Time for Growing Native
During fall and winter, California’s golden hillsides turn green as seeds sprout and leaves plump--a sign that the rains have returned and we can begin planting California’s native flora in our gardens.
The planting window is long enough--from now until at least mid-February--to allow for big projects or small. Plant an entire backyard habitat or just several representative species to remind you of that last hike in the hills.
Put in just a few of the proper species, and--if you live in the right place--you might awake one morning to find quail scurrying for cover or see your first Pygmy Blue butterfly. If you live too far inside the city to attract much wildlife, native plants still bring wild smells into your backyard. A single sage, such as Salvia clevelandii, will perfume an entire yard, especially on a warm morning.
Many natives are tough, surviving on sun-baked hillsides in wretched soil. But they also are pretty enough to vie with any exotic for a gardener’s attention. The native coral bells, for instance, or the toyon with its bright red winter berries or the flaming, fall-blooming California fuchsia all are handsome plants.
In my own garden, I cannot imagine spring without the native iris that make parts of the yard look like the Mendocino coast or autumn without the zauschnerias that brighten my entry path like they do the highway to Big Bear.
With a little study, or simply by asking, you can find natives for almost any garden situation.
But, despite all their attributes, California’s native plants are not nearly as popular as azaleas or bird of paradise, and most retail nurseries stock only a few. Some societies hold special native plant sales early in the fall, and several wholesale growers are open to the public on certain days (see plant lists on E1).
For example, Mike Evans at Tree of Life wholesale nursery said the San Juan Capistrano business opens extra days in October and November for this prime planting opportunity (and again in February, March and April, which are passable planting months).
Evans and several other growers agreed to list their bestsellers for The Times.
“You could plant a whole garden using just these 10 plants and have a real nice look,” Evans said. And, as Bob Sussman of Matilija Nursery in Moorpark pointed out, the fact that they are popular means they are often easy to grow.
“All of these are difficult to kill if they are planted properly” and at the right time, he said.
But “you still have to water them, at least for the first year,” said Elizabeth Schwartz of the Theodore Payne Foundation in the San Fernando Valley.
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Natives planted now will need just a little water next summer and even less in following summers--it is summer irrigation that is often fatal to natives. Watering about once a month is right in that first summer, although even that little bit could kill a few of the most persnickety native plants, such as the glorious fremontodendron.
Some can be difficult because they are native to dry hillsides, so a flat, irrigated garden, which often lacks drainage and therefore will be constantly moist, is not their idea of home.
How much water a native needs depends a lot on where you live. Inland gardeners will have to water much more often and will find that there are many natives (mostly from coastal mountains) that they simply can’t grow. For example, the selection of popular natives at Plants for Dry Places in the Menifee Valley in Riverside County is quite different from the other lists.
Susan Frommer, the nursery’s owner, says many California native plants actually are native to coastal areas and will burn in inland locations or freeze in winter. Most ceanothus, for instance, are coastal and have big, thin leaves, including ‘Concha,’ ‘Frosty Blue’ and ‘Yankee Pt.,’ according to Schwartz of the Payne Foundation.
Evans suggests ‘Centennial’ for a low ceanothus, ‘Dark Star’ for a medium-sized one or the very tall C. arboreus.
The few that do well inland, such as Ceanothus crassifolius, have small, leathery leaves that do not sunburn.
Manzanitas generally do better inland, and some favorites include ‘Howard McMinn,’ ‘James West,’ ‘Sentinel’ and ‘Lester Roundtree.’
Frommer suggests inland gardeners look to the desert to find plants such as the desert willow or even those native to the deserts of the Southwest, such as the autumn sage (Salvia gregii) or Mexican marigolds. Frommer also suggests that inland gardeners begin planting later than others, in late November, and stop sooner.
“March and April are almost too late,” she said.
For the rest of us, now is the time.
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Top 10 sellers at Matilija Nursery,
Moorpark, Ventura County
Salvia clevelandii
Matilija poppy
Salvia apiana
Iris douglasiana and relatives
Monkey flower (Mimulus longiflorus)
Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
Heuchera maxima and hybrids
Island bush snapdragon (Galvezia speciosa)
Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
Ceanothus
(Open Fridays and Saturdays,
8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.)
Top 10 sellers at Theodore Payne Foundation, Sun Valley,
Los Angeles County
Matilija poppy
Salvia apiana
Ceanothus
Manzanita
Island bush poppy (Dendromecon harfordii)
Woolly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum)
Flannel bush (Fremontodendron)
Iris douglasiana and relatives
Monkey flower (Mimulus longiflorus)
Coyote bush
(Open Wednesdays-Sundays,
8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)
Top 10 sellers at Plants for Dry Places,
Lake Elsinore, Riverside County
Matilija poppy
Toyon
Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’
Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
Penstemon spectabilis
Flannel bush (Fremontodendron)
Salvia clevelandii
Manzanita
Desert willow (Chilopsis linearis)
Sugar bush (Rhus ovata)
(Open Saturdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.)
Top 10 sellers at Tree of Life, San Juan Capistrano, Orange County
Toyon
Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia)
Ceanothus
Manzanita
Salvia clevelandii
California fuchsia (Zauschneria californica)
Coast live oak
California sycamore
Stipa species
Deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
(Open Fridays and Saturdays in November, February, March and April, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.)
