Not sure where exactly in SoCal you are located, but there are many great retail garden centers throughout the area that can help you pick appropriately. Armstrong's Garden Centers have 34 outlets across California and they are the largest independently owned retail nursery on the west coast. I've visited several and they have uniformly great plant selection and very knowledgeable and helpful employees. SoCal has rather unique growing conditions not common to the rest of the country, so asking of a local resource is going to provide the most appropriate suggestions for your specific requirements.

I actually did go to an Armstrong Garden Center, nowhere near as well stocked as like a Home Depot. The person knew what he was talking about but had little to choose from. For example, if I wanted to replant Mexican Heather which he recomended, they wanted $10+ for 1 gallon plants that were very, very sickly looking in a pale yellow, actually looked worse than my dead ones. Then he recomended a dwarf mock orange, but only had 3 there (I need like 15). There's a much larger Armstrong Garden about 10 miles away that I'll try that tomorrow. I don't mind paying a premium for planting material as long as there is value.