Native Plants

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Tuesday - November 25, 2008

From: Monterey, CA
Region: California
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Native plants for Monterey, California
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I'm attempting to get my grandparents to buy native plants for their Monterey, CA yard. They are looking for neat-looking, flowering plants that are easy for yard workers to maintain. The area is sandy and gets part sun to shade. It is literally on the coast. Any recommendations? Thank you!

ANSWER:

First, if your grandparents need a little convincing about the benefits of using native plants, I recommend that you show them the information under "Using Native Plants" on our How to Articles page. Also, The California Native Plant Society has a brochure, Gardening with California Native Plants, that gives many reasons why native plants are the way to go.

On our Recommended Species page you can select the northern California area on the map or on the pull-down menu and find a list of commercially available native plants for landscaping in your area. Of course, that area is very large and contains many habitats, so we can narrow our choices by also consulting the Las Pilitas Nursery (located in Santa Rita and in Escondido, California) website with their list of native plants of the coastal strand of California. The Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society also has lists of plants (most are native) found in nearby parks and a list of "Sources for Native Plants". You can also search for native plant nurseries in the area in our National Suppliers Directory.

Here are a few suggested plants that appear on one or more of those lists:

Armeria maritima (thrift seapink)

Artemisia californica (coastal sagebrush)

Dudleya farinosa (powdery liveforever)

Epilobium canum (hummingbird trumpet) and photos

Erigeron glaucus (seaside fleabane)

Eriophyllum confertiflorum (golden-yarrow)

Lasthenia californica (California goldfields)

Layia platyglossa (coastal tidytips)

Lupinus albifrons (silver lupine)

Lupinus arboreus (yellow bush lupine)

Mimulus guttatus (seep monkeyflower)