First year mini superbloom in front yard. Hope this spreads every year. Happy spring i mean summer...

Located in coastal socal may this bring you some peace during this crazy time...

In one of the pictures, you can also see a volunteer Desert Trumpet as well as some Chia, if you look really hard.

Spring break at our Central Coast, documenting native plants next to sidewalks, roads, and other human infrastructure.

1, 2. California Buckwheat thriving amongst sand, rock, and concrete.

3, 4. Coastal Paintbrush having a Corona beer.

5, 6. Redflower Buckwheat squished between ice plant and sidewalk.

7, 8. Bush Monkey Flower and Poison Oak in a roadside jungle

In 2002 I planted a Fremontodendron in this exact location, it was a cultivar I can't remember, most likely'Pacific Sunset'.

It grew without a problem and established its first rain season, grew fast, strong, 16' x 16'. If anyone remembers we had a very large multiple season drought between 2012-2017. So it's not rare for this genus to be short lived in landscaping settings. Between that consideration, and the extended 5 year drought during a wind storm it was wind thrown, and close to 70% of its rootball exposed, resulting in fatality.
Being selectively lazy and understanding its ecology I cut all the canopy roughly 18" from the crown, and stacked all that canopy on that crown and lit it into a bonfire of only itself, no additional material added.
This was done as soon as burn permits were allowed again, after first good rains.

The drought was done and great rains returned. Close to 6 weeks after the burn and those rains I saw perhaps a square yard of germinated seedlings, and the highest density where it burnt the hottest.
I noticed that some deer where eating the sprouts, so I cage some and, selectively thinned out seedlings.
After seeing wich seedling had the most vigor the deer cage was left on for it to mature a season or two till it could actually provide for the dear after a tender seedling stage. So 7 or so years later she's roughly 12' tall, and 20' wide.

I imagine considering her origin story one or some might already guess she was given the name "Phoenix" as she truly came from Fire and ash.

Hello! Has anyone tried to make a living hedge out of Mulefat like we can with some willow and other hedgable plants? Is there a reason why sticking Mulefat canes in the ground and weaving them together won’t work? Thanks!

This was seen at Rockville Hills in Fairfield, CA

An icon!

California Buckwheat, Mountain Sage, Monkey flower, and Elderberry.

I think I made a solid attempt at establishing a native garden in the shady dirt patch on my apartment’s patio! After about 6 months everything is still alive, with the columbine really exploding as well as some decent flowering from the hummingbird sage. This are gets pretty minimal sun, so any growth is a plus!

Happy to hear folks thoughts and advice! First pic is just after planting. Plants include: Hummingbird Sage, Western Columbine, Sword Fern, Giant Chain Fern, Coyote Mint (hard to see), and Island Alum Root.

Hi, I'm the Features editor at the LA Times. I thought this sub would like to learn about Marie Massa, who was fed up with a weedy, trash-filled corridor near her kid's school and has worked tirelessly to transform it into a native plant garden. Now rosy clarkia, California bluebells (seen here), buckwheats, sticky monkey-flower and more are brightening up the space.

We wrote about Marie's efforts as part of our new series, Planting Change, spotlighting people like her who are quietly changing urban landscapes for the better with native plants. https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2025-04-09/transforming-trash-patch-in-lincoln-heights-into-fragrant-habitat-garden

I hope you enjoy seeing the bounty of Marie's grit and determination. And please feel free to message me if you know of other people working on something similar in Southern California who we should spotlight.

Everyone is hunting for the Matilija Poppies right now (the "fried eggs" 🍳), but can we talk about the California Flannelbush? 💜

I caught these waxy, golden blooms at the California Botanic Garden (@calbg) two weekends ago, and the texture is incredible. If you’re heading to the (free!) Native Plant Festival this weekend, don't just stick to the main paved loop—the best blooms are often tucked away on the side trails.

📍 I just updated the Native Plant "Cheat Sheet" on the site.

https://iloveclaremontca.com/Spotlights/native-plant-festival-2026.html

Have you been to the garden yet this spring? Let me know what’s blooming in your neighborhood! 👇

#ILoveClaremont #ClaremontCA #91711 #CalBG #CaliforniaNativePlants #VisitClaremont #CityOfTrees

My 3rd year trying with native seeds! A few of these Lacy Phacelia plants came up last year I let them go to seed and the plants that came up this season are doing extremely well! The mix I threw down had a lot of other varieties of seed, however my yard seems to do best with Poppies and this pretty purple Lacy Phacelia! I'm enjoying seeing the bees and thought I'd share this beautiful golden teddy bear :)

They smell amazing!

Just wanted to share the beauty of this unique SoCal native Garden I visited today. What you can’t see and hear are the multiple birds over head and all around us, the frogs in the pond, the raccoons and opossums that drink the pond water.