Top Native Plants of Southern California
These tough, beautiful plants can take hot, dry conditions with ease. They're among the best easy-care plants for gardeners in this region.
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An ideal cut flower, miniature hollyhock adds charm to the vase or middle of the perennial border. Blooms appear in summer and come in shades of pink, red, lavender, and white.
Name: Sidalcea oregana
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist soil
Size: To 3 feet tall
Zones: 4-9
How we envy lucky Californians who can grow this shrub! It has wonderful blue, fragrant flowers that appear in masses on the plants in late spring and early summer.
Name: Ceanothus spp.
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 10 feet tall
Zones: 8-10
A wonderful annual with a low habit and sky-blue blooms, baby blue eyes adds lovely color to the front of your spring and summer border.
Name: Nemophila menziesii
Growing Conditions: Part sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall
Zones: Annual
California's state flower, this longtime favorite offers beautiful flowers in shades of orange, yellow, cream, apricot, and pink through the summer. The finely cut blue-gray foliage is wonderful, too.
Name: Eschscholzia californica
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 18 inches tall
Zones: Annual
This compact, showy annual will cheer up any dull spots in your landscape. The flowers are bright colored and fragrant. Though it's an annual, it will self-seed, often profusely, and come back year after year.
Name: Limnanthes douglasii
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall
Zones: Annual
Godetia is a charming annual that loves poor soils and thrives just anywhere. The long-lasting flowers appear though summer in luscious shades of lavender, pink, carmine, and white.
Name: Clarkia amoena
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall
Zones: Annual
A hummingbird favorite, pineleaf penstemon offers delicate, fine textured foliage and bright, orange-red or yellow flowers through the summer.
Name: Penstemon pinifolius
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall
Zones: 4-9
Create a no-maintenance, drought-tolerant carpet of blue-gray in your garden with this sedum. In summer, the wonderful foliage is accented by starry yellow blooms.
Name: Sedum spathulifolium
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall
Zones: 5-9
Sometimes called firecracker penstemon, this desert plant's scarlet-red flowers make an eye-popping effect in the garden.
Name: Penstemon eatonii
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall
Zones: 4-9
This coreopsis is a carefree, self-seeding annual that creates loads of bright yellow color all summer long. It's as tough and drought tolerant as it is charming.
Name: Coreopsis tinctoria
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: Annual
Another hummingbird favorite (as you probably guessed by the name), this plant offers beautiful late-summer orange and red flowers and a ground-hugging habit.
Name: Zauschneria californica
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall
Zones: 8-10
Black-eyed Susans are much-loved garden plants that feature daisy-like, golden flowers in summer and autumn. A delightful array of varieties is available. They range in color from rusty red to lemon yellow to the more traditional gold.
Name: Rudbeckia hirta
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 2 feet tall
Zones: 11-12 (though considered annual in most zones)
A beautiful groundcover, sea pink offers tight, grassy foliage. In spring and summer, it produces little clusters of white or pink flowers that can almost cover the plant.
Name: Armeria maritima
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall
Zones: 3-9
This creeping evening primrose is an ideal groundcover. Nearly pest-free, it has shimmering white flowers that have a delightful fragrance.
Name: Oenothera californica
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall
Zones: 7-10
