Native Gardener’s Corner-Member’s Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

Guest author Dan Songster asked CNPS Orange County chapter members and local experts to share their experience gardening with California native plants. His question for March/April was:

“Spring has sprung! Your garden may be bursting with growth and blooms (and likely weeds). What tip do you wish you had known when you were starting out with native plants?” 

Terry LePage-“Give them room! – I just wanted to fill up the space, and now things are crowding over one another, especially larger shrubs.  Good thing I like pruning.”

Brad Jenkins-“1. Group plants by their water needs; 2. They may be native plants, but basic landscaping design guidelines still apply, like vertical layering; 3. Install a significant percentage of evergreen plants; 4. Start with easy plants to transition the soil microbiome and have early successes. Examples include: Lemonade berry or Sugar bush, holly leaf cherry, scrub oak, Baja fairy duster, CA buckwheat, Ashy leaf buckwheat, White sage, Cleveland sage and hybrids, Sunset manzanita, Nicolas or prostrate chamise, Catalina perfume (shade), Island alum root (mostly shade), and fingertips dudleya (part or full shade).”

Sima Bernstein-“I wish I had been told that maintenance is needed for the first 2-3 years–that new plantings are not ‘maintenance free’ until established.”

Elizabeth Wallace-“If you can afford a landscape designer who is familiar with native plants, I would encourage hiring one. The money you spend will save years of frustration while creating a healthy and gorgeous landscape.”

Norma Gutierrez-“I wish I had known to screen the soil to remove weed seeds before planting.”

Lori Reznick– “When I started gardening with native plants in the ground rather than pots, I wish I had known which plants to prune, how much to prune, and whether to start in year 1 or year 2 and after.” 

Bob Allen-“In my yard, I planted many a species that did not thrive/survive. I wish I knew earlier exactly which species would grow in my soil (20 million year old sand of the Capistrano formation) and local climate. Pro tip: the most successful native plants are buckwheats, manzanitas, Salvias, & Encelias.”

Laura Camp-“I planted trees and big shrubs too close to the house and fences. My brain doesn’t envision future space very well! Give them space.”

Curt Craft-“Knowing now how much the California wild rose spreads by underground rhizomes, I probably would have chosen another plant for my garden. And I definitely recommend a root barrier if someone is considering this plant in their garden.”

Jake Hoffman-“I wish I had known that plant size descriptions found in various resources might not be “exact.” The Tree of Life Nursery plant catalog listed Tecoma stans as growing 12’h x 6’w with nice yellow flowers. So, I bought one and put it in my front yard where it grew like a weed and had tons of flowers, but I couldn’t figure out why it was so vigorous and wanted to reach for the moon.  Years later when I was instructed prune the same species at Golden West College Native Garden from the second story of the old math science building, we figured out there was a “misprint” in the catalog! It should have said 25’-30’h x 10-15’w.” 

Lily Musa-“I wish I had known the importance of trimming our natives in the right season, especially trimming Ceanothus and Manzanita at the right time. One year I skipped pruning my sages and buckwheat because everything looked so good! March came along and everything was overgrown.  I trimmed late that year and many plants did not recover or survive the hot summer! “

Dan Songster-“That is a hard one–there are so many things that would have aided my journey with our native plants, but perhaps no one tip would have made it more enjoyable. When I started there was little in the way of literature dealing with growing natives, and no websites or blogs of course. I was new to this wonderful, enjoyable world of native plants and I wanted to know it all–QUICK! To learn about these California plants, people were my main resource for information and advice, so I was fortunately forced to actually speak to everyone I could up and down the state. I have been at it now for more than 50 years and the people I have gotten to know, their stories, their friendships, and finding out about our native plants has been a blast so far. Like others, the more I discover, I find there is so much more to learn (and plants and people to meet!) But one thing is for sure–the folks involved with native plants are the kindest, most interesting people and it’s a pleasure to have met them over the years. So, I guess I would say, don’t be too impatient, learn from both your success and failures, when you are not sure–experiment, and ask questions of anyone that is involved with native plants and gardens and they are likely to help you. My main tip would be to simply enjoy the sweet and rewarding experience of learning about, and gardening with our native plants.”

Question for our May/June 2026 newsletter is: “With each year being different in our gardens, what native plant has done surprisingly well for you this year?”