You can plant natives in any season. If you plant them from the time the fall rains start until about February or so, though, they're easier to establish. The rule of thumb is that the first year plants sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. In other words, for the first year or two the plants are growing extensive root systems. To grow roots plants need water, and if the water comes from the sky that's one less task for the gardener.
So, with prime native-planting season coming up, it's time to think about where to find the plants.
If you've taken advantage of native garden tours and talks, and you know which plants you want, it's easy to special-order them from a local independent nursery. For example, Suncrest Nurseries is a great source for native plants, but it's wholesale only. You can check its website for availability and descriptions, then order the plants from retail nurseries such as Los Altos Garden Supply on El Camino, Yamagami's in Cupertino, Roger Reynolds in Menlo Park, Ladera Garden Center in Portola Valley, Regan Nursery in Fremont, or Wegman's in Redwood City. If you shop at Regan, another good wholesaler is Native Sons.
If you're the type of gardener who likes to browse and make impulse purchases, then get ready for a field trip. Yerba Buena Nursery, off Skyline in Woodside, and Native Revival Nursery in Aptos both have a good selection of natives as well as demonstration gardens. Annie's Annuals in Richmond also grows a nice selection of native perennials and shrubs, and you can find selected Annie's plants at some local nurseries.
Other native nurseries offer harder to find plants, but are open one day a week for retail sales, or by appointment.
Gardeners who are especially interested in supporting local wildlife and growing locally native plants can visit restoration nurseries such as Rana Creek in Carmel Valley, Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery in Moss Landing, or Central Coast Wilds in Santa Cruz. In San Francisco, Bay Natives Nursery also specializes in local natives.
Restoration nurseries usually offer plants in smaller sizes, which will often grow as big as (or even bigger than!) larger sizes within 2 or 3 years. You can also find economical 4-inch pots at Gold Rush Nursery in Soquel and California Flora Nursery in Fulton.
For seeds, Larner Seeds, Seedhunt, and Theodore Payne Foundation are good mail-order sources. Many annuals are pretty easy, but a few perennials and shrubs require special treatment (heat, cold, or chemical) to germinate.
By the way, if you need a cultivar that's not available locally, Las Pilitas in southern California has an encyclopedic (and opinionated) website and is a good place to start looking for mail-order plants.
Finally, if you're patient enough to wait for once-a-season sales, every botanic garden (Tilden, UC Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Cruz) and California Native Plant Society chapter sells natives once or twice a year. These sales offer the highest concentration of knowledgeable native-plant enthusiasts anywhere, as well as interesting plants.
© 2008 Tanya Kucak