CNPS MISSION/STRATEGIC/PROGRAM TOUCHPOINTS: Gardening, Education, Enhance, Engage.
OC CHAPTER THEME: Build nature gardens in every neighborhood.
Why Garden and Landscape with Native Plants?
Because You…
- Save Water
Locally native plants are adapted to our local climate conditions. - Minimize or Stop the Use of Pesticides
Native plants evolved symbiotically with local insects. - Support Orange County and Regional Ecology
Native plants are the foundation of our ecosystems, providing habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. - Learn About and Enjoy Nature at Your Pace
CA native plants in your garden and in our parks bring bits of functioning nature to us – right outside our windows and into our recreational open spaces. Watch butterflies and hummingbirds. Listen to song birds. Learn about plant communities. Develop an understanding of flower associations with pollinators. Notice plant adaptations to climate and wildlife. - Have the Opportunity to create Form AND Function.
The wide variety of California plants provides palettes for designing landscapes based on nature or traditional or your own styles and interests. By using native plants, you automatically include nature benefits.
Where Can I See Native Plants in Garden and Park Landscapes?
Find gardens and parks across the county and beyond that contain California native plants. Also identified are a few parks where you can easily see local plants in their natural wildland environments. Each location has a description providing the name of the garden, the location, a paragraph about what you will see there, and often a website for more information.
Help Me Select Plants
Evergreen Native Plants for Every Garden
These plants are garden friendly, California nature friendly, neighbor friendly, low water use, and mostly evergreen. This list was compiled by CNPS Orange County Chapter board members to help you create a year-round thriving garden.
CA Native Plant List for HOA Irrigated Common Areas
Is your Home Owner Association (HOA) looking for plants that are low water use, California nature friendly, and neighborhood friendly?
Take a look at this list (pdf).
Calscape
Website
This website contains data covering over 7,000 plants. It provides you with the tools to locate and filter by 14 characteristics. Results are sorted 4 ways with 3 display format and content options. AND… shows you which nurseries carry each plant.
Visit Calscape.org
Greg Rubin’s company, California’s Own Native Landscape Design, has been responsible for nearly two dozen native landscapes that have been involved in major fire events without the loss of a single home. This talk presents the basic principles of creating a native landscape that is appealing, consumes less water, is lower maintenance, is unequaled for erosion control, serves as great habitat, AND is fire resistant! This video, shared from our friends at the CNPS San Diego Chapter, is from 2022 July.
Orange County Planting Guide
Simple design concepts and a list of good looking, easy to grow California plants. The printed version is sized for 11 x 17 inch paper, also known as Ledger or Tabloid size.
View Online | Print Version
For guides to other regions, visit the CNPS statewide website.
Who Can Help Me with
Design, Installation, and Maintenance of My Garden?
We do not make recommendations for specific service providers.
BUT, we do have a list of self-identified companies that work with native plants.
Service Providers List: Design, Installation, Maintenance
School
Garden
Acorn
Grant
We provide Acorn Grants to schools looking for assistance with starting their native plant nature garden or other native plant and habitat activities.
We also provide Horticulture grants for other types of landscape locations and Traveler’s grants for students and other interested people needing assistance to get to symposiums, classes, and workshops.
Click here to view all of our Grants and how to apply for them.