A personal assistant

A striking photograph of golden currant (Ribes aureum), a favorite of wildlife and gardeners, greets visitors to the no-frills web page for this region-specific hotline, the area’s first to offer free advice on gardening with California’s diverse native plants.

By telephone or e-mail, a live person based at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont will answer questions -- in detail -- on plant selection, planting and maintenance. She will provide tips on starting a native-plant garden, including which species and cultivars are most amenable to city life, how to combine them with nonnative flora and how to integrate natives into an existing landscape.

The hotline operator, who returns messages promptly after necessary research, also can suggest the best manzanita for a particular microclimate or suppliers for those salvias you’ve been craving.

This service is supported by a grant from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (and links to its water-wise landscaping site). Gardeners who value the investment can plant more natives -- and contact the hotline often.

-- Lili Singer