FormLA Landscaping

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13 Reviews
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FormLA Landscaping
13 Reviews

California Native Foliage

For Los Angeles gardens, use of hyper-local California native foliage is a game changer. These plants support our health and resilience as they need little supplemental water and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides to thrive. Better yet, they create a lush, leafy, lovely aesthetic year-round. They attract butterflies, birds and pollinators too!

Native garden palettes are a designer's dream. While you may naturally think of California poppy's blooms, LA native foliage comes in a full rainbow of colors. Here are a few of our favorites.
Country: United States
Others who worked on this project: Lesly Hall Photography
In 2019, California's hills and deserts were filled with poppy and lupine as a result of a banner rain year. Millions headed out to the hills to capture the beauty. We can make it much easier on ourselves! It is entirely possible to have a super bloom in our home gardens every year.
Superbloom: Lupine and Poppies
Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). During the Fire-Wise Garden Tour, this garden had its own Super Bloom of poppies!
California Poppies
Monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus) is an exceptionally hearty mid-sized foliage. Beautiful bloom colors include mango and magenta and attract hummingbirds. It is easy to grow in moist spot.
Golden Monkey Flower
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradata) is not edible like the more common variety. It is, however, perennial, drought tolerant and lovely! It enjoys rock gardens.
Desert Marigold
Sulphur Buckwheat
Sulphur Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) forms enchanting mounts of silver - a year round pop of color when planted with companions. In spring, these uncommon sulphur-yellow blooms emerge, gradually transitioning to rust in summer and fall.
Sulphur Buckwheat
Coastal Tidy Tips
Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) is a favorite of birds, hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators. While many birds adore its berries, the hummingbirds and monarchs delight in the nectar from its golden flowers.
Golden Currant
Bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) has show-stopping yellow blooms and eye-catching seed pods. It's silvery foliage is fragrant - although not nearly as charmingly so as some other native plants. It is drought tolerant but will tolerate a little extra summer water and is deer resistant.
Bladderpod
Indian Mallow(Abutilon palmeri) blooms 10 months out of the year. It's velvety, evergreen silvery foliage and buttery yellow blooms can fade into the background of a native garden in spring, only to steal the show in fall while other natives rest.
Indian Mallow
Brittlebush
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is a profuse bloomer. It's golden, sunflower-like blooms dance above its soft, gray-white foliage and leave these charming yellow stems when they retreat. It's tough and beautiful. Its dried resin is used as incense. It's excellent in the high desert - Palm Springs,...
Brittlebush
Island Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida) is native to the eastern San Fernando Valley, it is highly recommended for butterfly gardens and provides an excellent informal screen.
Island Bush Poppy
California Sunflowers
Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium ). Edible. Fire wise. Rain garden appropriate. Drought tolerant. Evergreen. Oregon grape really has it all! It even blooms with these lovely, delicate yellow flowers in spring. In fall, holly-like leaves offer seasonal color. It makes a distinctively beautiful...
(California Native) Oregon Grape
A beautiful shrub great for defining privacy boundaries, Nevin's Barberry's dark green foliage fills with (not edible) bright yellow flowers in spring, following by bright red (delicious!) berries. Save some of the yum for the birds, and your garden will fill with delightful twittering.
Nevin's Barberry
Blue Palo Verde (Cercidium microphyllum) has a delicate, lacy canopy that fills with little yellow blooms in spring. Its green trunk and branches have an architectural form, and it typically reaches to only 15-20 feet, making it a great tree for small spaces. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Palo Verde Tree
Flannel Bush
Manzanita Berry
Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) is a river and creekside species.
Western Columbine
St. Catherine's lace (Eriogonum giganteum) is an extraordinary member of the buckwheat family. Her giant blooms emerge early in spring and charm even when dry. Her evergreen foliage is endemic to the Channel Islands of the coast of Malibu, and she thrives well into the east side of Los Angeles.
Saint Catherine's Lace
Why go all the way to Vermont? LA has its own, spectacular fall color. These coral blooms fill the evergreen-silver foliage of Desert Globemallow.
Desert Globemallow
Photo: Roger Klemm
Scarlet Larkspur
In autumn, Western Redbud once again transforms to match the season. It's heart shaped leaves shift from deep green back to lime, gold, crimson, mahogany and bronze. Who could help but love this performer? This one will still give you all when grown in a (large enough) container.
Western Redbud in Fall
Hoary Fuchsia (Epilobium canum ssp. canum) has showy red trumpet-shaped blooms in summer and fall. It is a great way to add a burst of color that will emerge as more spring-centric blooms fade. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Hoary Fuchsia
Island Snapdragon (Galvelia speciosa) has charming blooms that seem to kiss the air, just like the more common snapdragons. The California native is distinguished by its dense, true, evergreen foliage, which can serve as a shrub. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Island Snapdragon
Ribes viburnifolium, commonly called Catalina Perfume or Evergreen Currant, delicately scents the air when it's delightful, itty-bitty blooms are present in late winter and spring. Throughout the year, it's slender branches, full of lacy, evergreen foliage, reach 2-3 feet in height.
Catalina Perfume
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) will begin tweeting long before its berries turn this bright red in late fall - the birds love them! In spring, evergreen Toyon produces equally charming bursts of delicate white flowers. It's dense, hearty foliage is drought-tolerant, heat loving, and fire wise....
Christmas Berry in Winter
Coffeeberry Shrub in Fall
Golden Currant Berry
Catalina Cherry Shrub in Fall
Elegant Clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata), a wonderful wildflower with which to extend the blooming season. It reseeds plentifully. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Elegant Clarkia
Prickly Phlox (Leptodactylon californium). Covered in showy pink flowers in late spring, Prickly Phlox is low-growing and modest-sized for small gardens. This one added a bright pop of color to a slope deep in the Santa Monica Mountains with no irrigation. Supplemental water would have enhanced...
Prickly Phlox
Common Thrift (Armeria marítima) forms grasslike mounds. It's enchanting blooms sit atop long, slender stems that dance in the breeze. They are charming in clusters and as edges for meadows.
Common Thrift
Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) is an ideal tree for small spaces. It has a somewhat architectural form that fills with these delightful - and edible and delicious! - pink flowers in winter. With branches bare, it allows heat to enter adjacent structures. In spring and summer, its abundant...
Western Redbud Tree
Do we need to speak to any other benefit of Western Redbud in early spring? These blooms are pollinator magnets - and delicious! As leaves fill in, they are a nearly translucent lime to apple green, allowing just the right amount of sun to break through the canopy.
Western Redbud in Spring
Hummingbird Sage is like catnip for hummingbirds! The wand-like blooms are frequently surrounded by them! Its fragrance is distinctive and sweet. Because the fragrance is in both the bloom and its thick, leathery, evergreen leaves, it can be enjoyed year round. The foliage spreads well and enjoys...
Hummingbird Sage
If one plant can save LA on its own, it might be our native oak trees. Dense leathery leaves retain moisture in drought and hold hydration longer in high heat. They provide deep shade to cool a property and are a key tool for creating a fire wise landscape. They are also the sole or preferred...
Oak Tree Growth
Sugar Bush (Rhus ovata) is durable, drought tolerant and good for erosion control. It's dense evergreen foliage is appropriate in fire wise landscapes. It makes an intriguing and lovely hedge or privacy screen.
Sugar Bush
Fairyduster
Elegant Clarkia Wildflowers
Depending on the amount of sunshine, water, and soil quality, "Red" Buckwheat can range from a delicate pink of to this bright fucshia.
Red Buckwheat
Red Buckwheat (Eriogonum grande rubescens) is a must for butterfly gardens, and it will attract finches, juncos, larks, sparrows, towhees, quail, and grouse as well! It thrives throughout LA, from the coast to the foothills.
Red Buckwheat
Photo: Danielle Killian
California Wild Rose
Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia) makes a beautiful hedge and is great on slopes. It is so hearty, it's been called "nearly indestructible once established." It's leaves hold hydration in drought and high heat, making it an excellent addition to fire wise gardens.
Lemonade Berry Shrub
Alumroots bring an element of whimsey. The delicate "fairy hat" blooms of Wendy delight throughout spring garden tour season. It's evergreen foliage serves as an attractive groundcover year round. We love placing them alongside walks where their dancing invites exploration.
Alumroot, Wendy Coral Bells
Flowering Pink Currant (Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum)'s chandelier blooms delight hummingbirds, butterflies, and humans. Birds delight in its fruit. A shrub, its foliage can reach 10 feet in height and a 6 foot diameter.
Pink Currant | Blood Currant
A favorite of desert tortoises, Chaparral or Desert Bushmallow (Malacothamnus fasciculatus) has delicate blooms that fill the nearly 17 foot height shrub.
Desert Bushmallow (Tree Mallow)
Easy to grow, Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat (Eriogonum arborescens) makes a great native substitute wherever you might use a Tuscan Rosemary. It's leaves are similar and it's blooms are large, spectacular and range from a delicate to hot pink. Like many native "island" plants, it loves the beach but...
Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat
Easy to grow, Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat (Eriogonum arborescens) makes a great native substitute wherever you might use a Tuscan Rosemary. It's leaves are similar and it's blooms are large, spectacular and range from a delicate to hot pink. Like many native "island" plants, it loves the beach but...
Santa Cruz Buckwheat
A beautiful habitat plant, this small tree's architectural branches fill with these berries to feed songbirds through the heat of summer, then deliver stunning little bell-like flowers to keep hummingbirds happy as they start their December nesting season.
Manzanita in Summer
It is hard to find blooms more enchanting than Island Alumroot (Heuchera maxima). While its delicate blooms put on quite a show in shade garden, its deep green foliage keeps this California native garden green year round.
Santa Cruz Island Alumroot
Island Native Morning Glory (Calystegia macrostegia 'Anacapa Pink') is drought tolerant and provides healthy habitat for native fauna. Please Note: While this morning glory is distinctly healthy for LA, the blue-purple African Morning Glory is invasive and can spread to wildspaces,
Island Morning Glory
Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia) makes a beautiful hedge and is great on slopes. It is so hearty, it's been called "nearly indestructible once established." The fruit is sour and if left in cold water will create a lemonade-like beverage.
Lemonade Berry in Fall
Coffeeberry (Rhombus californica) is yet another blooming, edible California native hedge. Berries can be made into an uncaffinated coffee-like beverage or left for the birds to enjoy. They emerge lime green and deepen to a deep, chocolatey-purple as they ripen. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Coffeeberry
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) can be low growing or tree like. Its hallmarks are mahogany colored bark and architectural branches, as well as delightful bell-like flowers that emerge in winter and last until early spring. It is "tough as nails," useful for erosion control, and its fruit is edible.
Manzanita in Winter
Like Lemonade Berry and Sugar Bush, Catalina Cherry (Prunus illicifolia) makes a lovely hedge. In fact, the three can be mixed to form a blooming, edible privacy screen. These blooms are seen in fall. Catalina Cherry's fruit can be harvested in fall - if you are fast enough to beat the birds to it!
Catalina Cherry Shrub in Spring
Lush, leafy, low-water California native Bush Anemone (Carpenteria californica) substitutes for camellias. They thrive through even the hottest and driest of LA summers.
Bush Anemone
Delicious as strawberries may be, they are our third-favorite charm of Beach Strawberry! We love its dense, dark, ground covering foliage and delightful little white blooms even more.
Beach Strawberry Groundcover
Paz White Penstemon (Penstemon spectabilis 'Paz') at the Santa Monica Conservancy Preservation Resource Center. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
"Paz" White Penstemon
Wands of White sage (Salvia apiana) blooms rise from silvery foliage. White sage provides great contrast with deep and bright greens year round.
White Sage
Cedros Island Sage (Salvia cedrosensis 'Baja Blanca'), a rare, fast-growing California native sage, enjoys heat, full sun, and needs little water to thrive.
Cedros Island Sage
Delicate pink California Buckwheat and its rosemary-like foliage comprise the sole habitat of the El Segundo Butterfly. Concerned Angelenos have nearly saved the delightful blue from extinction by planting it in more residential gardens and parks.
California Buckwheat
If you want a life instead of lawn, California native yarrow may be just the lawn alternative for you! Its feathery, evergreen foliage looks much like a lawn when mowed. And if you "forget" to mow? You'll see these spectacular blooms.
Yarrow
Saint Catherine's Lace
Christmas Berry Shrub in Spring
Toyon, aka Christmas Berry, (Heteromeles arbutifolia) makes a beautiful blooming hedge or privacy screen. It is a preferred home for birds, and it will sing in the late fall when it fills with red berries. It maintains hydration in drought, which is useful in resisting fire.
Christmas Berry (Toyon)
Meadow Rue
Lilac Verbena (Verbena lilacina), a UC Davis Arboretum All Star, is a compact 2-3′ high by 3-4′ shrub with rugged evergreen foliage and generous clusters of deep lavender spring flowers.
Lilac Verbena
Silver Carpet Groundcover
Pitcher Sage (Lepechinia calycina) surrounds the edible gardens, alongside White and Hummingbird sages. Together, they bring a fresh, earthy scent and attract birds, butterflies, and other pollinators.
Pitchers Sage
Bees Bliss Sage (Prostrate)
Coyote Mint (Monardella villosa x purpurea) has fantastically fragrant foliage. Guess what it smells like? The fragrance lasts year-round, while these delightful purple pom-pom blooms are a spring-summer phenomena. Clearly an appropriate addition for a pollinator garden!
Coyote Mint
California Aster (Symphyotrichum chilense) likes to spill down hills and delights in both sun and shade. Their sunny centers invite kisses from bees, and lilac-colored petals reach for the sun, If focused on the blooms, Aster looks a little like Seaside Daisy. Look beyond the blooms to very...
California Aster
Seaside Daisy's (Erigeron glaucus) delightful, friendly blooms are nearly ever-present. Present from winter to late summer, her blooms make great cut flowers. She hides them in fall, letting her evergreen foliage get the appreciation it deserves.
Seaside Daisy
Cleveland Sage (Salvia Clevelandii) is one of our favorites. Its minty, yet earthy scent makes a great addition to any garden, and who could resist these blooms?!
Cleveland Sage
We'd plant Lacy Phacelia (Tansy Leafed Phacelia) just for its otherworldly beauty, but it does so much more than delight us! It attracts hoverflies to eat aphids and other pests. As a cover crop, it is a great boost to edible gardens too.
Lacy Phacelia Wildflowers
These stunning blooms have filled LA's foothills in the wake of fire. They can be seen on burned hillsides and along roadsides. They range from blue-purple to their silvery-white delight. Lupine blooms are so striking, its foliage rarely gets the credit it deserves. It performs beautifully in LA...
Lupine
Margarita BOP (Penstemon heterophyllus) is obviously a show stealer. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Margarita BOP Penstemon
Wooly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum) emerge fragrant rosemary-like foliage. Plant in dry, well-drained area and wait for the hummingbirds to appear!
Wooly Blue Curls
Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium vellum) blooms emerge from clumping grass-like foliage. It adds eye catching pops of color in spring meadows and will be dormant in summer.
Blue Eyed Grass
When supported by smart irrigation, Blue Flax will quickly fill the space intended for it. These fluttery periwinkle blooms dance on delightfully delicate stalks making it a great swap for non-native Rock Purslane.
Blue Flax Blooms
Desert Blue Bells (Phacelia campanularia) are annual wildflowers that delight LA in spring.
Desert Blue Bell Wildflowers
A beautiful shrub great for defining privacy boundaries, California Lilac (ceanothus) can be pruned to grow as a tree. There are prostrate versions as well. This rare one has particularly diaphanous blooms - yet all the delightful fragrance of any other.
California Lilac
Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana) will spread to form a small colony. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Douglas Iris
California Lilac (Ceanothus) blooms may be smaller than their eastern counterparts, but they are every bit as fragrant!
California Mountain Lilac
The silver-blue hue of Giant Chalk Dudleya (Dudleya brittonii) can be seen emerging from rocky crags along LA hiking trails. In the garden, it creates beautiful contrast with greenery. It blooms with spikes of yellow flowers in spring and needs well-drained, particularly when it is hot.
Giant Chalk Dudleya
Oregon Grape Shrub in Summer
Deep rooting Coast Dudleya love well drained, sandy, rocky soils. Their otherworldly blooms have an awe-inspiring under-the-sea quality. Here, Dudleya sits in a bed of dark green leafy Beach Strawberry with delicate white blooms.
Coast Dudleya in Beach Strawberry
Wands of White sage (Salvia apiana) blooms rise from silvery foliage. White sage provides great contrast with deep and bright greens year round. Its earthy-fragrance lasts year round, and its leaves can be used anywhere you might use a more traditional edible sage.
White Sage
Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) leaves and blooms are similar to those of Salvia Clevelandii. Blooms are white, lavender or blue. Fall is the only season when you'll catch Black Sage without them.
Black Sage
'Canyon Silver' - Woolly Sunflower (Eriophyllum nevinii) is yet another reason California is every bit as much the silver as the Golden State. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Woolly Sunflower
California Sagebrush (Cowboy Perfume)
California native Yucca (Yucca Whipplei) is among the most useful plants. Almost entirely edible, from extravagant bloom to extensive root, this yucca is both fire wise and helpful in controlling erosion and stabilizing slopes. Its architectural structure makes it one of our go-tos for modern...
California Native Yucca
Canyon Prince, aka Giant Wild Rye (Leymus condensatus) has an architectural form, yet its blades are flexible and will move with the breeze. Its silvery foliage makes it a great ornamental grass.
Canyon Prince
Western Swordfern (Polystichum munitum), is a reliable companion for Alumroot and happy shade garden inhabitant. Lesly Hall Photography
Swordfern
Giant Chain Fern
Evergreen Ribes aka Catalina Perfume (Ribes viburnifolium) is a spreading shrub beloved by birds. In late winter-spring it fills will chandelier-like blooms, and it maintains this deep green color year round. Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Evergreen Currant (Ribes)
Dwarf Coyote Bush (Baccharis pilularis) is a "top performer for erosion," and among those recommended for fire wise gardens. Even without these skills, its consistent bright green would make it a lovely addition to any LA garden.
Dwarf Coyote Bush
Where there is a slope or a location with a great deal of paving, there is a need for Dwarf Coyote Bush (Baccharis Pigeon Point'). His deep roots will retain slopes, even if his fire-resistant foliage burns to the ground. Similarly, his roots will help retain soil during storms in otherwise dry...
Dwarf Coyote Bush
Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) is an ideal tree for small spaces. It has a somewhat architectural form that fills with delightful - and edible and delicious! - pink flowers in winter. With branches bare, it allows heat to enter adjacent structures. In spring and summer, its abundant...
Western Redbud in Summer
Catalina Ironwood Tree
If you want a life instead of lawn, California native Dune Sedge is a great turf grass alternative. It can handle foot and pet traffic and has a pleasing true green color. It can be mowed for a lawn-like look. We tend to like it as a wave-filled meadow. In September those waves fill with these...
IdealMow (Dune Sedge) Lawn
IdealMow (Bent Grass) Lawn
IdealMow (Red Fescue) Lawn
While not as prickly as a Yucca Whipplei or agave, and not as stiff as a Snake Grass, California native Spreading Rush (Juncus patens) does a great job of defining a boundary and re-routing traffic. Its deep blue green color makes a great backdrop for both brighter green and distinctively LA silver...
Spreading Rush
Mounds of bright green Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) fill with twinkling golden wands, their seed heads, in fall. It is a wise substitute for combustible and invasive Fountain Grass, as its aesthetic is so similar.
Deer Grass in Fall
Purple Three Awn (Aristada) provides an excellent alternative to popular but flammable and invasive Feather Grass.
Purple Three Awn
It's rare to catch Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus) without her dollar-coin-sized blooms. When she takes a rest from blooming in fall, her showy evergreen foliage is enough to entertain us!
Evergreen Seaside Daisy
When Red Buckwheat is bloom-free (rare!), its foliage remains a shiny green on top and silver on bottom. It spreads but slowly. Delightful!
Evergreen Red Buckwheat Foliage
Red Buckwheat Foliage