Climate change has brought yet another drought year to California. With water at a premium, Scott Cohen, Garden Artisan and The Green Scene Team are here to turn your landscaping paradise into one filled with gorgeous drought resistant plants ideal for a southern California backyard.
The team will make sure your backyard is envied by quickly creating a landscape design that is stunning and that helps our local ecosystem thrive.
Creating Drought Resistant Landscaping Ideal for a Southern California Backyard
Before jumping to choose the specific drought resistant plants to accent your backyard oasis, consider:
- The time, energy, and maintenance required
- Your outdoor living and hardscapes needs
- Helping local wildlife and bee populations
The Green Scene Team are experts at customizing landscapes to specifically fit your desires and to fit our unique southern California lifestyle.
Some Favorite Drought Resistant Plants Ideal for a Southern California Backyard
There are innumerable drought resistant plant options that are both gorgeous and helpful to maintaining our beautiful southern California environment. Here are a few:
Blue Eyed Grass
This dense perennial makes a great ground cover and produces periwinkle star-shaped flowers with yellow “eyed” centers. It will attract bees which is helpful for their population to rebound and thrive. This plant will prefer a partially sunny spot in your backyard. Have it cut back after it is done flowering in order to tame its spread.
California Fan Palm (Petticoat Palm)
When outsiders think about southern California flora they inevitably envision this towering palm. The large evergreen leaves fan at the top and as the leaves die they hang down on the trunk of the tree creating a petticoat look. These dead leaves provide shelter for local wildlife. These large native trees are a popular choice for those who want a low maintenance landscape design.
Chalk Liveforever
Chalk liveforever is a hardy succulent that looks like clumps of rosettes. Instead of a water huggin’ traditional lawn, this plant loves our natural rocky areas and shallow soil. They will also create pretty clusters of reddish flowers during late spring and early summer.
Deergrass
This is a large perennial and is super easy to grow. Be sure to give deergrass plenty of room and in a full sun location. It usually reaches a mature size of 4 or 5 ft wide in less than 2 years. Deergrass will also create blooms that can grow up to 5 ft. It can attract pollinators which helps our local plants and wildlife flourish. It is often planted around large rocks on hillsides so its root system can help stabilize the ground.
Purple Leaf Acacia
The purple leaf acacia is a fast-growing option with gorgeous purple fern-like leaves for your landscape design. It is considered to be a small tree or large shrub. It is a tree that likes to show out when in partial sun and arid conditions. It loves the arid conditions of southern California, so it is a beautiful option to help reduce the amount of water used on your landscape.
Sage
California has many different native varieties of sage to choose from. Varieties that bees and hummingbirds seem to especially love are Cleveland sage, hummingbird sage, and white sage. Sage bushes thrive in rocky soil and when mature can be from 1 to 6 feet tall. White sage is also believed to have medicinal properties and has been used in wellness practices.
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