Trees vary as to how much water they need - the best rule is to know what bushes and flowers you have and research their water needs through garden books, the WUA Xeriscape Guide or your local nursery. However, the following general rules should be useful. Bushes and flowers generally need about half as much as lawns do - so apply from .75 ” to  1” per week over the area covered by the leaves of the plant. Some Bushes and Flowers - especially when new require multiple watering's per week, but when mature will be either one or two times per week or become self sustaining.

Applying a couple of inches of mulch around your bushes and flowers will greatly increase the water retention by reducing evaporation.  It provides shade for the roots and soil and often adds nutrients.

Do not water bushes and flowers with your lawn sprinkler heads, if you can avoid it - you will be doubling how much water they need.  

• Create a reservoir(recessed area) around the bushes and flowers if practical to hold water.
• Most of our bushes and flowers will survive OK in the winter with natural rainfall or snow (precipitation) - but in a dry winter give them some moisture.
• Watch out for bubblers since they put out water at rather fast rates - in gallons per minute vs. drip systems that will apply water in gallons per hour.  A drip system will be far more effective in delivering the right amount of water directly to the spot where the plants need their water.
• Make sure black plastic is not covering the roots of your bushes and flowers - air can pass through "landscape cloth", but not black plastic.