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Growing California Native Plants
By Carolyn Carpino, UC Master GardenerGardeners across the world envy Californians for our astonishing array of native plants. Few traditional landscape plants can rival the spectacle of a flannel bush bursting with yellow flowers in spring. Many California natives flower extravagantly, are evergreen, pest and disease-free, and drought tolerant.
So why aren't they planted more? Part of the reason may be they require excellent drainage and are difficult to raise in nursery containers. Summer watering combined with our hot temperatures often leads to a fatal case of root rot. Planting a native in the spring in a regular garden bed and giving it lots of water in the summer is a perfect recipe for failure.
If planted correctly, natives are an unbeatable choice for California gardens. Since they are adapted to wet winters and dry summers, natives must be planted in the fall. To help insure success, prepare the ground well, plant in a well-drained area, choose the easiest cultivars, and water no more than once a week.
The easiest method is to set aside an area of your garden to group your native plants. Choose a sunny spot with good drainage; a raised bed or sloped area is ideal. Sprinklers are a poor choice for watering natives. If possible, convert a sprinkler zone to drip irrigation. Otherwise, turn off your sprinklers and hand water or run a soaker hose in that area.
When planting natives, dig a hole four times the width of the pot but no deeper. Fill the hole with water and let it drain out. Don't add fertilizer. Plant your transplant an inch higher than the surrounding soil. Make sure your drip emitter or soaker hose is several inches from the crown of the plant to lessen the chance of root rot. Water well. Until the rains come, water twice a week. Next summer water no more than once a week. After the first summer your natives will survive with water once or twice a month, but they will grow better with weekly watering.
Which California natives should you plant? The choices are almost limitless, however most nurseries and garden centers carry only a few. For the widest selection seek out a specialty nursery like Intermountain Nursery in Prather.
Here are a few shrubs and small trees to develop structure in your native planting. Western redbud is deciduous and awakes each spring displaying bright pink flowers followed by heart shaped leaves. Ceanothus ‘Dark Star' and ‘Concha' offer masses of dark blue flowers in spring on an evergreen background of dark green leaves. Manzanitas ‘Howard McMinn' and ‘Dr. Hurd' are classic native plants admired for their small white flowers, evergreen foliage, and smooth red bark. Stay away from coastal manzanitas like ‘Pacific Mist'. Flannel bush (Fremontodendron) is trickier to grow because it rots if watered in summer. It's best to plant it on a slope and ignore it.
Coffeeberry ‘ Eve Case' (Rhamnus californicus) is a compact formal looking evergreen shrub with large dark green leaves and colorful berries. It makes a great transitional element between our native area and an English-type perennial border. Bush Anemone (Carpenteria californica) is another handsome evergreen shrub with lovely white flowers.
Add some shorter natives and summer color to fill out your planting area. Salvia clevelandii has whorls of blue flowers all summer and a wonderful fragrance. California Fuchsia (Zauschneria) has orange tubular flowers in late summer which are a hummingbird magnet. Penstemons are a great choice for a native planting area and bloom off and on all summer.
Once the rains come, try sprinkling seeds of California poppies and native lupines through your native planting to finish off your authentic foothill look.
October 14, 1999
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