Eriophyllum lanatum
Woolly Sunflower

Dense, wooly hairs cover stems and undersides of leaves to prevent drying out. Plant sends up single, large, golden-rayed flower heads.

Advantages: Excellent on dry, rocky hillsides; flowers attract many pollinators.
Bloom Period: Early summer
Height: 8-30”
Width: 6-12”
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Eschscholzia californica
California Poppy

Annual or perennial herb, state flower of California, with orange, yellow, or white flowers.

Advantages: Tough, fast growing, drought tolerant, self-seedingand easy to grow.
Bloom Period: Spring, summer, fall, and winter
Height: .16 to 2'
Width: 1 to 2'
Light Requirements: Full sun to part shade
Water Requirements: very low to low
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Festuca californica
California Fescue

Clumping perennial grass without rhizomes, yellow flowers. Cool season grass with blue or verdant new green blades in fall after rains with arching 2 feet or more graceful stems with inflorescences.in early spring.

Advantages: Deer resistant, very easy to grow, grows well in both loam clay soils Clumping grass makes excellent ground cover and grows quickly through winter and spring.
Bloom Period: Winter, Early Spring, Spring
Height: 1-3’
Width: 1-3’
Light Requirements: Full sun to part shade
Water Requirements: Very low / Drought tolerant
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Festuca idahoensis
Blue Bunch Grass / Idaho Fescue

Tight, clump-forming, dense grey-green grass (lower than California fescue).with 1-2-feet-tall stems that may have a rose blush color.

Advantages: Intense blue-colored selections are available and make s bold statement in a garden.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 12-18”
Width: 12”
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant but needs well-drained soils
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Fragaria chiloensis ‘Carole Ann’
Beach strawberry Carole Ann

Vigorous, fast-growing ground cover forms a mat of glossy green foliage and large, bright white flowers. Fruit is edible.

Advantages: Excellent ground cover that requires no mowing or upkeep.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 1”
Width: spreading
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Occasional
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Fragaria vesca spp. californica
Woodland Strawberry

Lighter green leaves with smaller flowers than the beach strawberry, this plant grows well in shade.

Advantages: Excellent ground cover in shady spots in the garden.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 1"
Width: spreading
Light Requirements: Shade
Water Requirements: Occasional
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Frangula californica
Coffeeberry

Dense, evergreen shrub with dark red branches with attractive dark green leaves and small, inconspicuous flower clusters that produce red berries that first turn purple and then black over the summer.

Advantages: Easy-to-grow shrub that is highly valued by birds for its berries. Can be used as a fire-resistant hedge.
Bloom Period: Spring to summer
Height: 6-15’
Width: 5-15’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Grindelia camporum
Great Valley Gum Plant

Spreading gum plant is an evergreen herbaceous perennial with 2-inch wide bright yellow flowers. The center of each fat green bud holds a small pool of gummy white resin which glistens in the sun before flowering.

Advantages: Unusual gummy buds and massive yellow flowers brighten landscape in late summer with a long bloom period. Requires some pruning. Pest-free.
Bloom Period: Spring to Summer
Height: 1-3'
Width: 1-3'
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Grindelia hisurtula
Hairy gum plant

Multi-branching, mounding gum plant with thick, shallow-toothed leaves and 2 to 3 inch wide bright yellow flowers. The center of each fat green bud holds a small pool of gummy white resin which glistens in the sun before flowering. The daisy-like yellow flowers completely cover this low growing shrub.

Advantages: Easy-to-grow, hardy, extremely drought tolerant plant with gummy buds in summer with a long bloom period into fall. Requires some fall pruning for a cleaner appearance. Pest-free. Gum plant is well-suited for gardens exposed to salt spray.
Bloom Period: Summer-fall
Height: 1-3’
Width: 1-3’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Huechera maxima
Alum root

 
Perennial herb with rich green leaves with cream and soft pink spikes.

Advantages: Thrives under oaks looks best in bright shade
Bloom Period: early spring to summer
Height: 14"
Width: 30"
Light Requirements: Sun to bright shade
Water Requirements: low water
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Iris douglasiana
Douglas iris

Native iris with a wide range of springtime colors and sword-shaped leaves.

Advantages: Tolerates sand, clay, serpentine soils, and seasonal flooding; Drought tolerant; Shade tolerant. Long-lived, evergreen perennials make great understory plants in the garden. Easy to propagate.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: Foliage & flowering stems: 1 - 2’ tall 
Width: Forms 2 - 4’ wide clumps
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade; Full sun; Morning sun
Water Requirements: Low, Drought tolerant to occasional
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Lessingia filanginifolia 'Silver Carpet
Silver Carpet California Aster
Native iris with a wide range of springtime colors and sword-shaped leaves.1-inch-wide daisy-like, pastel blossoms are so abundant in late summer that the silvery foliage of the Aster is temporarily obscured.

Advantages: Late summer bloom brightens the garden. Can be used as an effective ground cover and is easy to grow. Disease and pest-free.
Bloom Period: Summer to fall
Height: 1-3'
Width: 4-8’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Occasional
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Muhlenbergia rigens

Large, beautiful clumping native grass with gray-green leaves that spill out like a fountain and produce dozens of stiff flowering stems.

Advantages: Very showy plant that is easy to grow and makes a bold statement in a garden. Very reliable and durable. Prune to 3-4” in late fall.
Bloom Period: Mid-Summer
Height: 5’
Width: 3-5’
Light Requirements: Sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Margarita BOP’
Foothill Penstemon

Mounding perennial of loose, leafy branches with multi-hued 1½ “ blue, purple, pink flowers which bloom profusely for several months in the summer.

Advantages: Very tolerant of heavy clay soils and summer watering; works well in rock gardens or mixed borders. It is also disease resistant.
Bloom Period: Summer
Height: 1-3’
Width: 1-3’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Periderida kellogii
Yampah / Kellog's Yampah
Slender, erect, perennial herb with tall slender branches with a cluster or umbel of small white flowers at their tops.

Advantages: Anise swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on the yampah.
Bloom Period: Summer
Height: 5’
Width: 1’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Phacelia imbricata
Pine bee flower / Imbricate Phacelia

Annual herb whose leaves are coated with stiff, tiny hairs produces coiled flower buds resembling small caterpillars which blossom into many tiny, pale purple flowers in early spring. Bloom is prolific.

Advantages: Excellent pollinator plant in early spring and makes a good cover crop; deer resistant. Can be easily grown from seeds. Easy-to-grow from seed in late winter to attract pollinators in early spring. Bees love its pale purple flowers.
Bloom Period: Late winter to early spring
Height: 2’
Width: 3’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Avg/low water, Drought tolerant
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Philadelphus lewisii
Wild Mock Orange / Western Mock Orange

Large, deciduous shrub reaching up to 12’ with a fountain-like growth habit produces large (1½ “) flowers with four to five white petals whose fragrance is reminiscent of citrus.

Advantages: Easy-to-grow shrub that tolerates both sun and some shade with very fragrant white flowers.
Bloom Period: Early summer
Height: 5-12’
Width: 4-5’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Infrequent to moderate
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Physocarpus capitatus
Pacific Ninebark

Dense, deciduous shrub with peeling bark (hence its name), large, maple-like leaves and small, ball-like clusters of tiny flowers which produce a unique, glossy red pod.

Advantages: Extensive root system is useful in retaining soil on slopes. Tolerates a variety of soils. Numerous pollinator insects are attracted to its flowers.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 3-8’
Width: 8’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Pseudognaphalium californicum
California cudweed

A member of the sunflower family, an annual herb with scented leaves and wide clusters of small, aster-like white flowers.

Advantages: It re-seeds itself prolifically and blooms over a long period of time. It is a larval host plant for the Painted Lady butterfly. Flowers can be easily dried.
Bloom Period: Summer
Height: 8"-3’
Width: 2’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Ribes malvaceum ‘Dancing Tassels’
Chaparral Currant

Perennial shrub, with hairy double toothed leaves, and bright pink floweres that produce edible purple berries

Advantages: Deer resistant, attracts bees, butterflies, humingbirds and birds, and very easy to grow
Bloom Period: Winter to spring
Height: 5'to 8'
Width: 5'
Light Requirements: Part shade to full sun
Water Requirements: Very Low
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Ribes sanguineum ‘Claremont’
Pink flowered currant / Pink-Flowering Currant

Large, deciduous shrub produces pendulous pink flower chains 2 to 8 inches long. Powdered blue-black berries are edible but are equally loved by birds.

Advantages: Deer resistant shrub whose early flowers attract pollinators, including hummingbirds. It is a host plant to several butterfly species.
Bloom Period: Early spring
Height: 6-13’
Width: 7’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Rosa californica
California Wild Rose

Native rose species is easy to grow and produces small, fragrant, pink blossoms with bright yellow stamens. Stems range from thorny to nearly smooth.

Advantages: Effective as a barrier planting or hedgerow. Its thickets provide cover for birds. Deer resistant.
Bloom Period: Spring to early summer
Height: 5-10’
Width: 10’
Light Requirements: Sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Salvia ‘Bee’s Bliss’
Bee's Bliss sage

Salvia Bee's Bliss is an excellent ground cover and habitat plant with beautiful lavender flowers This is a dense low-growing sage with gray-green leaves and multiple, lavender flowers on long stems.

Advantages: Excellent ground cover or habitat plant. Drought tolerant, fast growing, evergreen and fragrant. Easy-to-gro Hummingbirds and bees are attracted to its flowers.
Bloom Period: Spring to summer
Height: 2’
Width: 6-8’
Light Requirements: Full Sun / Part Shade
Water Requirements: Drought Tolerant
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Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman'
Winnifred Gilman Cleveland Sage

Small, hairy, grey-greenshrub. Has wrinkly leather-textured leaves with tiny ridged teeth along the edges and bears rouned flower clusters of tubular lavender to dark purple floweres with long stamens.

Advantages: Moderate to fast growing, pleasant fragrance, and attracts hummingbirds, insects and bees.
Bloom Period: Spring to summer
Height: 3 to 4.5'
Width: 8'
Light Requirements: Full sun to part shade
Water Requirements: Very low
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Salvia sonomensis
Creeping Sage or Sonoma Sage

Low-growing sage forms a thick carpet of grey-green leaves with profuse blue-purple flowers in spring

Advantages: Excellent ground cover. Habitat plant attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. Deer resistant.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 1’
Width: 5-15’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Salvia spathacea
Hummingbird Sage

Herbaceous sage with a somewhat sprawling habit produces dark rose-lilac colored, scented flowers on 1-3 foot tall, pagoda-like spikes in spring. Its large, bright green leaves are also heavily aromatic when touched.

Advantages: Hummingbird sage is a reliable ground cover, spreading by rhizomes. It attracts hummingbirds. Grows well in dry shade, particularly under oaks.
Bloom Period: Spring
Height: 1-3’
Width: 3’
Light Requirements: Dry Shade
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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Verbena lilacina ‘De la Mina’
De La Mina Verbena

Loosely mounded perennial produces masses of clove-like scented, dark purple, 2-inch-long flowers which bloom from spring through fall. Deeply-divided, green leaves give the plant a lacy texture

Advantages: Its long-blooming flowers particularly attract butterflies throughout the year. It is also an outstanding container plant and offers prolific blooms for months on end. Fast growing.
Bloom Period: Spring through fall
Height: 2-3’
Width: 3-4’
Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Drought tolerant
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