You can do some really nice things for your plants — water and feed them, put them in the right spot to begin with based on their desire for sun or shade, make sure they are hunkered down for the winter and sprinkle them with water when the heat is too much. You can also offer them their favorite fungus, mycorrhizae (pronounced "Mike or I zee").

What mycorrhizae does is help plants do what they do better. It's a root thing. Say the roots of your plants are 1 by 1 foot. Mycorrhizae fungi form fine threads around the root zone in a symbiotic fashion. Then it grows out into the soil increasing the absorption of nutrients and water more than the roots would gather on their own. Since mycorrhizae is so small, it explores areas of soil that the plant's larger roots can't get to, making more good things available to the plant.

What's in it for the mycorrhizae? Since mycorrhizae are carb freaks, they get to feed off the plants' carbohydrate and sugar stores, something they can't manufacture for themselves. It's a win-win all around.

What's more, says Josh Eagan of Plant Revolution Inc. in Santa Ana, "Mycorrhizae help roses grow stronger, it increases phosphorus uptake to make fruiting and flowering plants perform better, and it helps conifers grow in soils that haven't been inoculated outside of their native environments."

Mycorrhizae even help plants endure drought by increasing the amount of water they gather from the soil in areas that a plant's roots don't explore.

Lately you will find mycorrhizae included in some bagged potting soils. But if you are planting in the ground, especially in newly constructed properties, you might think about inoculating your soil with mycorrhizae at planting time. Mycorrhizae from Plant Revolution is available in granular form, a liquid used as a drench or tablets you can drop in the planting hole.

Since mycorrhizae are regional, you won't find the same native mycorrhizae in Southern California soils as you will in Oregon. Plant Revolution includes a broad spectrum of these fungus from different regions in each product so all types of plants are covered.

In fact, the mycorrhizae in Plant Revolution products is grown by Eagan's uncle, Dr. Amaranthus, a leading researcher of soils. His business, Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc., includes a Mycocyclopedia online. You plug in your plant, it tells you what type of mycorrhizae it needs. Weird in a fungal way, but botanically useful.

If you are thinking that mycorrhizae fungus is just another whiz bang product like the ShamWow, think again. It is being taken pretty seriously in the botanical world. Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano inoculates its natives with mycorrhizae. And Pennington Seed, a lawn grass seed supplier, has found that lawns inoculated with mycorrhizae use 30 percent less water.

Since mycorrhizae is important to plant health, you need to care for your fungus to some degree — don't use fungicides in your garden and don't be a frequent cultivator, either. You can break the fine threads of some types.