Plants For My Drought Tolerant Garden

Ideally, I'd like to get California natives for my drought tolerant garden. One of the best examples of a California natives garden is the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens out in Claremont. But those beautiful manzanitas with their red gnarly branches and those California blue lilacs residing there are hard to locate. You would think that if those plants grow so well in California, they'd be readily available in any ordinary California nursery. But you'd be wrong. I couldn't find these native plants any where. So I planted some very ordinary and readily available drought tolerant plants: sedum and succulent ground cover, hopseed bush, lavenders, fire sticks, pink lady, a large agave, a New Zealand tea tree, and a silver sheen. Those I found from cuttings at friends' homes, at Armstrong Garden Center, Home Depot, Toro Nursery in Torrance and V&N Nursery in Culver City.

Hardscape completed with some plants and vegetables.

When a friend told me that I can find California natives at Grow Native Nursery on the Veterans Administration gardens in Westwood,  I went for a  visit. The place is only three miles from my house and I didn't know it existed. While looking it up on the internet, I discovered that the nursery is a nonprofit retail nursery that is part of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens established to maximize veterans’ opportunities in the sustainable horticulture industry.

I went to the nursery and found all kinds of California natives in pots arranged on long tables.   This place is definitely not very commercial. I was the only customer there. To my delight, I found three or four different species of ceonothese,  three or four kinds of manzanitas as well as a whole bevy of other plants. They were unusual but beautiful. I purchased four plants and brought them home with me. Now, my yard will truly be California drought tolerant. While the plants are still small, I love my new garden. Can't wait to see what my garden will be like in the summer. Of course, for the plants I just bought today, it'll take 10 years for them to be fully grown.I'll be a senior citizen by then. I wonder if I'll still be living at this house.

manzanita, ceonothus, and potted succulents.