Top Native Plants of Southern California
These tough, beautiful plants can take hot, dry conditions with ease. They're among the best easy-care plants for gardeners in this region.
Matilija poppy
This beautiful perennial native poppy is often called the "fried egg plant" for its enormous white crepe papery flowers with their golden yellow centers. This plant spreads by aggressive underground runners, so plant it on a slope or other location with room to run.
Name: Romneya coulteri
Growing Conditions: Dry growing in full sun with well draining soil. Fussy at transplant, so keep root disturbance at an absolute minimum. Plant in
fall.
Size: 4-5 feet tall x 8 feet wide
Zones: 6-10
Lemonade berry
This large evergreen shrub is native to coastal sage scrub and chaparral. It has beautiful deep green leathery leaves and rose pink spring flowers. Excellent for screening and habitats. Stabilizes slopes.
Name: Rhus integrifolia
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun or part shade and well draining soil.
Size: 5-10 feet tall x 10-15 feet wide
Zones: 9-10
Toyon
This large, evergreen shrub has deep green leathery leaves and red berries in winter. Excellent habitat plant and screening plant. Stabilizes slopes.
Name: Heteromeles arbutifolia
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun or part shade and well draining soil.
Size: 8–15 feet tall x 15 feet wide
Zones: 7-10
Hoary California fuchsia
This mat-forming perennial has narrow, slightly fuzzy pale green leaves and brilliant vermillion flowers in summer. Plants tend to run by runners so give it room to roam.
Name: Epilobium (Zauschneria) canum
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun. Grows in less but blooms best in full sun.
Size: 1 feet tall x 4 feet wide
Zones: 9-10
Chalk liveforever
Chalk liveforever's ghostly blue-white succulent rosettes create long flower spikes that feature silver and red flowers in late spring and summer. Excellent choice to tuck in amongst rocks.
Name: Dudleya pulverulenta
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun and well draining soils. Takes a little shade.
Size: 1-2 feet tall and wide
Zones: 8-10
Shaw’s agave
This smallish agave grows as a colony of succulent rosettes, whose dusky green blades are edged in sharp teeth. Flower stems can reach 12 feet with golden flowers. Mother plants die after flowering but leaves pups behind. Good in
containers.
Name: Agave shawii
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun and well draining soils.
Size: Rosette 2-3 feet tall x 3-4 feet wide; fllower spike to 12 feet tall
Zones: 9-10
Image Credit: Shaw's Agave closeup 2 by
D Coetzee is licensed under
Creative Commons.
Desert mallow
A favorite evergreen shrublet with fuzzy, silvery, crenulated leaves and cupped flowers in shades of brilliant orange to watermelon red. Blooms in early spring and after the unusual summer rain.
Name: Sphaeralcea ambigua
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; full sun and well draining soils. Cut back by 30% after bloom to keep plants from growing too leggy.
Size: 2-3 feet tall x 2 feet wide
Zones: 4-10
Manzanita
This is a large group of evergreen shrubs, from groundcover to tree height, and varying widths. Most have architectural structures and mahogany- to ebony-color bark. Excellent habitat plants.
Name: Arctostaphylos
Growing Conditions: Dry growing after established; part shade or full sun to part shade depending on the species. Prefers draining soils.
Size: 1-25 feet tall x 4-18 feet wide
Zones: 6–10, depending on species
No comments:
Post a Comment