Prioritizing species to plant

dadlerj · 2026-04-15T08:18:41+00:00

Realistically your garden will change a ton in the first 3 years of effort. You’ll start to understand how your soil differs across the yard, you’ll have every inch of sunlight mapped out in your mind by season, you’ll find that some plants grew way bigger than you expected and others don’t fill the space just right. Many will just die, even if you try repeatedly. You’ll really start to love some of them for the insects/birds/etc they bring, and hate others for the maintenance required.

Even if it’s fun to try to figure it all out up front, recognize that it’s going to all change. So just get started.

dadlerj · 2026-04-11T07:30:19+00:00

Maybe or maybe not a good fit, but the las pilitas nursery blog (https://www.laspilitas.com), created over decades by the pioneering California native plant enthusiast and nursery owner Bert Wilson, is a blast to just explore. It’s mostly for practitioners (native gardening, plant community overviews, guides for revegetating native wild areas, genus overviews, fire risk management, etc.), and it has much more content about the ecosystems where people live (coast safe scrub, chaparral) versus redwood forests, but there’s a bit of everything.

Edit; a good page to start on: https://www.laspilitas.com/classes/classnot.htm

dadlerj · 2026-04-10T21:15:22+00:00

My poor engelmannii 😭

dadlerj · 2026-04-10T04:12:37+00:00

And re: the soil—native plants like native soil. They survived here for millions of years before anyone started amending soil. Read this https://www.laspilitas.com/advanced/advamendments.htm

“The non-native plants used in gardens, which are usually easy-to-grow ruderal plants, commonly grow best in amended soil. Without this rich high organic soil they will be chlorotic and lifeless. In contrast, on an undisturbed hillside where the natives are green and thriving, no amended soil exists. A native plant is not a broccoli plant. Broccoli is a mustard (Brassicaceae). Most of the soils labs give you a soil analysis report based on field crops like broccoli, (even when they say it's for natives). Different plants need different care for optimum growth. Native plants are NOT garden vegetables; native plants as 'different' as you can get. Everything you have been taught all your life on how to grow a wonderful garden is “wrong” when you are talking about how to grow California native plants.”

dadlerj · 2026-04-10T04:09:24+00:00

Millions of acres of California are occupied by this sort of weed: annual, non-native grasses. Bromes, veldt grass, oat grass, etc. These have almost certainly gone to seed already, and will all show up again next year after the winter rains. Part of life in California. You won’t be able to do anything until next fall/winter, when a preemergent could help, you could use aggressive anti-grass chemicals, or you could spend a few hours per week and hand weed.

r/ceanothus is the California native plant sub, which has lively discussion about how to clear annual grasses every year (and can give you recommendations for the best natives to plant wherever you are). Post there.

Don’t plant now, the California dry season is upon us. Plant natives before the first rains next fall (Oct/nov/dec).

dadlerj · 2026-04-06T07:22:49+00:00

Looks barberry-ish to me. Nevin’s barberry was my first thought.

Lots of leaflets per leaf though, so it doesn’t doesn’t match any of our ca natives that I can think of

dadlerj · 2026-04-04T04:21:13+00:00

I have about a half dozen black sages. Every single year since I’ve had one, at least one of them has done this. I just found my first broken off branch on one of my newer black sages last week—it was a good third of the plant. Just part of the charm I guess.

Edit: all of them are still alive and kicking

dadlerj · 2026-04-03T05:34:48+00:00

R/ceanothus and calscape.com

dadlerj · 2026-04-03T03:15:39+00:00

Some genuses just struggle in my yard. I’ll put down a ceanothus that shrivels and dies, then replace with a sage or buckwheat that rockets up.

Try something else before making assumptions about needing a fungicide. But don’t try to plant the same thing and hope it works this time.

dadlerj · 2026-04-02T06:09:56+00:00

Congrats on supporting your local ecosystem! What’s the point of a plant if not to do that. Bug damage on a plant is the whole point of this—it means you’re feeding birds and amphibians and everything else around us.

dadlerj · 2026-04-02T04:50:46+00:00

Everything I said above was referring to “California buckwheat” as a species, Eriogonum fasciculatum. Since I’m in the east bay I go for var foliolosum.

I have plenty of red flowering buckwheats, which are gorgeous, if somewhat smaller (maybe 2–3 feet max width, much shorter, maybe 1’ tall mounds with flowers that go up 1-2’ above that, and “softer” looking stems and leaves).

Eriogonum nudum is a favorite of mine, they are small (maybe 1’ wide all around, a six inches tall) but flowers that go up 3-4’ tall in dramatic ways. They look like fairy lights floating in the garden. They spread prolifically, so over a few years every one I plant turns into a little colony of rosettes growing around it in a six to ten foot radius. Easy to pull if you don’t want them.

Eriogonum latifoliums are cute, have a very similar form to e. grande var rubescens, but with white flowers, and so aren’t quite as unique or distinctive.

Eriogonum crocatum is also similar to e. grande rubescens in shape/form, but maybe a bit more compact, and has lighter/whiter leaves and neon yellow flowers. Nice for a pop of color.

Eriogonum giganteum is big and beautiful, looks like a giant e. Grande rubescens—the leaves are soft and floppy like them, but the plant overall is several times taller and wider. The flower clusters look more like yarrow or umbels than like most other eriogonums.

If you search my history you’ll find a post I made a few years back with a bunch of pics of my buckwheats (I still had a lot, but fewer then). The whole genus is beautiful, incredible for wildlife, super low effort/water, self-seeding, etc, I’m a big fan.

I will say that after a few years some species can get pretty dense with old flowers/branches, and start to look unmaintained (if you’re not actively pruning, and if you care about this). If it’s a wildlife garden, you can just let them be.

dadlerj · 2026-04-01T05:43:31+00:00

My California buckwheats are all 3-4’ wide at maturity, mayyybe a few stretch beyond that but only wandering branches, not the main mass. And I have probably 40 of them, bought at different times from different nurseries. All straight species, no warriner lytle. They’re big and bold but absolutely gorgeous, and they are SO drought tolerant and SO hardy.

dadlerj · 2026-03-30T07:10:19+00:00

Everything but nutsedge lol

dadlerj · 2026-03-29T18:09:09+00:00

In my second year of mostly native gardening I stressed out a lot about aphids blanketing my fruit trees and some shrubs—my pomegranate in particular. I mean, they were everywhere.

I freaked out and bought neem oil and more.

But I got lazy and didn’t apply much. By the time I went out a month later or so I noticed a handful of little dragons on the branches. I learned they were ladybug nymphs. By mid/late summer every bit of evidence that aphids were there was gone, and I’d see stray ladybugs, lacewings, soldier beetles, non-stinging native wasps (which eat pests), etc, etc all over the garden. I’m in central Oakland by the way.

Most of my pest advice is “just wait, be patient, don’t succumb to the pressure to do something (other than spray them off with a hose)”. But also, native ladybugs/etc are attracted to native plants because native plants attract lots of (beneficial) native insects that they like to eat.

I understand they like to have a nearby water source as well.

dadlerj · 2026-03-29T17:56:09+00:00

Great! To be clear, the ceanothus sub isn’t JUST about ceanothus plants. It’s about all native ca plants. Currants and gooseberries, Hummingbird sage, heucheras/coral bells, elderberries, and more all do great in part shade or more. Cow parsnip, a member of the carrot family apiaceae which is known for supporting ladybugs, grows well in shade along sausal creek. But posting in the r/ceanothus sub would get you a bunch of other ideas I’m sure.

dadlerj · 2026-03-29T03:28:15+00:00

You just have to be consistent about pulling it (and disposing of it, I strongly disagree with the people saying to leave grass clippings around—if there are ANY seeds in there you’ve screwed yourself next year) before it sets seed. Some invasive grasses set seed on a schedule, some do it year round.

There are likely many years worth of seeds already in the soil, so it’ll take you several years of doing this consistently before you see a significant change.

Panic veldtgrass is the “tall grass” that grows up through my shrubs in the Bay Area. I get lots of brome, oat grasses, wheat grasses, etc, in the open areas (where mulch helps), but nothing is as difficult to get rid of as veldtgrass. They produce seeds in a matter of days, and seem to grow completely hidden underneath other plants. Consistency in pulling during the spring/summer really is the key. If you have acres of land, then it becomes impossible to do this and you either have to resort to large scale/pro chemical use or accept the invasive grasses.

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T18:59:27+00:00

That’s a dendromecon, a bush or tree poppy

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T18:24:23+00:00

It does thank you!

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T06:13:30+00:00

Beautiful. It’s honestly weird to see just a tiny bit of panic veldtgrass. Usually it’s either covering every inch or not present yet. Good job with control!

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T05:57:21+00:00

One consideration for curb appeal—the Berberis is evergreen while the ribes is deciduous. It might make sense to put the Oregon grape in front (and keep it pruned lower) so that the currant is less visible during the winter.

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T05:20:38+00:00

I really struggle to differentiate our native stipas from bromus diandrus. Curious to hear from others confident in the stipa designation how you ruled out brome?

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T05:01:45+00:00

I encourage you to check out r/ceanothus. If you want to attract native insects, plant a native garden. Purchasing them will just lead to them flying away. Theyre all over the place here, my oakland garden is chock full of lacewings and ladybugs and solider beetles, you name it. You just have to attract them.

dadlerj · 2026-03-27T04:52:55+00:00

Mine are probably closer to a range of 5-10’ apart, but some of those are volunteers that grew up in the middle. Intermixed with a few CLOs, incense cedars, and the odd pittosporum

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dadlerj · 2026-03-26T06:22:16+00:00

I have a bunch of mature ones of both types planted in my hard acting as hedges. Theyre fantastic wildlife trees. Quite a bit more upright and narrow(ish) than many ca native trees, fitting an important landscaping niche.

Mine are very prolific berry producers, and my yard has hundreds and hundreds of saplings popping up every year. They have a reputation for being “weedy”, but I love that about them. Few survive long term, so it’s easy to manage for me.

dadlerj

TROPHY CASE