The New York Times published an article yesterday profiling proponents of "native" plants in California, focusing on Rene Russo's crusade to promote native species... an interest we share and which we subtly display with our side bar Dudlea image. In my experience, newspapers are infamously inept in their coverage of nature and landscape, and while this article is interesting and worth reading, I find the poor reporting to be annoying. For example:

Native plants like senecio and aloe, which fill the yard in front of Andree Matton's house in Monrovia, Calif., thrive on less water than grass.

Article: NY Times - Flora With a Star in Its Corner
Reference: Garden/garden (L+L)

My pet peeve for poor reporting aside, the issue of "native" is an interesting one... native to where? How do you define native? Everything is native to somewhere. OK, to be less obtuse, California native plants cover a huge range of species and climate types, and plants are not bound by imposed boundaries like state lines. Giant sequoias are native to California, but they are not appropriate to the Los Angeles basin. Rene Russo planted climate appropriate plants on her property, however, most of those species would not naturally occur in that particular location.

The definition of what is native is highly subjective. I talk about "native" as a fluid concept in terms of regional and climate zones. Many people, as mentioned in the article, expand "native" gardens to include "native friendly" plants from similar climates.

No matter how one defines native, when it comes to landscaping the most important issue seems to be environmental appropriateness.

California biased links:

Nurseries and info:

Link: Tree of Life Nursery
Link: Theodore Payne Foundation
Link: Las Pilitas Nursery
Link: Growing Native
Link: California Native Plant Society

Places to visit:

Visit: University of California Botanic Garden - Berkeley
Visit: Regional Parks Botanic Garden - Berkeley
Visit: Wrigley Memorial Garden - Catalina Island
Visit: Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden - Claremont
Visit: Rodman Arboretum at Pitzer College - Claremont
Visit: Mathias Botanic Garden at UCLA - Los Angeles
Visit: Eaton Canyon Natural Area - Pasadena
Visit: U. C. Riverside Botanic Gardens - Riverside
Visit: Quail Botanic Gardens - San Diego
Visit: Balboa Park - San Diego
Visit: San Francisco Botanic Gardens - San Francisco
Visit: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden - Santa Barbara
Visit: UCSC Arboretum - Santa Cruz
Visit: Rancho Jasper Ridge - Stanford