These are some of our very favorite and very easy-to-grow California native plants.
They are all local species to inland southern California, require little water after they are established, and provide beauty and habitat for birds, butterflies, or native pollinators. Many of them are adored by all three! A couple of the listed plants are "cultivars," which mean they were selected and propagated from an individual plant of the species for a certain characteristic that makes it great to grow in a garden.
All of them are relatively easy to find at nurseries that carry California native plants (for a list of local nurseries that carry natives see our Resources page).
This list intentional includes trees, tall shrubs, medium sized shrubs, and colorful perennials. It is a great place to start for "first time" waterwise or California native gardeners.
A landscape with just these easy plants and a shaded place to enjoy it all will be easy to care for, give back to the local environment, and be more beautiful than the "conventional" landscape it may have replaced!
Feel free to toss out some native wildflower seeds into a garden of these plants in the fall to amp up your garden's spring color, providing more pollen for the pollinators and eventually seeds for the birds. To learn how, visit the Wildflowers page, found by going to the Resources tab.
Did you notice that there are actually twelve plants on this list? We couldn't help ourselves!
An online resource for you to learn about and choose the best plants for your inland Southern California landscape.
Promoting water conservation through education, stormwater capture, waterwise landscapes, and other initiatives.
We provide programs, services, and resources to serve audiences of all ages to cultivate a community-wide conservation ethic and build regional capacity for water resilience.
Choose between a list or map view of all signs found in our waterwise garden and park.
This is a digital registry created to offer further information on the physical signs in our waterwise garden and park premises.
Would you like a few tips on how to use this tool?
Using the map view, you can preview what each specific sign is about by tapping on the plus icon.
You can view these tips at any time by tapping the Help link in the top left.
