5 favorite Sonoma County native plants

Here’s a small selection of local native plants that will feel right at home in your garden. A visit to the native plant websites mentioned in the accompanying article will reveal dozens upon dozens more.

California fescue: This grass (Festuca californica) is a local, evergreen native that makes clumps of blue-green narrow grass blades 2 to 3 feet tall, with tan flower spikes even taller. It likes full to partial shade under oaks. It subsides into dormancy in late summer, when a good brushing with a rake prepares it for winter.

Blue-eyed grass: It’s not an actual grass, but a charming member of the iris family. Sisyrinchium bellum produces sprinkles of deep blue flowers with yellow eyes in spring into summer. Let it develop its copious seeds before it turns dormant in late summer and you’ll ensure many volunteers when fall rains return.

Coast aster: Aster chinensis ‘Point Saint George’ recently was reclassified by botanists as Symphyotricum chilense, but is not native to Chile as its name suggests. It is a vigorous local ground cover with myriad daisies in spring and early summer, excellent for stabilizing slopes and banks. But trim its drought-tolerant growth to check its tendency toward invasiveness.

California lilac: What’s a garden of native plants without ceanothus? This gorgeous shrub (Ceanothus gloriosus ‘Point Reyes’) covers itself in spring with powdery blue-violet masses of small flowers. It’s the most drought-tolerant of this genus, but would thank you for an occasional summer sprinkle with better bloom next season.

Coast silk tassel: If you’ve ever seen this spectacular plant (Garrya elliptica) in full display, you’ll know why it’s prized as the most beautiful in the native garden. In January, male plants, especially the cultivar ‘James Roof,’ hang its scandent branches and dark green leaves with pale green 10- to 12-inch-long catkins that dangle like a cascade of tinsel.