DIY NATIVE GARDENING

Congratulations!

You have decided to add some local native plants to your landscape! In doing so, you will be rewarded with a native garden boasting a diverse number of pollinators, beautiful butterflies along with unique insects, and the birds that visit to take advantage of the food resources your garden provides. [photo(s) of butterflies and birds in backyard garden]

Because native plants local to Southern California have different needs than the ornamentals and exotics that are typically sold for landscaping, this section of our website provides information that will make it easy for you to transform your yard into a thriving sustainable native garden. Whether you are setting aside a section of your backyard, changing your entire yard, or are planning for a large landscape, this information will be helpful. If possible, aim for 70% native to maximize benefits. To help you better understand the care that native plants need, we have included information about our climate and different adaptations that plants have developed in order to thrive. 

Learn how:

Choose your plants:

Check here to see if you are in the “ESB” zone.

Why California is Different

California is a special place, a Mediterranean Climate, found only on 2.25% of the earth’s surface (Chile, South Africa, and Australia also have this climate). With warm dry summers and cool wet winters, this place is beloved by nature and humans alike. Because of this, the Mediterranean zone in California covers only 3% of the entire United States, but contains 33% of the total plant species. California is also home to one of the planet’s few Biodiversity Hotspots, defined as containing 0.5% or 1,500 endemic plant species with 70% loss of habitat, meaning, we have high biodiversity AND high habitat loss. That’s why it’s so important that YOU help make a difference by growing native!

Plant and animals living in the Mediterranean climate zones have evolved over time to the winter rains and dry summers. The major adaptation is to successfully survive the dry summers using a variety of strategies for conserving water:

• Drought Deciduous – In southern California, some plants drop their leaves in preparation for the dry summer in the same way that trees in throughout the US drop their leaves in fall. Leaves are a site for water loss, so it makes sense for them to be shed to conserve water for the plant.

  • California bush sunflower (Encelia californica) is the most creative drought deciduous plant. The moment it senses that the summer drought has arrived, it sheds its leaves within a few days. While it may look dead, it is dormant by taking a nap through the hot summer days. Then, when winter rains begin, the sunflower (affectionately known as Encelia) quickly grows new, green leaves. Yellow flowers arrive in March. During wet winters, Encelia dazzles the landscape with its bright yellows.

• Evergreen – Other plants are evergreen, opting to conserve water with waxy or resinous coated leaves.

  • Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia) has very thick and waxy leaves that are retained up to five years. During multi-year droughts, lemonade berry will jettison its older leaves to help conserve water.

• Different Leaf Sizes – Some plants grow large leaves during the rainy season and smaller leaves in the summer.

  • Purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) produces three-inch long, sage-green leaves in winter only to shed these leaves in favor for smaller, white leaves in summer. This plant’s species name leucophylla means white leaf.

• Unique Relationships – Many species have adapted to a single plant species for its entire life cycle. Often species that are dependent upon a single plant species can easily become endangered when they lose their host plant, such as the El Segundo blue butterfly.

  • El Segundo blue butterfly needs the seacliff buckwheat (Eriogonum parvifolium) for its entire lifecycle. The buckwheat begins its annual growth unusually late, in mid-March, to produce its whitish pink flowers in June, July, and into August. The butterfly’s adults fly in June through August when their flowers are blooming. Without the seacliff buckwheat there are no El Segundo blue butterflies.