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Drought tolerant plants for a Poway, Rancho Bernardo 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 or the internal search on laspilitas.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 for Poway, Rancho Bernardo, California.

Arctostaphylos glandulosa adamsii Laguna Manzanita flowers. - grid24_12
Manzanitas of Southern California
Asclepias fascicularis, Narrow-leaf milkweed with Swallowtail butterfly - grid24_12
Milkweeds can jazz up a native garden.
Astragalus trichopodus, Southern California Locoweed flower - grid24_12
Astragalus trichopodus, Southern California Locoweed
Brewer's Saltbush makes a decent hedge, but it smells like cat pee. Drive your nasty neighbor crazy? But it will also grow in Los Angeles or San Diego without any water in full sun. You like cats, right? - grid24_12
Atriplex lentiformis subsp. breweri, Brewers Salt Bush
Pozo Surf or Parking Strip without water for years, about at about 8 years old. It seems to grow about 60 cm, 25-30 inches high and 6 ft., 2 meters  wide. The customers in San Diego love this plant. - grid24_12
Baccharis pilularis consanguinea, Pozo Surf (smaller form)
San Diego Mtn. Lilac, Ceanothus cyaneus grows well in coastal California in places like Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. - grid24_12
Southern California Lilacs, Ceanothus spp.
Cupressus forbesii, Tecate Cypress as a  hedge row. No water and the little trees look decent. Reports of 15 ft. in 3 years. - grid24_12
Cupressus forbesii Tecate Cypress
Tecate cypress is native to the southern California mountains looking down into Tijuana, Mexico.
Red  Monkey flowers, Diplacus puniceus flowers grows about San Diego county. - grid24_12
Diplacus puniceus, Red Monkey Flower is a two foot high evergreen shrub with red flowers most of the year.
Encelia californica - California encelia, California brittlebush, bush sunflower  - grid24_12
Encelia californica Coast Sunflower
Perennial shrub, 3-4 ft. high, good large scale ground cover with 2 inch daisy.
California buckwheat flowers turn russet  - grid24_12
Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum, California Buckwheat
We seldom see Toyon berries this ripe here, the birds eat them when they are still green. - grid24_12
Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon is what Hollywood was named after.
Lepechinia fragrans, Island Pitcher Sage grows on the island and from Ventura, through Los Angeles into the San Gabriel Mountains.  - grid24_12
Lepechinia fragrans, Wallace's Pitcher Plant
An evergreen perennial shrub like Lepechinia calycina but flower is pink and leaves a little fuzzier.
Malacothamnus densiflorus Many Flowered Bushmallow - grid24_12
Malacothamnus densiflorus Many Flowered Bushmallow grows from San Diego up
Western Bluebird on Mahonia nevinii, (syn. Berberis nevinii) Nevin's Barberry berries. - grid24_12
Mahonia nevinii Nevin's Barberry is an evergreen shrub that grows slowly to 5 feet.
Muhlenbergia rigens,  Deer Grass, is shown here with flowering stalks on the edge of a garden path. This native grass has all sorts of uses. - grid24_12
Muhlenbergia rigens Deer Grass
Deer grass is a 3 foot perennial with 2 foot plumes rising above the plant.
Rhus ovata, Sugar Bush in the garden. What a great hedge plant. Although it is sometimes called flammable, it is less flammable than most commonly watered garden shrubs, and it needs no water in most of Southern California, in particular Los Angeles. - grid24_12
Rhus ovata Sugar Bush
Rhus ovata, Sugar Bush is an eight foot evergreen shrub that can grow to maybe 8 ft.
Ribes specosum, Fuchsia flowered Gooseberry,  in flower with Anna Hummingbird up in left corner - grid24_12
Ribes speciosum Fuchsia-Flowering Gooseberry
Fuchsia flowering or fuchsia flowering gooseberry is a four foot nearly evergreen shrub with red fuchsia-like flowers in Jan.-May.
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
Sages, Salvias, photos, videos and descriptions of the plants native to California. 
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
Trichostema lanatum, Woolly Blue Curls
California fuchsia works well in California gardens from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and into Fresno. - grid24_12
California Fuchsia, Zauschneria or Epilobium is loved by hummingbirds, butterflies and people.
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Edited on Jan 19, 2013. Authors:
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