Native plants are beautiful; they are diverse in foliage, flowers, hues and growth patterns. They are not ‘fussy’ unless you plant them in enriched soil and overwater them. Planted and irrigated correctly they will flourish and be a true low-maintenance garden with many benefits.

 One of the most popular reasons to plant with natives is that they are drought tolerant and grow well in our soil; some even do poorly if watered during the hot summer months. With drought becoming our new normal, low water-use plants are invaluable in our landscapes. Keeping a native planting hydrated uses up to a quarter less water than irrigating a non-native landscape.

Many properties have steep slopes which need efficient erosion control. Ice plant, the old-school method of erosion control, builds up thatch underneath making it a haven for rodents and also a place where fire can smolder. It also dries out the soil and will roll down from the top when it becomes heavy. Plant prostrate natives instead, which have large root structures that will really hold the embankments, protect the soil and will feed beneficial insects and birds.

The most important reason to plant natives is that they provide the best possible food for local wildlife. This is vital to their survival. According to an extensive study by the World Wildlife Fund, between 1970 and 2010 over half the world’s population of animals disappeared. We are now twelve years past that study and the percentage has risen. Think of a flock of birds and cut their number in half.  With animal loss comes lessened genetic diversity within species. It means that the plants that rely on the pollination, seed dispersal and fertilization from animals now have less than half the chance to reproduce. The reason for the extinction is from over-hunting and –fishing, but especially through loss of habitat. By planting natives throughout your garden, or making a native swath around the back of your property, you are helping in the fight against extinction.

When you plant natives you are helping to keep alive what wildlife we have left, while saving water and demonstrating the beauty of our local plants.

Diane and Miranda Kennedy operate Finch Frolic Garden Permaculture, at www.vegetariat.com. 

Romantic Moon Gardens contain fragrant plants that reflect the moonlight. Native plants with gray or silver foliage and those with white flowers require little water to look lovely, and will entice you out for nighttime strolls. Or use these plants mixed in a native landscape or succulent garden where the light foliage contrasts beautifully with the darker leaves and flowers of the other plants.

For gray and silver foliage, try California Aster. It is low-growing with neat purple flowers that last. Desert Marigold and Incienso have beautiful yellow flowers on tall stems. Wayne’s Silver California Fuchsia is a striking gray-leafed plant that highlights its tubular red flowers perfectly. Catch the moonlight and feed Monarch butterflies with most of the Milkweeds. Don’t forget grasses which move in the evening breeze.

Many sages are from different families. The Artemisia sages have mostly gray feathery and fragrant foliage. Coastal Sagebrush’s informal shape looks great behind more structured plants. For a mounding version, try Canyon Gray Sagebrush or the unusual Montara Sagebrush with its wispy silver foliage.

Other sages are from the Salvia family, such as white-flowering gray-leafed White Sage, its compact form Dwarf White Sage, and the very fragrant ‘Vicki Romo’ variety. The rounded, soft silver leaves and tall flower spikes make Salvias showpieces in a garden and their flowers are magnets for hummingbirds and insects. White flowers can be found on fragrant Black Sage too.

Broom Baccharis and Coyote Brush are lovely green informal plants all year and then suddenly are covered with blooms and fluffy seeds that glow in sun or moon light. For a more structured form choose the tough, low-growing Pozo Surf Coyote Brush. To see the dangling white blooms of Coast Tasselbush.  backlit is worth taking an evening stroll. 

The white flowering Big Pod Ceanothus colors the northern hillsides in late winter and will do the same in your garden. Bigberry Manzanita has beautifully twisted branches that add wonderful shapes in the moonlight. Matilija Poppy’s huge papery white flowers are extraordinary.

Try a Moon Garden of fragrant silver and white natives, and be enchanted while saving water and feeding wildlife as well.

Diane and Miranda Kennedy own Finch Frolic Garden Permaculture, at www.vegetariat.com. 

 Is winter really the best time to plant?

The answer is, YES! 
Spring has always taken the spotlight when it comes to flowering plants. Snow melting, birds chirping, and warmer days finally on the horizon. 
However, getting your plants and seeds in the ground now will allow them to get established over winter and be ready for our hot summers. Planting too close to the summer months does not allow the root systems to grow thoroughly, thus requiring more water, which makes our native plants more prone to fungus. 
Planting during the late fall and winter will allow the plants to grow strong healthy root systems while utilizing any rain we may get for supplemental irrigation. After one rainy season native plants can usually be considered established.
The best size plant to start with is a 1 gallon pot (or smaller,) although it is not detrimental to start with larger sizes. Make sure the plants you are putting in the ground are not root bound.
In-between rain events is a perfect time to plant! Head out this weekend and fill your garden with all the #CaliforniaNativePlants you can find! 
Need help finding a local retailer?
Go to www.moosacreeknursery.com and see if your local nursery carries our plants!

If you want to do birds a favor, then fill your yard with plants that offer food through the winter. Birds will eat leaves, seeds, berries, insects and sip nectar from winter blooms, so don’t cut the seed heads off in the fall!

If you have room for trees and large shrubs, and have a frost-free area, then sumac is ideal. Many birds such a goldfinches, ruby-crowned kinglets, quail and others love to perch in the large, sprawling safety of a sumac bush and eat the seeds. Of course the best possible habitat for wildlife is the oak tree; if you have room for oak to thrive without pruning and where it can live for possibly hundreds of years, then you will be feeding woodpeckers, jays and quail to name a fraction of the 300 species of wildlife that depend upon oaks. Birds will also eat the insects found on the dead branches, so don’t ‘clean’ the oak up. Oddly, titmouses, bushtits and other birds will eat leaf galls, probably to get at the insect that has stung the leaf and made it swell up to protect their eggs and young. Pines are also valuable for their seeds and insects in the bark for nuthatches and many more, and cupressus seeds are also eaten.

Many plants are valuable not only for their fruit, seeds and nectar, but also for their leaves. Many birds eat greens. Artemisia sagebrush, believe it or not, is one of these, as well as saltbush, buckwheat, wild strawberry and mountain mahogany.

The berries of toyon, elderberry, dogwood and coffeeberry all offer nutritious food to birds such as Western bluebirds, robins, band-tailed pigeons, mockingbirds, grosbeaks, cedar waxwings, woodpeckers, goldfinches and thrush. Summer holly in particular is a beautiful small tree that are also used by phainopepla, fox sparrows and others. The hips from the wild rose are not only beautiful in the fall and winter, but are a favorite with jays, thrashers, and towhees.

If you are fond of hummingbirds, besides planting natives which offer trumpet-shaped flowers in the spring you should offer plants that offer winter food and shelter. Hummers love to sip nectar from the upside down bell-shaped winter flowers of manzanita. Hummers also scrape the fuzz off the underside of sycamore leaves and use it to line their nests. They love to nest in willows, elderberry and many other natives.

Another very valuable plant which you probably don’t want to plant, but may have on your property, is poison oak. The seeds are eaten by a very wide range of birds and the plant is used all year by them. Unfortunately many humans get a rash from it, but the animals don’t, so consider leaving a patch for them.

Diane and Miranda Kennedy operate Finch Frolic Garden Permaculture at www.vegetariat.com.