Where to Buy

I’ve got my heart set on Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman.’ – a CA lilac tree! Where to buy? Native plants can be elusive. Here is an annotated list of native plant nurseries in Southern California. (If you live elsewhere in CA, check for sources in your area at the CNPS website here.)

You will see this sign from Ortega Highway as you are missing the left turn for Tree of Life.

Tree of Life Nursery is in San Juan Capistrano, 10 miles inland from Highway 5 on Highway 74. Watch for a small sign on your left, closed Sundays. Even if you don’t need any plants, it is worth a visit. I love their extensive demonstration gardens, both “big and wild” (suitable for those with acreage) and smaller, more groomed cottage gardens with lots of flowers (well not during frost season.) "Casa La Paz," a gorgeous hay/adobe house, is their bookstore. They supply commercial landscapers, and really know what grows under what conditions. Note that some of their plants are not California natives but residents of Arizona, Mexico, and even South America. If you look closely at the large labels, the fine print indicates this non-native status. Also be careful when choosing a plant: the individual pots are not labeled, so similar cultivars can get mixed up.

Colin at Tree of Life helped me choose most of my garden plants.
But it's hard to get him to smile.

Las Pilitas Nursery has a main branch near San Luis Obispo, a satellite in Escondido, and the best native gardening website. And they mail order! Great selection of Manzanitas (Arctostaphylus) though they were very low on stock the end of January when I visited.

You will rarely find natives other than Toyon and Cleveland Sage (or its cultivars) in big-box hardware stores. Regular nurseries may carry a few varieties now and then, but I do not believe a word they say about how to grow natives. Rogers Gardens in Newport Beach has a small native section that sometimes has unusual finds: I got a very red red buckwheat there (Eriogonum grande rubescens, origin Annie’s Annuals), and fat 4-trunked Giant Coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantic.)

I got a nifty sign for my yard from CNPS via Tree of Life.

For plants that really grow wild in your local area, talk to your county chapter of the California Native Plant Society. In Orange County, we also have the nonprofit Back to Natives Nursery, open only on Saturdays. Take a map from the website, it’s hard to find! Their selection is limited, eclectic, and the real deal. Purchases support habitat restoration.

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has many Manzanitas.
And a meadow.  And a canyon.  And a nursery.

Botanical gardens often have attached nurseries. The two most extensive gardens/nurseries are  Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Grow Native Nursery at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, and also in L.A. off 405, just south of the Getty.  Theodore Payne Society near Burbank is a big nonprofit native nursery/advocacy organization with small attached garden. Great selection of woodland and desert natives. Smaller botanic gardens at schools and parks have occasional plant sales– very hit and miss.  CA Native Plant Society has a more comprehensive list of SoCal sources here.  (Can't believe I missed visiting some of those.  Must take care of that.)

Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden has fields of shade-blooming Coral Bells (Heuchera) 'Wendy,' 

growing under mature trees.  They are not actually five feet tall.

They are up a slope from my friend Quynh, who is not quite five feet tall either.

 (Taken mid-March 2013). 

The same native plant from different nurseries sometimes looks very different. They select different wild stock to propagate. They propagate different named cultivars.* In some cases they may have chosen odd natural sports or hybrids, inadvertently crossbred cultivars, or even hybridized in the nursery. I like to note on my plant log (yes, I have a plant log) where I got each plant.

I don’t buy plants I don’t know. They may be invasive (yes, natives can be!) boring, unsuited to the spot I put them, or impossible to grow in my area. With Google on my phone, I can do research right at the nursery, starting with the Las Pilitas website. I may ask the staff but I check the source first; some gardens have volunteers with little knowledge, and commercial (non-native) nursery staff usually have none.

Most native nurseries have big sales in October, then limited and varying selection through winter and spring. Some shut down in the summer. Why sell a dormant plant?

Tomaz planted these cuttings of my favorite Calatina Silverlace (Eriophyllum nevinii).
Unfortunately Santa Ana winds desiccated them the next day.
We won't put nurseries out of business any time soon.

Then of course you can grow your own. My neighbor Tomaz takes seeds and cuttings when he is out hiking. Infinite patience, great economy, unparalleled sense of place: to know where your plant’s parents lived in the wild.

Happy shopping!

* Cultivars have positive and negative attributes. More on that soon.

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