Water Smart Plant Picker

Yerba buena is Spanish for “good herb” due to its medicinal qualities as a tea. This California native trailing herbaceous perennial is evergreen and has a minty fragrance. Small white to pale lavender flowers appear in spring. Grows just a few inches tall and about 3 feet wide, making a fantastic groundcover for shade. Prefers a woodland setting with light shade and well-drained soil.

This California native plant is extremely attractive to bees, but also helps hummingbirds, butterflies, and wasps. It grows well in dry shade and well-drained soils, including heavy clay. It grows to 3-5 feet tall and less than a foot wide. In moist soils it will form large colonies, but it can also successfully be grown in a pot. Bee Plant flowers are small enough that you might miss them upon first glance, but when backlight by the sun, they look like tiny red jewels. Best incorporated as part of a perennial border, typically near the back as it is a taller plant.

Large group of succulent, drought tolerant plants that vary considerably in appearance and cold tolerance. Sedums can provide variety in texture among other plants and also work well in containers.

Examples:

• S. rupestre ‘Angelina’ has brilliant chartreuse-yellow, needle-like foliage that forms a striking groundcover.
• S. spathulifolium is a mat-forming, evergreen perennial native to California’s coast ranges and Sierra Nevada to British Columbia. Yellow, star-like flowers appear in late spring and early summer. S. s. ‘Cape Blanco’ has chalky-white foliage and S. s. ‘Purpureum’ has purple foliage.
• S. spurium is a ground-hugging succulent with trailing stems and small dark green, bronzy leaves about an inch long, and bears pink, white, or purple flowers in mid-summer. S. s. ‘Dragon’s Blood’ has red-margined, green leaves that become brilliantly red with cool autumn temperatures. S. s. ‘Bronze Carpet’ bears rich bronze-red foliage with pink flowers. S. s. ‘Tricolor’ leaves are variegated in green, creamy white, and pink.

Small, hardy succulents form rosettes of tightly packed, pointed leaves that come in a wide variety of forms colors and textures. All spread by offsets that cluster around the parent. Small, star-shaped flowers on fleshy stems in the summer.

Examples:

• Cobweb houseleek (S. arachnoideum, 3” and spreading) has web-like hairs on leaves.
• Hens and chicks (S. tectorum, 4-12” and spreading) are available in many cultivars.

Just a few plants from this vast group of plants are widely available in nurseries in California.

Examples:

• Dusty miller (S. cineraria, 2-3’ x 2-3’) is a Mediterranean perennial with white-gray leaves that produces clusters of cream or yellow flowers throughout the year.
• Blue chalksticks (S. mandraliscae, 1-2’ x 2-3’) is a spreading succulent from South Africa with fleshy, finger-like leaves up to 6” long.
• Blue Chalksticks (S. serpens, 6” x 1’) is similar to S. mandraliscae but is smaller and has shorter leaves of up to 2”.

Blue-eyed Grass is a 0.5 – 1 ft. tall and wide perennial herb with narrow, green leaves resembling iris and purplish-blue flowers with yellow centers in late winter and spring. Summer semi-deciduous. Easy to grow and may self-sow. Native to woodlands and grasslands from Oregon to northwestern Baja California.

California native perennial herb with oval shaped, gray-green leaves. Yellow flowers will appear in the summer and early fall. Natural habitat for birds and pollinating insects and tolerates a wide variety of soils.

Evergreen shrub or vine from Australia with glossy green leaves and clusters of small, bell-shaped, blue flowers in summer. Can be grown as a low-growing shrub or trained onto a support. Requires good drainage but will grow with full sun or some shade.

Sphaeralcea species and cultivars (Globe Mallow), are upright to mounding perennials growing 2-4 feet tall and wide, with softly hairy, green or gray-green leaves and orange, red, or  pink flowers. Most are native to arid and semi-arid regions of North America. Provide full sun, fast-draining soil, and good air circulation. Cut back in late winter or early spring to renew. Best in hot-summer climates.

This native of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran has been grown in California gardens for many years due to its soft gray leaves. The low-growing form provides a great groundcover at the front of a border or along a pathway. Flower stalks in late spring and early summer provide additional interest with small, purple flowers.

Purple needlegrass was named California’s state grass in 2004. It can grow up to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Its deep roots make it very drought-tolerant and effective at preventing erosion. The grass got its name from its purple seeds, which can be spiky. At the end of summer, it turns brown and may be cut back. It may also be offered under the name nassella pulchra at nurseries.

The snowberry bush is an adaptable California native that enjoys moist or dry shade and most well-drained soils. It will also do well in cool sun. It can grow 3-6 feet wide and 3 feet tall. Its spring and summer blooms of bell-shaped pinkish-white flowers attract pollinators, while its fall and winter white snowberries will feed the birds. The berries are mildly toxic to humans, cats, and dogs but safe for most other animals.