ChefDebbie said:Carol, success for me is having any plant live longer than one month! Anything beyond that to me, is a home run... albeit how small it is, but I'll take it! It just builds up my confidence that I can do this & further develop my green thumb. 😃 
My celebratory cheer for my first few years gardening was: "They aren't ALL dead!! (yet)"
But it gets easier. I think it is all about habits At first you don't even know which habits are good, bad, or irrelevant. As you identify and cure the bad habits, plants mysteriously start living longer.
Advice from gardeners with very different climate may be helpful, or may be misleading. Someone in a wet-cold-winter climate may reveal the secrets that made them successful - some of which would kill all your plants in a hot, dry, summer.
When you include the opposite effects of clayey soil and sandy soil - it's a wonder that there are any gardening books at all. But REGIONAL advice can be relevant.
USA Sunset Zones:
http://www.sunset.com/garden/c...
Maybe the LA area, but you need to squint at the map and read some of the climate descriptions until you find the one that matches YOUR backyard. At that point, the Sunset Zone info becomes useful. Distance from the coast makes a big difference in climate.
http://www.sunset.com/garden/c...
ZONE 23: Thermal belts of Southern California’s coastal climate
