we got from our landscaper adequate? Hauling around a drip hose does not seem like a very practical option based on the sheer size of the landscaped area.

Thanks for any input or advice!