Drought tolerant plants for a Long Beach area garden.
In the 1500's
California went through an 80 year drought. During the winter there
were blizzards in Central California, the Salinas river froze solid
where it flowed into the Monterey Bay. During the summer there was no
humidity, no rain, and temperatures in the hundreds for many
months. During one year in the 1840's there was no measurable rain in
Santa Barbara. (The highest measured rainfall in an hour also was in
Southern California, 11 inches in an hour) The same native
plants that lived through that are still on
the hillsides of California. California native plants that do not
normally live in the creeks and ponds are very drought
tolerant.
The best way to find your plant is to check
www.mynativeplants.com and do not water at all. But if you want a
simple list of drought tolerant plants that can work for your garden
here are some.
This partial search is full sun, with adobe soil, no water after
first summer, and shredded redwood bark as mulch. (This example was
done in 2010, inventory/price subject to change.)
California sagebrush is an evergray shrub, three to four foot high.
Tecate cypress is native to the southern California mountains looking down into Tijuana, Mexico.
Perennial shrub, 3-4 ft. high, good large scale ground cover with 2 inch daisy, Native from Santa Maria to San Diego.
A perennial, 2 ft. by 2 ft.. Native near coast from Monterey to San Diego, shade to sun, red-green foliage, reddish-pink flowers.
An evergreen perennial shrub like Lepechinia calycina but flower is pink and leaves a little fuzzier.
Malacothamnus densiflorus, or dense flowered bush mallow, grows from San Diego up to the west slopes around Palm springs and west to Orange County.
Monardella antonina Butterfly Mint Bush
Butterfly Mint Bush, Monardella antonina is a one foot perennial covered with balls of pale purple with some pink.
Deer grass is a 3 foot perennial with 2 foot plumes rising above the plant.
Lemonade Berry is an evergreen shrub to 8' inland, 2' tall in view of ocean.
Rhus ovata, Sugar Bush is an eight foot evergreen shrub that can grow to maybe 8 ft.
Fuchsia flowering or fuchsia flowering gooseberry is a four foot nearly evergreen shrub with red fuchsia-like flowers in Jan.-May.
Pictures and descriptions of all the Salvias (Sages) native to California. White Sage, Black Sage, Cleveland Sage and all the sages in between.
Blue-eyed Grass. Sisyrinchium bellum is a 1 foot tall perennial with 1 inch blue flowers in Jan.-June. It has small, iris-like leaves. It is widely distributed in California on open, grassy slopes.
Purple Needle Grass is native throughout our area. Nice plant. Use simply. Leaves are bright green up close, appear gray from a distance. In the wild it is in the open spots in Oak Woodland.
California fuchsia, Zauschneria or Epilobium is loved by hummingbirds, butterflies and people. California fuchsia plants grow will in most California gardens with no additional water.
