California Native Plants:
The Most “California Friendly”
Plants on Earth
California is Unique
(especially SoCal)
• The San Andreas
Transform System
has made a great
diversity of rocks,
soils. . .
…and plants!
• California has over 6,000
species of native plants.
• Over one-third not found
anywhere outside California.
~ 120 years ago. . .
• Theodore Payne
came to California
(1893).
• In his lifetime, he
introduced over
400 species of
California native
plants to the
horticultural trade.
The Theodore Payne Foundation:
Gardening to Save California’s
Water & Wildlife
California native plants:
• Use, on average, one-seventh the water of most
non-natives
• Know how to deal with drought
• Do not need fertilizers, soil amendments or
pesticides
Water Facts:
• In California, 37 of the last 40 centuries were dry.
• The 20th century was one of 3 wet centuries in the
last 4,000 years.
• California’s growth was predicated on the
expectation of an uncharacteristic amount of water.
(Introduction to WATER in California, David Carle.
U.C. Press; California Natural History Guides, 76, p. 28)
DROUGHT IS NORMAL.
Sublime Co-evolution
• As the California
landscape evolved,
its plants and
animals evolved
with it.
• Evolution has made
90% of insect
species able to eat
only native plants.
Native Insects Need
Native Plants
• 90% of plant-eating insect species are
specialists -- able to eat just a few types of
related native plants.
• Most caterpillars can eat only native plants.
Animals Need Insects
• Most non-domesticated land animals depend
upon insects in some way for their survival.
• Caterpillars are the main food of baby birds.
Love Insects!
• Insects convert leaf matter to protein -they are the protein.
• Insects become food for other animals.
• It’s a food web, and native plants are the
foundation!
Compared to alien species,
native plants. . .
• support over 3 times more
plant-eating insect species.
• produce over 4 times the amount of
plant-eating insects.
• produce 6 times the amount of planteating insects that are generalists.
• support 35
WOW!
times more caterpillars. . . .
WAIT?!!!
Won’t those insects…
• devastate my plants?
• bite or sting me?
DON’T WORRY!
• Native insects eat or damage only 1 in 10
leaves.
• 99% of all insects are beneficial to people
and their households.
What about pollinators?
• On average, 1 in every 3 bites of food for
people is the result of pollination by bees.
• 40-60% of European honey bee colonies
lost to the varroa mite.
Compared to European honey bees,
native solitary bees:
• provide faster, more efficient pollination
• are active earlier in spring
PLUS, native solitary bees:
• are unaffected by varroa mites and
Africanized bees
• are egalitarian -- the males also
pollinate the crop!
• And, last but not least, solitary bees
have shorter stingers and are nonaggressive.
Native solitary bees facts:
• 3500 known species in North America
• 1600 known species in California
• Bumble, digger and sweat bees most
common
• Ground-nesting or wood-nesting
Native Bumblebees
• Work harder, faster,
and at cooler
temperatures than
European honey bees
• Highly social, annual
colonies of 1-500 bees
• Prefer to nest
underground in
undisturbed areas
Native Digger Bees
• Ground-nesting
• Hide nest entrances
beneath leaf litter
• Drab, solitary and
rarely noticed
• Perhaps most
abundant of solitary
bees
Native Sweat Bees
• Black, brownish, or
metallic green
• Common
• Range of nesting
habits
Pollination ratio of native bees
to European honey bees:
• Native leafcutter bees: 20 times more
effective
(150 leafcutters do the work of 3000 honey
bees; legume blossoms; wood-nesting with
evening primrose leaves added)
• Native mason bees: 240 times more
effective
(750 mason bees do the work of 120,000
honey bees; fruit crops; wood-nesting with
mud and small pebbles added)
Hollyleaf Cherry
(Prunus ilicifolia)
•
•
•
•
25’ H x 10’+ W
Evergreen
Sun
Flowers & fruit
Hollyleaf Cherry Minifauna
Scrub Jay
Mexican Elderberry
(Sambucus mexicana)
•
•
•
•
25’H x 25’ W
Semi-deciduous
Sun to part sun
Flowers & fruit
Mexican Elderberry Minifauna
Elderberry Longhorn
Beetle
Oriole
Oak species
(Quercus species)
• Evergreen or
deciduous
• Sun
• Acorns
Oak Minifauna
California Sister
butterfly
Band-tailed
pigeon
Buckwheat species
(Eriogonum species)
•
•
•
•
Shrub or groundcover
Evergreen
Sun or part sun
Flowers and Seeds
Buckwheat Minifauna
El Segundo blue butterfly
Gambel’s quail in
Eriogonum grande
rubescens
California Lilac
(Ceanothus species)
• Groundcover, shrub
or small tree
• Evergreen
• Sun or partial shade
• Flowers and berries
California Lilac Minifauna
Bee with pollen
Ceanothus
silk moth
Coyote Brush
(Baccharis pilularis)
• Shrub or
groundcover
• Evergreen
• Sun
• Flowers and seeds
Coyote Brush Minifauna
Sawfly larvae -along with caterpillars,
a main food of baby birds.
Manzanita species
(Arctostaphylos species)
• Groundcover, shrub
or small tree
• Evergreen - great
foundation plants
• Full or part sun
• Flowers and berries
Manzanita Minifauna
Hummingbird and Manzanita flower
Sage Species
(Salvia species)
• Shrubs or
groundcovers
• Semi-deciduous
• Sun to partial sun
• Fragrant and
medicinal leaves
• Flowers and seeds
Sage Minifauna
Swallowtail
Hummingbird
Toyon
(Heteromeles arbutifolia)
• Shrub or small
multi-trunked tree
• Evergreen
• Sun
• Clusters of white
flowers, then red
berries
Toyon Minifauna
Tussock moth
Cedar waxwing
How to Help:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fill your yard with native plants!
Permit patches of weeds.
Allow areas of bare ground without mulch.
Leave old stumps and piles of branches.
Mulch with the fallen leaves of your plants.
Co-exist with spiders and their webs.
Don’t use pesticides.
Plant for successive flowers & berries/seeds.
Established 1960. Fifty Years Strong.