Design your garden based on
sun and shade, wet and dry areas :

Plants that grow well in the shade ,
under oaks and other trees:
Certain currants ( Ribes spp.)
Mock orange ( Philadelphus sp.)
Snowberry ( Symphoricarpos spp.)
Meadow rue ( Thalictrum sp.)
Coral bells ( Huechera sp.)

Plants that grow well in full sun:
Sages ( Salvia sp.)
California sunflower ( Encelia californica )
Deer grass ( Muhlenbergia rigens )
California lilac ( Ceanothus spp.)
Manzanita ( Arctostaphylos spp.)

Plants that do well in dry areas:
California fuchsia ( Epilobium canum )
Fairyduster ( Calliandra spp.)
Desert lavender ( Hyptis emoryi )

Plants that do well in wet areas such as a pond:
Lilies ( Lilium spp.)
giant stream orchids ( Epipactus giganteum )
round-leaved boykinia ( Boykinia rotundifolia )
Yerba mansa ( Anemopsis californica )
Columbine ( Aquilegia spp.)

GIVE PLANTS PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW
I first started planting natives in my front yard about 20 years ago. I planted sages and buckwheat in the west-facing (hot) front yard of my Sherman Oaks home. The 10' x 10' area was bare, I was new at this, and I wanted instant coverage. So I planted the sages about two feet apart. WRONG! These plants really spread. Purple sage ( Salvia leucophylla ) can get about 5' in diameter all on its own (and if planted on a slope, it will cascade down). And you don't have to guess the size of the plant. Plants purchased at our Plant Sale will have a label with the plant size. Also, you can look up the size of many southern California natives in Bob Perry's Landscape Plants for Western Regions or Betsey Landis's Southern California Native Plants for School Gardens.

CUT BACK CERTAIN PLANTS IN FALL
Cut back plants before the first rains if you want to control their size. Sages ( Salvia spp.) can be cut back to 1' to 2' of the stems coming out of the ground. The sages will come right back, but they will not be as big as they would be if you don't prune them at all. I prefer to remove only the dead flowers and flower stalks of my sages instead of cutting them back severely. Matilija poppies ( Romneya coulteri ), California fuchsia, California sagebrush and mugwort (respectively Artemisia californica and A. douglasiana ) --all need to be pruned back in order to have a manicured look for the garden.

TRY CREATING YOUR OWN NATIVE SEED MIX
You never know what may come up where, if you scatter the seeds over your garden! Native seed mixes can result in interesting displays. After seeding the previous fall, I discovered a patch of unusual plants growing in the shady area near a bench. Were they some new weed? No. It was a patch of Chinese houses ( Collinsia heterophylla ). They bloomed for over a month, one flower whorl after another. Lupines also do well from seed. Remember that seed is food for birds, so the best time to seed is right before the first rainstorm of the season (or during the rainstorm). The seeds wash into nooks and crannies, get covered by mud, and the birds can't find them.

GROW ANNUALS, COLLECT SEEDS
My new hobby is collecting the seed from my native annuals. I collect seed from poppies, lupine, monkeyflower ( Mimulus spp.), globe gilia ( Gilia capitata ), and my favorite, Clarkia unguiculata . This elegant Clarkia is most prolific and grows to 6' tall with pink flowers. The flower pods each have 10-20 seeds. I collect the stems with the seed pods not opened and cut them to fit in grocery bags. I let the bags sit until fall, when I harvest the seeds by shaking the bag upside down (but with the opening constricted so that the stems do not fall out) over a large piece of paper.

THE PLANT IS NOT NECESSARILY DEAD IF IT IS NOT GREEN
Some natives go dormant in the summer. I've got a brown dead-looking shrub that is still alive -- it is Keckellia antirhhinum , the desert snapdragon bush, with yellow flowers. The California sunflower  looks completely dead by the end of August. Golden currants ( Ribes aureum ) often lose their leaves entirely.

SOME NATIVES MULTIPLY WITH UNDERGROUND STEMS OR RHIZOMES
We've got snowberry coming up in concentric circles around our original plant. Same with meadow rue. I started with one leopard lily ( Lilium pardalinum ) with 3 flowers and now I've got six with 45 flowers. Same with the giant stream orchid - every successive year results in new shoots. Boykinias create "plantlets" that are easy to cut-off of the main plant and replant elsewhere.

Written by Steven L. Hartman