Which plants to choose to grow when resources are tight is a tricky matter. Do we dare spare a drop of water, a chunk of change, or our valuable time to maintain another plant? What would compel us to take that leap?
Plants can be placed in categories such as California native or drought tolerant. It’s possible to stay within the confines of a single category, but still there are so many choices. To help narrow our search in choosing plants that will provide many benefits to an environmentally healthy garden we can further narrow down the qualities we would like to have in a plant, such as those that are pollinator friendly. Making room in our garden for plants that provide food for pollinators will reward you with beautiful butterflies and bees to pollinate your crops and enchant your soul.
Here is a list of my top 20 favorite plants that fit within all the following categories:
- Drought tolerant
- California native
- Providing food to pollinators
- Relatively small-sized
- Perennial
- Achillea millefolium
- Arctostaphylos species
- Asclepias species
- Ceanothus species
- Diplacus/Mimulus species
- Encelia californica
- Epilobium/Zauschneria species
- Erigeron glaucus
- Eriogonum
- Eschscholzia californica
- Galvezia speciosa
- Keckiella cordifolia
- Lupinus species
- Monardella species
- Penstemon species
- Phacelia species
- Ribes species
- Salvia species
- Solidago species
- Verbena lilacina ‘DeLla Mina’
Some websites to learn more about these plants are:
Some websites to learn more about the connection between pollinators and plants:
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/
Happy Gardening!
