Rick Lopez Landscapes Inc.

California Native Plants

What better way to see hundreds of California Native Plants than to visit some local gardens, take advantage of their infrequent sales of California’s natives, or visit a few websites to learn more about these plants—particularly in times of drought.

California Native Plants Society
East Bay Regional Parks Botanical Garden
Las Pilitas Native Plants Nurseries
University of California Botanical Garden
University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum

California Native Plants Society
Sacramento, CA
Protecting California’s Native Flora since 1965, CNPS has over 10,000 members promoting native plant appreciation, research, education and conservation through five statewide programs and 34 regional chapters. Start here. Attend workshops locally. Learn from the website and the association’s many writings and pamphlets. http://www.cnps.org/

East Bay Regional Parks Botanical Garden
Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden was founded on January 1, 1940. Situated in Tilden Regional Park’s beautiful Wildcat Canyon in the heart of the north Berkeley Hills, the garden is devoted to the collection, growth, display, and preservation of the native plants of California. California embraces nearly 160,000 square miles— imagine 160,000 square miles of California set in a garden that can be walked in a day. Notable among the many specimens that have been brought in from all corners of the state are representatives of nearly all the state’s conifers and oaks, and probably the most complete collections of California manzanitas to be found anywhere. There are also extensive collections of California native bunchgrasses, bulbs, aquatic plants, and representatives of about 300 plants that are classified in the California Native Plant Society’s landmark study, “Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California.” http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden/botanic_garden

Las Pilitas Native Plants Nurseries
Santa Margarita, CA
Escondido, CA
Since the 1970’s Las Pilitas Nursery has been growing, researching and planting California native plants. They do the work; you get to play with the plants. You can query native plants for your yard here. You’ll find everything you want to know about California native plants on this website. Browse many native plants in many different ways, but should you be looking for natives for the San Francisco Peninsula, plants in the San Diego grouping can guide you as they are very close to plants we select for the Peninsula. http://www.laspilitas.com/

University of California Botanical Garden
Berkeley, CA
The UC Botanical Garden is a non-profit research garden and museum for the University of California at Berkeley, having a notably diverse plant collection including many rare and endangered plants. Established in 1890 to form a living collection of the native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants of the State of California, it also sought to gather in as rapidly as possible those of the neighboring states of the Pacific Coast. Within two years the collection numbered 600 species. In the following decade it grew to 1500, but then began to expand both its scope and collection to encompass plants from all continents and about 10,000 species. Today, the Garden, which is open to the public year round, has over 13,000 different kinds of plants from around the world, cultivated by region in naturalistic landscapes over its 34 acres. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/

University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum
Santa Cruz, CA
The UCSC Arboretum is a research and teaching facility committed to plant conservation and serves both the campus and the public. Its rich and diverse collection, containing representatives of more than 300 plant families. The Arboretum maintains collections of rare and threatened plants of unusual scientific interest. Particular specialties are world conifers, primitive angiosperms, and bulb-forming plant families. Large assemblages of plants from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and California natives are displayed on the grounds. Many of the species in these collections are not otherwise available for study in American botanical gardens and arboreta. http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/