Gardening With California Native Plants

Considerations

• Determine the type of urban setting you want prior to looking for native flora. Native plants evolved together in plant communities; as such, it's recommended that urban landscaping mirror the natural communities as closely as possible. Start by determining your location's historical plant community. Several resources exist that make it possible to identify your native plant community by zip code such as Las Pilitas Nursery California Plant Communities. Identification of the historic plant community will ensure soil and climate compatibility along with temperature and drought resistance.

Function

• California's native flora has evolved over eons to survive in the dramatic climate conditions that are the hallmark of the Golden State. Native plants can be used in every facet of urban landscaping including low-growing ground cover like Arctostaphylos pacifica (San Bruno Carpet), small perennials like Erigeron glaucus (Wayne Roderick Daisy), annuals of all heights and sizes like Brodiaea appendiculata, flowering and non-flowering scrubs like Dendromecon rigida (bush poppy) and Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon), and trees of all sizes and types like Acer negundo californicum (California box elder).
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Features

• Selecting plants from the more than 4,830 species of California native flora is easy once you're determined your plant community area. Choose plants within the community that suit the particular landscaping needs of the area. The selection is vast and includes flowering and non-flowering plants, trees and scrubs, deer and rabbit repelling (and attracting) plants, and plants, trees and scrubs that attract beneficial insects and birds. Foliage color, bark color and flower types and colors vary from the polished red bark of Arctostaphylos densiflora (Harmony Manzanita) to the striking autumn color of Acer macrophyllum (big leaf maple).

Prevention

• Using California native flora prevents additional environmental pollution from chemical fertilizers and pesticides because of their soil adaptability and natural pest resistance. Overuse of water in landscape maintenance is also prevented as the majority of California native plants are drought resistant and require very little irrigation. Wild fire prevention can be achieved using California native flora because its naturally fire retardant having evolved together with the frequent wild fires that burn through California. California native species such as Arctostaphylos densiflora (Harmony Manzanita) are considered highly fire retardant along with being extremely drought and pest resistant.

Benefits

• Water conservation, garden maintenance cost and fire hazard reduction -- landscaping with California native flora has all these benefits. California native plants evolved under drought conditions causing them to utilize every drop. In a state that imports the majority of its water proper utilization of this precious resource is paramount. California's varied topography and soil conditions have forced native plants to be soil adaptable and able to use even the smallest amount of beneficial minerals and organic matter. This equates to cost savings because chemical fertilizers aren't needed. Natural pest resistance eliminates the need for pesticides equating to another cost savings. Native plant fire resistance makes worrying about California's frequent wild fires a thing of the past.