California Native Plants

All the plants we have ever grown, listed by alphabetic order.
Click on a letter, "A" for Arctostaphylos "M" for Manzanita!

Go to each plant's page to check availability, look at pictures, or buy online

Plants listed by scientific name:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Plants listed by common name:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Plants listed by cultivar:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Try something as simple as typing whatever you are looking for in our search box. Try something natural like your city name or the native plant you're looking for.
We have all sorts of pages about native plants and their natural allies. More than likely there will be something mentioning your city or your question in a thousands of pages of information.

The purpose of this page is to show you the diverse plants that occur naturally in California, and maybe a little about California itself.

Trichostema lanatum, Woolly Blue Curls used to grow native through the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Catalina Island, up through Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, Riverside, up to Monterey and south to San Diego. - grid24_12

Native plants in flower in May

Western Columbine was on the edge of a meadow at 7400 ft, 2100 meters in the Sierras but grows fine in most native gardens. This native plant is easy to grow in a shady conventional garden. - grid24_12

Native plants in flower in August

This native plant grows on the edges of salty marshes, or in a conventional garden. GREAT for butterflies. - grid24_12

Native plants in flower in November.

California redbud with Golden currant behind it. Both are native plants. - grid24_12

Native plants in flower in February

We've tried to cover all aspects of a native garden, native plants and animals.

California can be very dry. Drought tolerant or resistant native plants are part of California's history. We been down some interesting roads. The point of this photo is your yard can be tolerant of extreme drought and still look decent. - grid24_12

Drought tolerant native plants

Some of the native sages make great groundcovers. - grid24_12

Many native plants make great groundcovers

Western Bluebirds at the birdbath in our native garden. The Chokeberry behind them is one of their favorites. - grid24_12

Help with designing a native garden.

A garden bench under native Coast Live Oak can create a natural setting in this California garden example. - grid24_12

Fragrant,slopes, shade, fire, hedges to wildlife, native plants can help.

Why not put a low groundcover in the front yard. Make it harder for that neighbor dog and better for the local hummingbirds. Not to mention lowering your water bill.

California Buckwheat as a ground cover. No extra water. Native plants are beautiful. What would a non-native plant look like with no water in midsummer? - grid24_12

Buckwheats are natural throughout California

Ceanothus Tassajara Blue with no extra water in Escondido. - grid24_12

Ceanothus or Mountain Lilac grows in California. Most Ceanothus plants are natural only in California.

This little Hummingbird was watching as I took his picture on the Salvia apiana compacta. Native plants can bring life to you garden, naturally. - grid24_12

Native Sages or Salvias, of California and Plants that attract Hummingbirds to your garden

Arctostaphylos refugioensis, Refugio Manzanita with Anna Hummingbird in a natural setting created in your yard. - grid24_12

California is home to manzanitas and hummingbirds!

This California native plant photo is one of the most frequently stolen images on the web. Agoura Monkey flower with Salvia clevelandii Alpine along the driveway in 2003. - grid24_12

Monkey flowers are rumored to have monkeys in their flowers.

I pushed a few gallon containers together so you can visualize a California wildflower bouquet. Native plants are beautiful and can create a spectacular garden. - grid24_12

Where have all the wildflowers gone? Plant them in your garden...
10 easy native plants.

Penstemon spectabilis, Showy Penstemon is a natural in a large perennial garden. You can still have a perennial garden with no water, just use native plants. - grid24_12

Penstemons are wonderful perennials.

Young Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens along the Big Sur Coast - grid24_12

California Native trees

Satureja mimuloides, Monkeyflower Savory grows in moist shade and is one of the few native plants that will tolerate an over-watered regular garden. - grid24_12

Many native plants are supposed to be ok as herbs.

Ribes sanguineum glutinosum, Pink-Flowered Currant (wetter spot) mixed with Golden Currant, Ribes aureum gracillimum (drier spot). - grid24_12

California has many Currants and Gooesberries

A Rufous crowned sparrow, Aimophila ruficeps is a natural checker-outer. Like little chickens, they'll peck anything once. - grid24_12

Native plants may be edible.
But an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Quercus-cornelius-mulleri as a tree along Hwy. 18 North of Big Bear. This oak is native to much of interior Southern California. - grid24_12

We have pictures and descriptions for most California Oaks.

Cercidium floridum, Palo Verde, sometimes called Blue Palo Verde. Without the flowers this native has a blue smoky silhouette. One of the few plants with any height out in the desert. - grid24_12

Native Trees are some of the drought tolerant plants that are native to California.

Cornus stolonifera, Red Stem Dogwood fall color with it's red stems makes the California stems turn red in fall. - grid24_12

Some native plants show winter color.

Buckeye Butterfly on a Rabbitbrush flower. This nondescript native plant comes alive in fall, butterflies are commonly on it until frost. - grid24_12

A butterfly list of associated plants so you can make a butterfly garden, or you can look up Butterflies

Costa's Hummingbird on Mojave beardtongue, Penstemon incertus. This native plant grows along the Southern Sierras. - grid24_12

Native plants attract native birds. Also which plants atrract which pollinators?

Close up of Ceanothus Mill's Glory flowers. Un-watered California native plants can better than watered non-native plants. - grid24_12

Ceanothus species, Mountain Lilacs live mostly in California.

You can browse our native plants by clicking on the Browse plants link. You can filter plants by height, community, nursery, etc. Thumbnails and easy mail order shopping, or just looking at native plants for your garden.
We have introduced several very popular, native hybrids and cultivars to the landscaping trade, which can be seen at our nursery and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California, including: the perennials Penstemon; 'Margarita BOP', 'Powerline Pink' Sage, 'Ramona' Monkey Flower, and the shrubs Salvia Pozo Blue, Ceanothus Celestial Blue, Ceanothus Remote Blue, Ceanothus L.T. Blue, and Salvia Celestial Blue among others.

The chaparral community was the natural areas for most of inner California - grid24_12

California has many plant communities. We've tried to put them together in a way that helps you put together your project.

Salvia Celestial Blue is REALLY blue. Native plants are wonderfully fragrant and colorful. Celestial Blue has grown into a six ft. bush with no irrigation in both Los Angeles and San Diego. You'll have to water it a few times to start it, but then it's a natural! - grid24_12

Native Plants are amazing! Here are the flowers of Salvia Celestial Blue

Salvia spathacea, Topanga Hummingbird sage. Areas of Western Los Angeles used to look like this. - grid24_12

We have made a picture page of
Los Angeles Native plants

Bombus californicus is native to California to British Columbia and east to Colorado. - grid24_12

Nature in California includes Bumblebees and other pollinators.

Ribes speciosum, Fuchsia flowered Gooseberry, in flower with Anna Hummingbird. This native plant is 6 ft. of thorns and flowers. The birds love it. - grid24_12

Currants and Gooseberries that are native to California.

Eriogonum nudum pubiflorum, Naked buckwheat in its native habitat. - grid24_12

Buckwheats native to of California.

If the weeds are not there, California is amazing! When an annual native plant is done flowering it almost disappears and is nearly fire proof. Large areas of California used to look like this in spring. Can you imagine what inner Los Angeles could look like if it was still natural? - grid24_12

A guide to the plant communities of California.

California fuchsia

Lonicera hispidula, Chaparral Honeysuckle, is native in coastal California, seen here ten feet up in a bush. - grid24_12

Honeysuckles in California?

California Native Plants

Native plants are beautiful and full of LIFE! Native flies, bees, bumblebees, birds, hummingbirds, even lizards. show up in a native garden. 'Wild' life shows up even in remote town gardens. Your garden can be as wonderful as a great movie, full of intrigue and cinematic colore.

Native gardens need about one tenth the water that 'drought tolerant' non-native gardens need. (We have no sprinkler systems on the motherstock areas.) If you pick native plants that grow in your area naturally, you can be a natural! (Some call these native plant nuts...)

Here are some of the pages that we've written for specific groups of native plants. This page is meant to be a window into some of the web pages that we've produced about native plants. We've written about 2000 urls so far trying to address all aspects of native plants, native plant gardens and details about each nursery.

Native plants like Mahonia nevinii attract native wildlife like Western Bluebirds.

California Native Plants

All the plants we have ever grown, listed by alphabetic order. Click on a letter, "A" for Arctostaphylos "M" for Manzanita!

Plants listed by scientific name: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Plants listed by common name: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z Plants listed by cultivar: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

The purpose of this page is to show you the diverse plants that occur naturally in California, and maybe a little about California itself.

We've tried to cover all aspects of a native garden, native plants and animals.

California Native Plants

All the plants we have ever grown, listed by alphabetic order.
Click on a letter, "A" for Arctostaphylos "M" for Manzanita!

Plants listed by scientific name:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Plants listed by common name:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Plants listed by cultivar:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z