24 California Native Shade Plants

NASA has announced grants or cooperative agreements for seven exciting new space biology investigations to advance our understanding of how plants respond, acclimate and adapt to the space environment, in support of human space exploration.

Southern California has many flowering plants that are often used for landscaping. But if you have young children or pets that are likely to put things in their mouths, be aware that some of our colorful garden favorites can be dangerous. Here are some commonly grown beautiful plants that are toxic if ingested. Use caution if you put them in your garden.

Many gardeners find working outdoors is made more enjoyable by the array of bird songs that fill the air. Yet, did you know that some native birds of Northeast America are beneficial to the garden, while others can be detrimental? Being able to identify which birds are visiting the garden, helps gardeners determine whether or not they should be attracting or deterring these creatures.

As Digital Content Editor Christine Alexander explains, pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystem and we should all be doing our part to support their populations:

Read this Boysenberry vs. Blackberry guide to find differences and similarities between the two and get a clarity once and for all!

Think before you allow poppies to proliferate. Poppies rob a lot of goodness from your soil.

A stroll through a boutique garden store might lead you to believe that filling a garden with happy, healthy plants is only for the well-heeled. But those very plants that have soaring price tags in the store might be yours for free if you are willing to be a little creative. If you are wondering how to get free plants, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for five tried-and-true paths that lead you to free garden plants.

Experience the charm of Cactus with Arms, where nature takes on an unexpected twist. These captivating plants bring you the rugged beauty of cacti with arms, showcasing nature’s creativity at its finest.

Requiring less watering and weeding than any other type of garden, a gravel garden is ideal for anyone with a busy lifestyle. Comprising freely draining soil covered in gravel, through which suitable plants grow, the only effort required is in its creation; after that, this contemporary form of garden largely looks after itself.

Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum) is sometimes referred to as Goldenstar. It is a native groundcover that grows to four inches tall and does well in dappled shade or morning sun and afternoon shade. It is related to asters and sunflowers. The plant grows like a strawberry with a rosette of leaves and creeping stolons that root at each node and give rise to new rosettes of leaves and flowers.

Dwarf Crested Iris, Iris cristata, is a beautiful native iris that grows in the woods all over the Piedmont. The eight-inch, sword-shaped leaves arch towards the outside of the spreading clump. Small blue flowers with yellow and white signals occur for a few weeks in April, and the leaves die back to the rhizomes in the winter.

Are you looking at plants in your garden and wondering why they aren’t flowering?