A dramatic plant with striking, pale blue-green, aromatic foliage and tall spires of white flowers. Very adaptable as long as the drainage and air circulation is good. Cut back in winter. Excellent pollinator plant; deer proof. Full sun, low water, 4 x 4 feet or more when mature.

White Sage is a strikingly beautiful shrub with very aromatic leaves, and flowers that, though small, are profuse and loved by the bees. It’s a plant native to the much drier, hotter chaparral of Southern California. 

Coffeeberry is one of California’s most common shrubs, found growing naturally in various woodland, riparian and chaparral communities. It is very adaptable; growing tall and rangy in the shade of Bay or Oak trees, or growing in a much more compact form in full sun or on exposed bluffs along the coast. Plants grown from seed display various traits in accordance with their habitat; larger and greener leaves in shadier situations; smaller, gray-green leaves in full sun. Young stems are an attractive ruby color.

In the garden Coffeeberry can be planted in full to part sun; it accepts average garden water, as long as the drainage is good. It is also possible to plant Coffeeberry during the rainy season and let it establish without regular water; it will just grow more slowly. Plants can be kept to size with careful pruning; healthy established plants can be cut to the ground and allowed to crown sprout.  Deer will browse the foliage, so it is best to protect young plants until they become established.

Small yellowish-green flowers held in tight clusters appear in late spring and attract many beneficial insects and butterflies. Pale Swallowtail, and Gray Hairstreak butterflies use Coffeeberry as a host plant for their larvae. Fruits ripen to a blue-black in late fall; many birds and small mammals relish the berries.  

Toyon is another of California’s common shrubs that grows naturally in a multitude of environments; it is at home in the chaparral and woodlands throughout the state, and into the mountains of Baja California. In the wild plants display a great deal of variability in leaf size and shape, color and size of the berries, and growth habit. In my hillside oak woodlands I discovered a Toyon that has grown to a 30 foot tree with a trunk about 6 to 7 inches in diameter!

Leaves of Heteromeles arbutifolia are medium green and leathery with serrated margins. Clusters of small white flowers appear in early summer and attract multitudes of butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects. A bounty of berries start to form in summer, ripening late in fall, and staying on the plant through much of winter.  The berries are relished by lots of birds; attracting residents like mockingbirds and house finches, and migratory songbirds like robins, and cedar waxwings. The native peoples also harvested the berries, but only after several months of ripening; using them to prepare drinks, meals and medicines. Toyon is the only native plant that continues to be commonly known by its native American name.

In the garden Toyon can be planted in average soil with good drainage with full sun and given average water. It can also be planted in the light shade of established oaks, and does fine without extra water once established. Toyon needs to be protected from the deer to become established.

 

 

The flowers of this native penstemon are almost an electric blue, and very profuse. It blooms in spring, and creates quite a show in the garden when planted with California poppies and other spring wildflowers. Plant this small perennial close to the front of the border. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Penstemon heterophyllus needs full sun. It can tolerate average garden water, and most soils as long as the drainage is good. It grows naturally in Chaparral and forest openings in the Coast Ranges, and at lower elevations in the Sierra.

While traveling the forest roads through Mendocino National Forest, we came upon a recent road cut where the steep slopes on either side had been colonized by Foothill Penstemon — It was a memorable and breath-taking spectacle!

Instructions for Growing Penstemon from Seed

The seed is small but needs no pre-germination treatment when sown outside in early fall. Prepare your seed-starting mixture, tamping it down solidly into the pot; rough the surface just a bit and sprinkle the seed on the surface. Then cover it with a thin layer of perlite or vermiculite, and tamp that down over the seed.

Germination is somewhat slow; it can be 6 to 8 weeks before the first seedlings appear. I usually use plastic nursery pots or flats to start seeds, but they keep the soil really moist and sometimes also soggy at the bottom; this may be detrimental to the early growth of the seedlings. I’ve been using a clay “bulb” pot (large in diameter, but shallow) to germinate and grow on the Penstemon seedlings, and getting better results.

I set my seed pot outside in a somewhat shady and protected place, either watering only once when I set it all up and then letting the rainy season take over, or I’ll put the pot on my seedling bench where I have systems set for a light watering once a day. Within two months or so after germination, the seedlings will be large enough to transplant to individual pots. Note the nice reddish color on the healthy young stems. 

Mission Mallow is a very fast growing shrub with showy hibiscus-like flowers produced nearly all year in frost-free settings. The plant is big and adds a lush tropical look to the garden. It responds well to pruning, and can be used as a hedge plant; specimen plants need to be pruned back by about 2/3rds to promote good form.

Mission Mallow is native to the Channel Islands, and has naturalized in some areas of the California coast. It is tolerant of salt spray and winds. It is adaptable to most soils, needs good drainage and full sun. Avoid too much water, as this promotes rank, leggy growth.

Plant it as a focal point in a mixed border or create a Channel Islands garden.

This plant is a favorite deer browse, and it also needs protection from gophers and rabbits. Hummingbirds work the flowers for nectar, and the leaves provide for the larvae of the West Coast Lady butterfly.

This perennial shrub is found all over the Bay Area, growing in full sun in Chaparral, or part shade at the edges of Oak Woodland.  In the garden it requires good drainage and is drought tolerant.  A little extra water in the dry season will keep it looking its best, and encourage it to bloom all summer long.

Sticky Monkeyflower is an important nectar source for hummers; and most especially for the Allen’s and Rufous hummingbirds on their migration up the California coast.  The flowers are also visited by lots of bees and other insects, and provide for the larvae of the Variable Checkerspot butterfly, and occasionally the Buckeye butterfly.

There are many beautiful hybids available with flowers in oranges, reds, pinks, white, and burgundy.  The hybrids look their best in part shade and also do well in containers.