Munofore

a little spot of happy in a crazy world

That Recipe is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program. This site contains affiliate links to various websites, including Amazon.com. Purchases through these links help support this blog at no additional cost to you. read more

Photos of My Favorite California Native Plants

by 6 Comments

Sharing is caring!

In honor of California Native Plant Week I thought I’d share with you some photos of my favorite California native plants, all of which just so happen to be in my backyard.

Photos of California Native Plants in a home landscape. Toyon, Chitalpa, Arctostaphylos, Ceanothus, Zauschneria, Erigeron

Last week I posted some photos of the overall landscape in place in our yard since we switched to a drought tolerant garden using mostly native plants to our area 10 years ago. Today, I thought I’d share with you some of the individual plants. We live in what is known as the Coastal Sage Scrub region.

Here are some of the plants that can be found in that environment.

natives1
New leaf growth on a Sunset Manzanita (Arctostaphylos). This variety is a small shrub, but they can vary from 1 foot to 10 feet.
natives4
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) in bloom. The manzanitas in my yard bloom in white, pale pink and a dark pinker.
natives2
Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) in bloom. This plant is a large bush with feathery almost grass like branches that blow in the wind.
Photos of California Native Plants in a home landscape. Toyon, Chitalpa, Arctostaphylos, Ceanothus, Zauschneria, Erigeron, Salvia, Fallugia Paradoxa
Those delicate white flowers on the Apache plume turn into plumes. The wind will blow the seeds to propagate more plants (like a dandelion).

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Incorporate native plants into your landscape for a beautiful drought tolerant garden. #xeriscaping #nativeplants” quote=”Incorporate native plants into your landscape for a beautiful drought tolerant garden. #xeriscaping #nativeplants” theme=”style6″]

natives6
A bee enjoying the lilacs (Ceanothus). California lilac blossoms are tiny compared ot midwestern lilacs and the smell is not quite as pungent.
natives5
A darker colored lilac bloom. In the summer the plant drops its blooms and many of its leaves and goes dormant in order to survive the dry heat of our summers.
natives9
Wayne Roderick Daisy (Erigeron glaucus) also called Seaside Daisy. The plants are only about a foot tall and like it a bit cooler than my inland summer temps, so I keep them in the shade next to the neighbors lawn so they get supplemental water.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”California native plants are as varied as the state’s climate. #xeriscaping #californianativeplants” quote=”California native plants are as varied as the state’s climate. #xeriscaping #californianativeplants” theme=”style6″]

natives8
Chitalpa (Chitalpa X Chitalpa tashkentensis) is a small tree (10-15 feet) with big pink blossoms.
natives7
Zaushneria is not nicknamed hummingbird fuchsia for nothing! The hummingbirds love them.
natives3
Toyon or Christmas berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia). I have two and they are HUGE bushes (8+ feet tall).
Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon or Christmas Berry
In the winter the white flowers on the Toyon turn into these bright red berries, much to the delight of the native bird population.
bee flying in salvia
Salvia (sage) are a favorite of the bees. And, yes, you can use the leaves for cooking too.

As I said in my post about converting to California native garden “You don’t have to limit yourself to rocks and cacti to have a drought tolerant garden.”

Sharing is caring!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Audrey Humaciu says

      And they should be different because our climates are so different. But here in California we got ourselves in trouble because we try to have a green lawn in summer when we don’t get any rain.

      Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

shares