Our Favorite Native Plants

Eriogonum arborescens, or Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat, is a 3 foot evergreen ornamental buckwheat. It is drought tolerant with blue/green leaves and pink flowers.

Small in size (about 2 to 3 feet), Salvia pachyphylla, or Desert Sage, is extremely drought resistant with fragrant purple flowers and pink bracts.

Calliandra eriophylla, or Pink Fairy Duster, is a desert native with delicate pink flowers.

Penstemon palmeri, or Palmers penstemon, is a desert perennial with fragrant pink flowers.

This coastal/inland perennial, Mimulus rutilus, or Velvet Red Monkeyflower, has rich red flowers. It makes a good color spot in the native landscape.

Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon, or California Christmas Holly, rivals any bougainvillea for color. It is covered in bright red berries in winter and is the most important winter food source for migratory birds.

Who needs pansies when you have wildflowers like this? Clarkia amoena, Farewell-to-Spring, or Godetia, blooms in late spring through early summer. It is literally a bouquet on a stick.

Lonicera involucrata, or Twinberry, is a beautiful and unusual shrubby member of the honeysuckle family, with twinning flowers followed by berries in front of reddish bracts. Eye-catching!

Ribes aureum gracillimum, or Golden Current, is the best eating and prettiest of our native currants. The orange berries, nearly black when ripe, are preceded by yellow tubular flowers, a favorite for hummers.

The king of lillies, Lillium humboldtii, or Humboldt Lily, reaches 8 feet in height and contains more than 100 flowers on a mature plant. This species can also be found on Mount Palomar.

Trichostemma lanatum, or Wooly Blue Curls is a long-blooming, fragrant 3 foot shrub known for its showy blue-purple flowers. It is finnicky, but worth a try.

This desert native, Sphaeralcea ambigua, or Apricot Mallow, is widely adaptable and blooms with vermillion blossoms for months.

This is Aquilegia formosa or Red Columbine. It looks like it has crossed with Aquilegia pubescens, or Yellow Columbine, judging from the bright yellow center.