10 Top Native Plants for Northern California Gardens

Native to various regions of California, and Northern California in particular, these plants are all climate-appropriate in moderate inland areas of Northern California. Others will work in coastal areas too. Fr

Great Design Plant: Thalictrum Dasycarpum Dresses Up Shorelines

Tall meadow-rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum) is a wide-ranging native perennial, occurring along rivers, creeks and small bodies of water and in other habitats with moist soil. It has a tall, upright form, and large

Great Design Plant: Nolina Microcarpa

Southwestern native beargrass (Nolina microcarpa) doesn’t disappoint, with its spiky, grass-like shape adding texture and creating contrast in the drought-tolerant garden. While it’s not a true grass, its resemb

Great Design Plant: Cleome Serrulata

If you have a dry, sunny, well-drained area where nothing seems to grow, Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata) will fit the bill, with its late-summer profusion of flowers and abundant nectar. Gardeners far

Lush Gardens With Low Water Needs

With watering restrictions in effect in much of the western United States, drought-tolerant landscaping is the new norm. Elsewhere, it’s still a good idea, as water is a precious resource to be conserved even

Great Design Plant: Jeffersonia Diphylla

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) was one of the first plants I bought when I began seriously using native plants in my home landscaping. I wanted something tolerant of dry shade, and that’s what it said on the

Great Design Plant: Elymus Hystrix Thrives in Shade

Eastern bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix) is one of a select few shade-tolerant native grasses. This beautiful grass has an upright form, blue-gray grass blades and airy silver seed heads that resemble a bottle

Lets Weed Out 4 Native Plant Myths

We hear a lot about the benefits of native plants, from being easier to grow to helping birds and pollinators. Many designers are giving us stunning private and public works that show the power and resiliency of

Great Design Plant: Glandularia Rigida Paints the Ground Purple

Flowering ground covers fill in low garden areas as they paint the ground in a layer of color. Drought-tolerant sandpaper verbena (Glandularia rigida) adds a particularly vibrant splash of deep purple in spring,

California Says Goodbye to the Sprawling Ornamental Lawn

Californians have been hearing predictions that the ornamental lawn is becoming a thing of the past in the drought-stricken state. New state rules approved this week by the California Water Commission bring thos

A Formerly Weedy Lot Now Brims With Edibles and Honeybees

A weedy dirt lot is probably the last thing you think of when you’re hungry. But photographers Adam Voorhes and Robin Finlay envisioned a lush backyard full of edibles for their barren backyard in Austin, Texas.

Great Design Plant: Heliopsis Helianthoides, a Pollinator Favorite

Smooth oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides) is a common, medium-size perennial available from many traditional and native-plant nurseries. If you have enough space for this robust plant, it is a great candidate for a

You Dont Need Prairie to Help Pollinators

A current thought in landscape design seems to be that if you want to help pollinators, you’ve got to have meadow or prairie filled with wildflowers. Of course, the majority of the U.S. is not or never was prair

5 Ways to Use Pastel Plantings in Contemporary Gardens

Pastel colors can enhance outdoor spaces and add a sense of tranquility and lightness, even in starker contemporary gardens. Used in informal plantings, pastel tones such as pink, lilac, lavender, cream and peac

A Deer Fence Can Be Decorative as Well as Protective

By late summer, the tender ground-level vegetation preferred by deer starts to dry up in most places. Wherever residential areas abut green space, this is the time of year that a hungry deer may decide that your

How to Get Your Landscape Ready for Summer Storms

Like heavy storms in other parts of the country, monsoons in the desert Southwest often leave a path of destruction, including flooding, fallen branches, uprooted trees or all of the above, in their wake. Whethe

Great Design Plant: Eriogonum Arborescens

I find that the bluish-gray-green narrow leaves and gnarled, curving branches give Santa Cruz Island buckwheat (Eriogonum arborescens) an exotic air. Island buckwheat has a symmetrical, compact mounding habit, w

Great Design Plant: Stachys Officinalis ‘Hummelo’

Like trendy pop singers and movie stars, perennials come and go, frequently replaced by newer, greater or flashier cultivars. ‘Hummelo’ betony (Stachys officinalis ‘Hummelo’) is one rising star that will undoubt

Beautiful Flowers and Foliage From Dedicated Backyard Gardeners

In a recent Houzz Call, we asked you to share photos of your backyard beauties, whether wild flowers, succulents or a mystery bush on the side of the house. The gardeners among you were quick to respond with spl

7 Deer-Resistant Flowering Trees to Plant this Fall

Deer love to browse the tender, succulent growth of most young trees and will sometimes strip the bark from them as well. As the trees mature, it’s not uncommon to see deer up on their hind legs yanking down tas