Linda...sounds like a very cool plan! Give these places a try, the first 2 are specific to California Native Plants, the last one is the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower organisation:

http://www.theodorepayne.org
http://www.nativerevival.com
http://www.wildflower.org/

You could also try these:

www.prairiemoon.com
http://www.prairienursery.com

These 2 have plant mixes for different parts of the country...some seed mixes by state/region, and some by soil type. What they have may not be native to your area, even though it *may* grow in your area, and you really want to stick to plants that are native to your specific area. Hope this helps. April

i am not familiar with what is native to California, so if were going to start a natural meadow - i would probably look for a califonia native plant society and contact a local nature center - to see what grows naturally in your area...

And since you are new to this forum, please allow me to restate something that regular posters have heard before. Be VERY skeptical of the "meadow in a can" or "instant wildflower garden" type of seed mixes sold at many garden centers or chain stores. Quite often, these seed mixes contain annuals that don't reliably reseed, or they have plants that may become very weedy in your area. You should always check the composition of the seed mix and check out any plant species that you are unfamiliar with so that you don't unwittingly introduce a problem plant.

The sources that April has listed are good, reliable companies.

V.

another great resource for someone who is new to natural landscaping is:

www.for-wild.org

Hey there on the CA coast!
You should check out Las Pilitas Nursery webpage. There is lots of great information on CA native plants. I regret I don't live there just so I could order from them.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Las Pilitas Nursery

You should mark out where you want stuff first. If there are a lot of weeds, getting rid of them is the first step.

For 20'x30' I recommend seeding -- but only if you can really get rid of the weeds. I did an area that size in my backyard last year. It was full of weedy grasses, weed seed from a prior year's negleect. The easiest thing for me was to cover it all with newspaper and then add 1-2" topsoil.

I seeded into the new dirt, watered the seed in well so the birds didn't eat it all, and was rewarded with bazillions of flowers and lots of grass bunches. I chose purple needlegrass as the main grass, and the area is next to my blue grama lawn, so some blue grama has come to join in the party.

This year is year #2 and *everything* reseeded. I will have to be much more careful with the globe gilia as it produced so much seed areas are solid green with its seedlings.

I've linked to larner seeds and there are other good sources but with them I get excellent germination and a great selection of both native grasses and wildflowers (I am addicted to the peppermind candy flower, though sadly my slugs are too, so even though it is a perennial I keep buying seed). I would recommend buying mostly grass seeds and a handful of wildflowers you would want. Mix them all with a pound of corn meal and then use a spreader to cover your area. I did it by hand last year and got too dense bunches of lots of things. Annuals it didn't matter but I had to move some wallflower perennials because all 10 plants are growing on top of each other!

Let us know what you do!

Here is a link that might be useful: Larner Seeds