Rough summer. About 15 plants got cooked. All were were less than 2 years old but the ceanothus was well established from the previous owner. They basically blend in with the rest of the mulch now 🤷🏻‍♀️

Last year, I learned the hard way that not all “full sun” plants are actually full sun in the inland heat. About to plant these but want to make sure they can survive if they receive all day sunlight, with zero shade. Just a lot of conflicting information out there and I’d like to give them the best chance possible. Thank you!

This plant appeared to be dead... some leaves on the back end. I prunned it as it appeared to be dieing.

Is this a reporting from the base or possible offspring?!

So excited! Any advice should I cut back rest of dead plant and provide space for new one or let it go as in nature?

Now that Tree of Life is permanently closed, where do Orange County folks go for native plants?

I recently bought a house in Los Angeles and it had a green yard at the time. It died over the summer, but in the recent rain green started sprouting. It seems like a lush green ground cover, but I'm not sure. I'm wondering if I should leave it, if it's safe for my dog, and how to take care of it. I do think it looks nice, better than dirt.

Ideally, I’d like a variation of plants. I was hoping for some that would drape over the planter wall, as part of it is broken. lol Maybe something tall for that shaded corner. Throw me some ideas!

Has anyone planted an incense cedar in your yard/garden? If so, do you mind sharing some pics of what it looks like? I would love to see what it looks like in the garden and have had a hard time finding any pics online (everything is just mature specimens in nature for the most part)

I'm getting ready to plant some Matilija poppies with my gardener this afternoon but after doing a bit more research I've learned that this plant can grow wildly out of control, even though it has a fairly high establishment failure rate. Now I'm second guessing my decision.

The plan is for it go between two hard scaped surfaces - a driveway and a pathway - in a small area in my front yard. The area is about 3 feet by 3 feet.

Has anyone had it truly grow out of control? Is it easy enough to control by pruning the rhizomes every year? Was it a struggle to control? Will it really propagate for 10s of feet underneath driveways and houses etc?

I am planning on constructing a flat ceramic tile mosaic of CA oak trees (I dont have enough room for Oak shrubs). It might look something like the one at the Davis but smaller. I would be happy to pay a small fee for your time as well as shipping.

Acorns need the cap as well, though they dont have to the from that acorn, just from the same species.

Looking for:

Q. chrysolepis

Q. engelmannii

Q. douglasii

Q. wislizeni

I plan on using SoCal Water$mart for next year! Is there a software that’s easy to use or are hand drawn plans acceptable for this program?

Also did I read it correctly that this is only a one time rebate per address? I had planned on removing my lawn over two years, as it’s a lot to cover.

Thank you!

I bought a single pack of these at a California Native Plant Society fundraiser 3 growing seasons ago. When the mixed in allium didn't flower strongly this spring, I decided a repotting was needed. I had no clue they were so prolific. Corms were grown in two deep 10" pots and they are pictured in a 10" saucer. They were... crowded to say the least.

Found this under a cinder block in my yard. Anyone familiar with mycelium? Is this a good sign for my soil health?

The weather has been so weird this year - I wonder if that's what made this tiny self-seeded volunteer blue-eyed grass in my yard randomly flower after the rains we got in SoCal last weekend? I have a larger mass of blue-eyed grass (also all children from the same parent plant) that seems normal though.

Anyone else have some off-season blooms this year?

At the beginning of the year, I had originally planned on planting a couple shrub/small tree species like Ray Hartman Ceanothus and possibly toyon or another large shrub this winter, but with El Niño planned, I’m not so sure this is a good idea.

For context, the soil I’m working with is heavy clay and if more rain than usual is expected, I’m worried there might be temporary puddling issues which may cause root rot or other fungal issues with standing water. I previously amended the soil with aged compost and other organic material to try to improve drainage, but I don’t expect to see drastic results after one instance of doing this.

Does anyone have any recommendations such as maybe waiting to plant until later in the rainy season (maybe March or April) or planting slightly higher than ground level than usual?

Polypodiums in containers, californicum 'Sarah Lyman' & glycyrrhiza 'Grandicreps/Lawrence Crocker'

Ignoring the names that I have for each section, what do you guys think? Is it enough space for the plants I have listed for their respective section? The amount I’ll have will vary but for all of the shrubs, I will just have 1 of them since they can grow quite wide.

I live in a 9B area in the Central Valley. The soil is heavy clay, so I planned on plants that can deal with it.

BUCKEYE GRASSLAND with pollinators (26 ft x 26 ft)
It will have one tall shrub, lots of grasses, and some pollinator-friendly perennials 
I’ll be eliminating a pecan stump for the buckeye
This area gets full sun year-round.
Under the buckeye (surrounding it, you can organize how you want to do it)

- California buckeye
- Purple needle grass (a good handful)

- deergrass  (Muhlenbergia rigens)

- Common yarrow

- Hooker's Evening Primrose

- Baccharis salicifolia (mulefat) 

A California Ash grassland featuring shrub pollinators.
Shape: A triangle that starts wide and narrows down. Dimensions: 30 feet wide at the base by 37 feet long.

This area is more prone to shade in fall, winter, and early spring. However, it receives full sun during the summer

- California ash
- California aster 

- California Wildrose

- Purple needle grass 

- deergrass  (Muhlenbergia rigens)

- Narrow Leaf Milkweed

Random patch (it’s 16 ft long and 6 FT WIDE) - Annuals only
Partial shade region due to tree
- Common sunflower 

- Telegraph flower 

- California poppy 

SHRUB AREA (26FT L x 14 ft W)
Receives full sun year-round

- Coyote bush

- Shadscale (Atriplex canescens) 

Random patches for annuals

- Succulent lupine

- California poppy

- Common sunflower

- Telegraph flower

- Goldfields

- Purple innocence

- Baby blue eyes

- Globe gilia

- Tidy tips

- Elegant clarkia

A leaf-footed bug (family Coreidae) on a cactus fruit, plant is coastal prickly pear (Opuntia littoralis).

Genus Narnia), I think Narnia femorata, commonly known by the name leaf-footed cactus bug.

Practically perfectly blended in, I only noticed this one when I got up close to the cactus I while was pondering if I should bring tools to grab any fruit to eat and collect seeds.

Sometimes I think nature laughs at us

I have a few raised beds for vegetables, but I’ve removed most of them at this point in the year. Was thinking about sowing wildflower seeds in them, not really as a cover crop, but for the looks and maybe to harvest seeds. Anyone ever done that before?

Hello everyone! I live in Pomona, and have been working on growing a native plant garden here for a while. I have 2 small clumps of yarrow that has been growing here for longer than I have been living here, which is around 5 years(they came with the house). However, I have noticed that they haven’t been growing so well. They appear to be stagnant in growth. So, I am asking for your opinions on whether or not this yarrow is growing good or not. Thank you all!

I had an allergy blood test done recently and I was surprised to see Mugwort pollen as one of the common fall allergens standardly tested for in CA (and that I tested positive for an immunoglobulin E response to). I had no idea mugwort was a common allergen source. Wish I knew that before planting them in a row along my yard :( I'm debating if I should tear them out now, though they are pretty far from my windows.

I'm really hoping it doesn't extend to the whole genus and include Artemisia californica because CA sagebrush is my favorite plant (and I also planted quite a few).

Mostly posting as an FYI for any other sad allergy-afflicted native plant enthusiast. I suppose it's safer to stick with insect-pollinated plants over wind-pollinated plants in general...

I found this article about some of the allergic effects of mugwort:

https://isitallergyseasonyet.com/guides/oral-allergy-syndrome-ragweed

I also am starting to worry about some of the native bunchgrasses I planted (San Diego Sedge, Wild Rye, Deergrass) 😅 apparently sedges usually aren't too bad, but rye might be problematic. Maybe I just can't let them flower?