Costa Hummingbird on a Saliva clevelandii Alpine. Native plants support native birds and butterflies.

Las Pilitas Nursery

California Native Plants are all we grow!

Blog Contact Us Directions

3232 Las Pilitas Rd
Santa Margarita, CA 93453

Shop For Plants Cart Contents

This website is dedicated to Bert Wilson. His genius continues to inspire us.

Native Plants Nature of California Native gardens Native Plant Pictures Selected Native Plants Garden DIY Birds and the Bees.
How to plant Landscaping ideas Resource Islands Native Gardening Design Your Garden Edible? Garden Examples

Native Plant Gardening

Here is the basic dirt about planting a native plant garden in California.

It doesn't rain in California from May to November.
Most of the soils in California are considered infertile.
It's hot and dry in summer, cool and moist in winter.
Humidities are generally low, but can be very low in summer.
We have a rather extreme Mediterranean Climate. Before you get all misty about Lavender, Lavender grows in a climate closer to Medford, Oregon than Los Angeles or Fresno. And our El Ninos knock out a lot of the desert species, not to mention those 100 year frosts that seem to be happening more often with climate change. Historically California had an 80 year drought in the 1500's and no measurable rain in 1847.
California is very diverse from nearly 0 rainfall to 120 inches. Just because it grows in California doesn't mean it's for you. Again, think about it.
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
Native plants can be stunning .
So...
No soil amending. Where did someone get the idea that a Native California hillside had fertilizer worked into it. Maybe someone selling a load of stuff?
Stop watering native plants in summer if you possibly can and as soon as you can. NEVER use drip. Overhead irrigation is fine.
Expect your native plants to look a little worse for wear in summer. You can hose off the foliage to make them look a little better, but try not to water them in summer after the first season.
Stay as close to your plant community as you can. Do not plant redwoods in Bakersfield or cactus in Eureka. This doesn't have to be perfect, but if you want manzanitas maybe you should move from Barstow.
Some plants need a climate. If you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco you may not be able to grow some of the plants from the interior.
Water is going to get very expensive and scarce on many years. With climate change I expect droughts that will be intense and flooding. We may be working with no outside irrigation in a few decades.
Ok, now read the rest of the page and click on the links and get going. There's a California to save!
A home owner native garden at planting in Northern San Luis Obispo County, Atascadero/Paso Robles. - grid24_12
Help for the new gardener.

Reasons and philosophy of native landscaping.
Seeding for erosion after a fire results in this. Seeding makes for more fires faster. This is not what a native site looks like. Hopefully your garden doesn't look like this. - grid24_6
What not to do.
Salvia Pozo Blue with a Swallowtail butterfly in the garden at Santa Margarita. Native plant gardens attract native butterflies. - grid24_12
California plant communities and designing a native garden.

When to plant?
A native landscape in San Luis Obispo, Toyon, Arctostaphylos Carmel Sur and Western Redbud. This native garden has been in for 30 years. - grid24_12

Here are some examples of Native Gardens

More examples and photos of native gardens.

You can build native gardens for bumblebees, insects, insect pollinators, insect predators, butterflies, hummingbirds, or birds.

If you don't want to build a native garden for wildlife, build it for yourself and fill it with Ceanothus, Gooseberries or Currants, Honeysuckles, Manzanitas, Monkey Flowers, Oaks, Penstemons, Sages, trees, or Vines.
Bombus vosnesenskii visiting a Salvia Alpine flower in the Santa Margarita native garden. - grid24_12
Bombus vosnesenskii working the flowers of Alpine Cleveland sage
Predrill the holes before you put the screws in or you'll split the wood. - grid24_12
How to build stuff like fences, greenhouse, chairs, decks, birdhouses, bird baths, etc..
How to plant a native plant. Dig a hole, plant the plant at grade level, and water a lot at first. AND THEN ENJOY THE GARDEN. - grid24_12

How to Plant California Native Plants.
Videos and everything!

Printable Planting Guide
A simple one page how to plant.
Arctostaphylos manzanita, Austin Griffiths, makes a very good eight foot or so hedge - grid24_12
Why not enhance your garden with a native hedge?
Steve, Bakersfield front yard. You can create a native garden anywhere. - grid24_12
How to maintain your native garden.
A natural recovery of a California ecosystem after a fire.NO grasses or weeds. - grid24_12
How to restore a native ecosystem. A more detailed page about native restoration is here.
Sauromalus obesus, Chuckwalla. I know a few people that fit this profile. - grid24_12
You might also be interested in some of our Wildlife Articles, with information about California wildlife and plants wildlife prefer.
Along a similar line are plant strategies R-C-S, why some plants tolerate drip irrigation.

How different is California from the rest of the United States? California plants have problems in other areas.
Help with irrigation, soil problems, slopes, shady garden plants, and fragrant native plants.
Tuscan kale, Pak Choy, Russian Red kale are burying the carrots, parsley and onions in a test garden at Santa Margarita. - grid24_12
How to put Vegetables and Native Plants in the same garden and then there are Permaculture ideas.
California deer would love to visit your garden. - grid24_6
Designing a native garden with deer present. Usually if you have to deal with deer you are in a fire area.
I was a volunteer firefighter for San Luis Obispo County for 14 years. This was taken while we were doing structure protection and waiting for the fire to do something. - grid24_12
We also have pages on designing for safety in a fire area
Salvia dorrii, Desert sage, with Yucca brevifolia along the edge of the Mojave desert. - grid24_12
Drought resistant plants In the 1500's California had an 80 years drought and the native plants survived.
A young Anna Hummingbird on Salvia Alpine, Cleveland Sage. Cleveland Sage is drought resistant and can look good with 7-8 inches of rainfall. Your native garden needs very little water in a drought to look and smell good. Tolerant of much abuse. - grid24_12
Drought tolerant plants for specific cities in California.
This is the index page for most of the native garden related pages on our website.
We have such a huge site and the pages are fairly diverse so here is an attempt to organize them for you.

Design help. A tool to search for plants for your garden.


Design Your Native Garden with a series of small steps. Do not try to be too grandiose until you've worked through some of the website. Start the garden in the back corner and work your way up to the house.

You can read about the plant communities here, along with how native landscaping makes economic and environmental sense. Learn how to pick your vegetables as you watch the hummingbirds, and see gardens of some of our customers. How to plant a native plant and all sorts of design ideas and help. We've also built a series of how to build stuff from bird houses to fences. Learn how to maintain your native garden after you've planted it.

You can build a garden for seasonal color. Plant for flowers in February, May, August or even November.

In this native garden in coastal sand, the Diplacus (Mimulus) puniceus, Red Monkey Flower. - grid24_12
Lupines, buffalo grass, poppies in a Bakersfield native garden - grid24_12
Penstemon and Poppies in a California Native Garden - grid24_6