Drought tolerant plants for Santa Monica.

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.
Here is the first page for full sun, no water, no mulch. The list will get bigger if you mulch it.  Do the soil test to see what your drainage is. Almost everyone thinks their soil is worse than it is.

Plant Image Short Description
Abronia villosa aurita
Abronia villosa aurita Sand Verbena
Abronia villosa var. aurita has larger flowers than Abronia villosa var. villosa. It is found on the... Learn more
Adenostoma fasciculatum
Adenostoma fasciculatum Chamise
Chamise tends to be a medium to large shrub, 3-10 ft., tall. Native to the coast ranges (Mendocino a... Learn more
Adenostoma sparsifolium
Adenostoma sparsifolium Red Shanks
Red shanks grows from the San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara County line south in chaparral, down throug... Learn more
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Allium crispum Wild Onion
A perennial allium with beautiful pink flowers, needs dry summer conditions, best growing in a wild ... Learn more
Ambrosia psilostachya
Ambrosia psilostachya Western Ragweed
A weedy , perennial, native with spreading rhizomes that grows in disturbed areas of native plant co... Learn more
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Anaphalis margaritacea Pearly Everlasting
Pearly Everlasting is a rather weedy perennial that Painted Ladies visit. If you're old and male don... Learn more
Antirrhinum coulterianum
Antirrhinum coulterianum Coulters Snapdragon
Antirrhinum coulterium, Coulters snapdragon is another one of the many plants that is not supposed t... Learn more
Antirrhinum kelloggii
Antirrhinum kelloggii Climbing Snapdragon
Antirrhinum kelloggii(Antirrhinum hookerianum, Antirrhinum strictum, Maurandyra strictum, Asarium st... Learn more
Antirrhinum multiflorum
Antirrhinum multiflorum Multiflowered Snapdragon
Multiflowered snapdragon is a two foot perennial with two foot flower spikes of pink and yellow flo... Learn more
Arctostaphylos densiflora Sentinel Manzanita
Arctostaphylos densiflora Sentinel Manzanita Sentinel Manzanita
Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Sentinel' was selected way back when as an upright floweriest of manzanit... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glandulosa adamsii
Arctostaphylos glandulosa adamsii Laguna Manzanita
Laguna manzanita is a sprawling evergreen manzanita shrub that will form a knee high groundcover. ... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glandulosa campbelliae
Arctostaphylos glandulosa campbelliae Eastwood Manzanita
Evergreen bush manzanita, usually about 4' tall. It has 1 1/2" gray leaves, red- brown stems. Among ... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glauca
Arctostaphylos glauca Big Berry Manzanita
Big berry Manzanita is an evergreen shrub to small tree, with red-brown bark, 7-10' foot high and wi... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glauca Dwaine's Dwarf
Arctostaphylos glauca Dwaine's Dwarf Dwaine's Dwarf
See Arctostaphylos glauca for horticultural information. I found this plant on a customer's propert... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glauca Frazier Park Manzanita
Arctostaphylos glauca Frazier Park Manzanita Mt. Pinos Manzanita
This Big Berry manzanita was selected from John's property in the Lake of the Woods/Frazier Park ar... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glauca Los Angeles
Arctostaphylos glauca Los Angeles Los Angeles Big Berry Manzanita
A manzanita from the Santa Monica Mountains. This one was originally in the area of Mullhuland and K... Learn more
Arctostaphylos glauca Ramona Manzanita
Arctostaphylos glauca Ramona Manzanita Ramona Manzanita
A really glorious Big Berry manzanita from the San Vicente/Ramona area. The mother plant was growin... Learn more
Arctostaphylos Ian Bush Manzanita
Arctostaphylos Ian Bush Manzanita Manzanita
Ian bush manzanita is fast to four feet and seems to stabilize at five feet with a very open form. T... Learn more
Arctostaphylos luciana Adelaide Manzanita
Arctostaphylos luciana Adelaide Manzanita Santa Lucia Manzanita
Santa Lucia Manzanita is a rare, evergreen shrub, 3' by 6' with 1" white leaves and red bark. It gro... Learn more
Arctostaphylos manzanita Dr. Hurd Manzanita Tree
Arctostaphylos manzanita Dr. Hurd Manzanita Tree Northern California Manzanita
Dr. Hurd Manzanita is an evergreen, multi-branched, treelike hybrid shrub with glossy, light green f... Learn more
Arctostaphylos manzanita_x_densiflora Austin Griffiths Manzanita
Arctostaphylos manzanita_x_densiflora Austin Griffiths Manzanita Austin Griifith's Manzanita
Austin Griffiths Manzanita is a hybrid between Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Sentinel' and Arctostaphyl... Learn more
Arctostaphylos pringlei drupacea Idyllwild Manzanita
Arctostaphylos pringlei drupacea Idyllwild Manzanita Pinkbract Manzanita
This manzanita has slightly fuzzy sticky foliage and flowers. Gray foliage starts out kinda brown pi... Learn more
Arctostaphylos pungens
Arctostaphylos pungens Pointleaf Manzanita
Mexican manzanita is an evergreen shrub around six foot tall, (usually taller than wide) that grows ... Learn more
Arctostaphylos rainbowensis
Arctostaphylos rainbowensis
Rainbowensis is a lower moundy Big Berried Manzanita. We grew some for a remediation in South River... Learn more
Argemone munita
Argemone munita Prickly Poppy
Short lived perennial. A very thorny plant that is nearly unweedable. Why do we grow it? It has 3" ... Learn more
There are about 20 more pages that you can find using; www.mynativeplants.com.
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Edited on Jan 04, 2014. Authors:
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