What should I know about keeping a California native plant garden in winter? Mostly that the plants are a bit sleepy. But not all of them! Some California native plants grow more in the winter. Some of the native plants slow way down. Other plants will drop all of their leaves and go deciduous. No two plants are alike!
In this January update of my California native plant garden in the Central Sierra Nevada foothills, I review some of the plants that I've planted over the past year. Most of the plants are at the beginning of their second year. Some of the plants are only a month or two old. For the most part, the plants are waiting out the winter and getting a good deep root watering from the winter rain.
Here are some of the plants in this video:
Allen Chickering Sage
Beach Wormwood (possibly Powis Castle)
Big Sagebrush
California Buckeye
California Buckwheat
Bush Monkeyflower
California Buttonbush
California Sagebrush
Chapparal Honeysuckle
Common Snowberry
Dara's Choice Sage
Deer Grass
Desert Penstemon
White Sage
Blue Elderberry
Eleanor Monkeyflower
Firecracker Penstemon
Golden Currant
Common Yarrow
Hoary Coffeeberry (Tomentalla)
Hummingbird Sage
Lipstick Sage
Monica Manzanita
Penstemon GMR White
Pozo Blue Sage
Purple Sage
Ray Hartman Ceanothus
Rosemary
Salvia Gracias
Santa Rosa Island Sage (Brandegee's Sage)
Starlight Sage
Toyon
Winifred Gilman Sage
Wooly Sunflower
Showy Penstemon
Yellow-eyed Grass
Wester Azalea
Catherine de la Mar Penstemon
California Poppy
This video series is all about showing the entire lifecycle of a California native plant garden, even in the boring months. I know when I started my garden, I was definitely confused by a lot of things and I hope that this helps a few folks learn from my mistakes - or at minimum get a kick out of watching me make them! I'm in Zone 9b, in Coarsegold California.