If I were new to natives and wanted to plan a native garden with plants that were easy to grow and available, the Arboretum All-Stars would be a good place to start.
A joint project of the UC Davis Arboretum and the California Center for Urban Horticulture, the All-Stars Program was formed to help home gardeners choose landscape plants. The All-Stars are “tough, reliable plants that have been tested in the Arboretum, are easy to grow, don't need a lot of water, have few problems with pests or diseases, and have outstanding qualities in the garden.”
The plants were grown in different regions of California to test their suitability statewide, and at the arboretum specimens were trialed with different amounts of water.
The 100 All-Stars all come from Mediterranean climates, and about 35 of them are California natives. The natives on the list are mostly the same ones that appear on other lists of foolproof natives, but it's nice to have them all in one place. The All-Stars list is a particularly good resource if you'd like to persuade your community or neighborhood to plant more natives, since these plants come preapproved.
The first one that caught my eye was Valley Violet ceanothus at the Hot Plant Picks display, an annual feature at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. This year, the plants were chosen by the Western Horticultural Society.
Though most varieties of ceanothus have blue or white flowers, Valley Violet is one of the few varieties of ceanothus whose flowers are dark violet, more purple than blue. It was selected and developed at the UC Davis Arboretum and recently became available. Its size also sets Valley Violet apart. It's a small plant, reaching about 2-3 feet high and wide, which is an ideal size for many suburban gardens. Like other varieties of ceanothus, it has large clusters of tiny flowers that attract many beneficial insects. It thrives in full sun with very little water.
Another All-Star at the garden show was serpentine columbine, a 5-foot plant with 2-inch flowers, larger and showier than most columbines. Hummingbirds are drawn to the red and yellow flowers. Plant it in shade or part shade and water occasionally. Like many shade plants, if it gets more sun it will look better with more water.
Other All-Stars that can grow with columbines in shadier parts of the garden include island alum root, hummingbird sage, Canyon Snow Pacific iris, and giant chain fern.
For meadows, the list offers larger-scale deergrass and California fescue as well as smaller-scale blue grama grass, with its distinctive eyebrowlike flowering heads. Deergrass looks best where it has some breathing room, rather than being crowded by other plants. California fescue grows in sun or part shade, and it looks particularly good under native oaks. Blue grama is a delicate-looking but tough grass.
Colorful perennials that look good in meadows include bright yellow Cascade Creek California goldenrod, bright blue Margarita BOP foothill penstemon, pale rose to lavender Wayne Roderick seaside daisy, and vivid red-orange California fuchsia. Butterflies and beneficial insects are drawn to these plants as well.
© 2010 Tanya Kucak