Easy Garden Friendly California Native Plants

By Dolores Morrison

UCCE Master Gardeners of El Dorado County

This article appeared in the February 2024 Village Life

Perhaps you’ve heard of these reasons to use California native plants in your garden: they are low maintenance, use little water, are beneficial to wildlife and pollinators, and are beautiful. Maybe you don’t want redo your whole garden but would like to try a few here and there. Is that possible? Yes!

Here is a list of five plants that do well in garden conditions alongside nonnative plants, especially Mediterranean plants such as lavenders, salvias, and rockrose. These plants are low water and do well in our summer heat. They require little to no soil amendments or fertilizer. Pruning is minimal. The suggestions include plants that serve a variety of roles in the garden.  All plants are winter hardy in the El Dorado Hills area and deer resistant.

Howard McMinn manzanita, Arctostaphylos ‘Howard McMinn’, is an evergreen, mounding shrub seven to ten feet tall and wide. It can be pruned to manage size or shaped into a small tree.   As it grows, its beautiful red bark will be visible. It produces many small white to pink urn-shaped flowers in late winter to early spring that are popular with native bees and hummingbirds.  It accepts clay and sandy soils.

Dwarf Coyote brush, Baccharis 'Pigeon Point’, is an evergreen shrub growing from one to three feet tall, and up to eight feet wide. It can be kept shorter and neater by shearing. It has bright green foliage and small cream white flowers that can appear spring through fall. It prefers full sun to light shade. It is good for bank stabilization or filling in landscapes. 

California fuchsia, Epilobium canum, is often still sold as Zauschneria californica. An herbaceous perennial with bright orange-red flowers summer through fall, it will grow one foot by three feet wide. It is pollinated by hummingbirds and is popular with bees and other pollinators. It will spread by rhizomes, which are horizontal underground stems, which can be pulled at any time to contain growth. It thrives when cut to the ground in late fall or early winter. California fuchsia accepts clay, sand, and serpentine soil. It does best in full sun.

Idaho fescue, Festuca idahoensis, is a clumping grass. It grows 12-18 inches tall by about 15 inches wide. While a dark blue green in nature, there are lighter blue-green varieties. It does best in sun or part shade. It accepts various soils but prefers well drained. You can cut it back in early winter to refresh the leaves, but it isn’t necessary.

Desert willow, Chilopsis linearis, is a small deciduous multi-trunked tree that is tolerant of a variety of soils. It is favored by pollinators and hummingbirds with its fragrant white, pink, or purple flowers which bloom May through September.

Other great plants to consider are Valley Violet Ceanothus, Ceanothus maritimus 'Valley Violet'; Ray Hartman California lilac, Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman’; Bee’s Bliss sage, Salvia 'Bees Bliss’; Island Alum Root, Heuchera maxima, Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, and Coyote mint, Monardellla villosa.

The California Native Plant Society’s gardening website, Calscape calscape.com has information on how to grow these plants and much more.

Master Gardener classes are offered monthly throughout the county. You can find our class schedule at: http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/Public_Education_Classes/?calendar=yes&g=56698, and recorded classes on many gardening topics here: http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/Public_Education/Classes/

The Sherwood Demonstration Garden is open through winter with limited hours. Please check our website for further information about activities at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden at: https://ucanr.edu/sites/EDC_Master_Gardeners/Demonstration_Garden/

Have a gardening question? Master Gardeners are working hard to answer your questions. Use the “Ask a Master Gardener” option on our website: mgeldorado.ucanr.edu or leave a message on our office telephone: 530-621-5512. We’ll get back to you! Master Gardeners are also on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

For more information on the UCCE Master Gardeners of El Dorado County, see our website

at http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu. To sign up for notices and newsletters, see http://ucanr.edu/master gardener e-news.

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