Jujube Guild

A dryland orchard guild for hot, dry climates on thin or alkaline soil, USDA zones 8 to 9, built around the fruit tree that handles heat and drought best. Jujube is the centrepiece and pomegranate the secondary, both late to bloom and safe from spring frost. Leadplant is the nitrogen fixer, a deep-rooted prairie native. Rosemary, thyme and French lavender make an aromatic understorey that repels pests, feeds bees and needs no water once established; yarrow and Mexican hat carry the insectary through summer. Cactus pad and saltbush are the second food crop and the stock forage on the driest edge. Vetiver planted on contour below the trees catches every storm and holds the slope. Strawberry clover closes the ground. No irrigation after the second summer; that is the point of it.