Two feet or taller California native ground covers.

For small or flat ground covers go here for one to two foot high ground covers go here or for Slopes go here.

Flowers and leaves of Arctostaphylos cushingiana - grid24_12

Arctostaphylos cushingiana grows in heavy, serpentine/adobe clay, but also does well in sandy loam. Knee high mounds of gray.

Harmony manzanita makes a nice knee high ground cover. - grid24_12

Harmony Manzanita is a beautiful ground cover for any garden directly away from the coast.

Arctostaphylos glandulosa adamsii makes a little gray bush that can be used as a ground cover. - grid24_12

Arctostaphylos glandulosa adamsii is a moundcover for Southern California Gardens. Sand or clay, full to part sun.

Arctostaphylos crustacea subsp. eastwoodiana, Harris Grade manzanita, in its natural habitat of chaparral, in the California coastal zone. Vaccinium ovatum is also present here along with Pinus muricata. Here it is making a square mile of mounding ground cover about 2 ft. high. It would be lovely if someone would give us money to do this. - grid24_12

You know those pine/manzanita slopes of Tahoe and Mammoth? You can do that with this Southern California ground cover.

Arctostaphylos hookeri Wayside Manzanita, Monterey Manzanita grows well in full sun in coastal gardens, but will tolerate more shade than most manzanitas. A very nice 1-2 ft. high ground cover. - grid24_12

Wayside manzanita has done fine in adobe soils near the coast. In inland locations it needs at least afternoon shade.

Pinus monophylla and Arctostaphylos parryana as a groundcover. - grid24_12

Arctostaphylos parryana Snow Lodge Manzanita is a great ground cover for the mountain folks.

Arctostaphylos purissima, Burton Mesa Groundcover or Lompoc Manzanita is becoming one of our favorite low ground covers. It is generally less than a foot tall, but can mound to 2 ft. Loves beach sand, tolerates adobe soil. - grid24_12

Mesa ground cover grows in full sun near the coast, part shade inland. Tolerates garden conditions. Should be used in Santa Monica, Venice or maybe around Golden Gate in San Francisco.

Artemisia californica Canyon Gray, Canyon Grey Trailing Sagebrush, is a bluish-silver gray, low-growing ground cover form that has gotten raves for bluff plantings in La Jolla and San Diego. - grid24_12

Artemisia californicaX Montara is a gray ground cover for heavy soils or light soils.

Ceanothus Joyce Coulter in a San Francisco garden. - grid24_12

Ceanothus Joyce Coulter has a trick to it. Tip prune the upright stems a few times the first year and the plants will grow low.

Ceanothus Yankee Point in a parking lot. This is probably the most popular ground cover in California. - grid24_12

Ceanothus griseus horizontalis Yankee Point is an evergreen shrub that commonly grows two or three feet tall and ten feet wide.

Ceanothus Snowball makes a real show in spring. Mounding about 2-3 ft. tall use in the center of a lower ground cover. - grid24_12

Ceanothus rigidus Snowball is not liked by deer but is liked by humans. Grows here in full sun to part shade, an excellent groundcover of smaller spaces.

Fremontodendron californicum decumbens, Dwarf Flannel Bush makes a flower show - grid24_12

Fremontodendron californicum decumbens is a small flannel bush that can be used as a groundcover mixed with Ceanothus.

Here is another photo of Lonicera hispidula, California Honeysuckle, in the California mixed evergreen forest, but with its clusters of red fruits. - grid24_12

Lonicera hispidula. California honeysuckle is one of the few pale green groundcovers that can grow in shade.

Lonicera subspicata denudata, San Diego Honeysuckle as a groundcover - grid24_12

Lonicera subspicata denudata is a wonderful groundcover honeysuckle from southern California.

Rhus integrifolia, Lemonade Berry between Santa Barbara and Ventura. - grid24_12

Rhus integrifolia works well as a shiny evergreen groundcover near the coast, particularly in windy conditions.

Rhus trilobata, Squaw Bush Sumac in the wild as a groundcover. - grid24_12

Rhus trilobata makes a great groundcover for under the edges of oak trees, or around the base of an elderberry tree.

Golden Currant, Ribes aureum gracillimum as groundcover - grid24_12

Ribes aureum gracillimum Golden Currant works well near oaks or on north slopes, as a larger groundcover. that spreads over time.

Ribes quercetorum grows in openings in the inland areas, sometimes in incredibly difficult places, like the hills ringing Carrizo Plains.

Ribes viburnifolium is a drought tolerant ground cover for full shade, and grows well under oaks.

Rubus ursinus, Pacific blackberry - grid24_12

Rubus ursinus makes a blackberry thicket.

Here is Salvia mellifera repens on a coastal bluff. - grid24_12

Salvia mellifera repens makes a mounding groundcover near the coast, but inland it grows higher.

The blue flower of Solanum hoffmanii - grid24_12

Solanum xanti hoffmannii works well as a groundcover in the shade of oaks, and as an added benefit is sweetly fragrant.

Symphoricarpos albus laevigatus, Common Snowberry. makes a green thicket. - grid24_12

Symphoricarpos albus forms thickets on creek banks and does well as a buffer between lawns and oaks.

Southern California Grape and Desert Grape in a wet spot south of Lucerne, mixed with Stanleya pinnata and Populus fremontia. - grid24_12

Vitis girdiana, Southern California grape works a groundcover in much of Southern California.