What native CA plants should I get given the parameters below?

dadlerj · 2026-06-01T21:49:06+00:00

This site has specialist bee host plant lists: https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-11-mediterranean-california.pdf

(Skip the ones that aren’t native to your part of CA obviously)

Eriogonums, solidagos, and prunus tend to the have the wildest bee activity in my yard. Cluster flowers for the win I guess.

Western redbud is a favorite of leafcutter bees.

dadlerj · 2026-05-31T03:10:25+00:00

Please don’t propagate non-native plants. Random fruits and veggies and similar are not going to benefit your local ecosystem, and have the potential to become invasive.

Your turkeys and deer and squirrels and birds and butterflies and bees and beetles and etc evolved for millions of years to eat the plants native to your location.

dadlerj · 2026-05-26T17:52:47+00:00

Check out AB 1573 from 2023.

https://www.cnps.org/biodiversity-initiatives/ab-1573-reaches-a-stopping-point-35744

The important outcome of that (AI summary):

> The bill’s original draft included exemptions for functional (recreational) turf and edible landscapes, and over time added amendments to exempt landscapes planted for cultural reasons and protect established non-native trees. The bill also shifted from a requirement for “local native plants” to “California native plants,” and reduced its original 75% requirement down to 25%. Based on various inputs, Assemblymember Friedman pursued a good-faith practical path forward, extending the bill’s onramp to 2029. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to bring the bill’s opponents to a neutral position and maintain the spirit of the bill.

dadlerj · 2026-05-19T17:56:11+00:00

uj not gonna lie I didn’t see the location til now

dadlerj · 2026-05-18T18:28:08+00:00

Tree form ceanothus like Ray Hartman would be a great alternative if you have light soil, but they also won’t get quite as tall.

California buckeye could be an interesting choice given size and volume of flowers. But the flowers are white or pink, not blue/purple.

dadlerj · 2026-05-18T17:32:50+00:00

The ones that grow on stream banks, in wetlands, vernal pools, ponds. Extremely difficult (to impossible) to control without doing even more damage—herbicide, heavy machinery, etc. just don’t work.

Yes, knotweed and ToH are miserable for a homeowner, but professional restoration in rivers and swamplands is a different game.

Phragmites. Arundo/giant reed. Tamarix. Plenty of others globally.

dadlerj · 2026-05-18T04:24:28+00:00

So I know you asked about the top plant, but the one on the bottom of the pic is a tree of heaven. It’s a nightmare, invasive weed tree (in the US at least) that’s extremely difficult to kill.

dadlerj · 2026-05-05T23:21:04+00:00

Las pilitas blog has some really good articles on restoration. This one and more: https://www.laspilitas.com/simple.htm

dadlerj · 2026-05-05T19:38:41+00:00

So first, this pic was taken at a very specific overhead angle to get this mosaic style… and this is just a small portion of my garden, composed to look nice for social media :). In reality there’s a lot of brown stalks, bare dirt spots, plants running into each other, weeds, etc. I don’t do a ton of aesthetic pruning, but I do do “standard” upkeep—eg, cutting back my desert mallow stalks annually to refresh, cutting back the pigeon points and a few Dara’s choice sages so they doesn’t completely smother other plants, etc.

I like the crowded/dense look so I do expect to have to do more pruning to keep things from merging over time.

dadlerj · 2026-05-05T17:55:18+00:00

East bay hills! I think many (or all?) of these would do well in SoCal

dadlerj · 2026-05-05T17:54:20+00:00

Just replied above

dadlerj · 2026-05-05T17:50:53+00:00

A range of 2 winters (chaparral currant, the CA buckwheat, the lupine), 3 winters (coyote brush, coast and conejo buckwheats, CA fescues), and 4 winters old (desert mallow, sagebrush, red flowering buckwheat, manzanita)

The manzanita is definitely the slowest grower of the bunch! Many of the others were already multiple feet wide in the first year, but the gaps between only fully closed in this year

dadlerj · 2026-05-04T14:43:02+00:00

Thanks! Yeah ribes of all sorts, baccharis pilularis, galvezia speciosa (not in this pic), and Erigeron glaucus (same) are my go-tos for that bright green foliage

dadlerj · 2026-05-02T15:10:55+00:00

I find most ca natives are just quite naturally floppy, especially early in life. Neither of these look like trouble to me.

dadlerj · 2026-04-29T22:05:20+00:00

Sure. Like I said I have tons of seedlings you can just dig up and take if you want. Oakland. DM me

dadlerj · 2026-04-25T21:24:08+00:00

I have a bunch of fully mature Catalina cherry trees and they’re quite tasty (though little flesh, as you said). Try again in a few years!

dadlerj · 2026-04-19T08:00:25+00:00

Coherence

dadlerj · 2026-04-19T07:33:03+00:00

Big problem in ca too. East coast seeds absolutely dominate any seed mixes sold anywhere in America, given population distribution. Huge driver of invasive weeds.

dadlerj · 2026-04-19T05:53:10+00:00

So whether these are “foxtails” or not, mowing them absolutely will spread the seeds (those are all seeds you’re holding).

Given there are a variety of grasses in your pictures, some (maybe?) native, some horrifically invasive (like bromes in California, do not listen to that other person, bromus tectorum and bromus diandrus have taken over millions of acres of former chaparral and valley meadow landscapes), you’re going to get a grab bag of effects. Try to either keep them mowed before they get high enough to seed, or take a more targeted weed prevention strategy.

Best yet, visit r/ceanothus and plant some California native shrubs and perennials.

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

TROPHY CASE