California Native Plants

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The popularity of the California's Native Plants  seems to wax and wane depending upon the availability of water.   Much of the garden hardiness of the xeric plants is often diminished by the excessive use of water.  Due to the increasingly critical nature of this supply, our need for supplemental water for irrigation will at some point be rationed by cost.  As more people move to the state, and they are every day,  (half a million a year) and ancient groundwater and farm water resources are consumed by our landscapes (Coachella Valley-Colorado River water to San Diego) there will be an increasing pressure to use plants in our landscapes that do not need so much  additional water.  The occasional El Nino may allow us to forget for a time but we can be relatively assured that we will find ourselves, at some point, looking towards conservation of water in our landscape so that we can maintain the comfort of our lifestyle in our homes.

With 5,862 species of wild plants growing in this state and 4,839 of those species being native to California, it is a small wonder that more of them have not made it into the horticultural trade directly or in the form of hybrids.  It seems ironic that many of our native plants are more popular in Europe than they are here at home.  Only 8% of our plant resources are in protected areas.  Much of this resource is at risk due to the rapid encroachment of our ever-expanding suburbs and agriculture.  The native plants are very effective at attracting our native wildlife and may provide some limited habitat for increasingly displaced native wildlife species. Within our state there are climatic zones that range from the very wet to the extremely dry, from coastal plants to alpine.  With this range of climatic zones there is a huge array of plants to chose from and something that can suit almost any need.

Because we have utilized this plant resource in such a small way we have little idea about the breadth of the design capacity of these plants.  There are natives with large dark glossy leaves, with showy flowers, and adaptations to myriad soil types.   Everything from desert effects and wildflower meadows to near tropical lushness can be achieved with this palate of plants.

The most complete work on native plant propagation from seed that I have found is  Seed Propagation of Native California Plants, by Dara Emery.    The list of plants is extensive.  His list of selections that have made their way into the horticultural trade is amazing by any measure.