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Desert Natives for Desert Yards

The following plant list represents the most reliable, garden-worthy and relatively available native plants indigenous to the High Deserts of California:

Common Name / Botanical Name

Grass

Deer grass / Muhlenbergia rigens

Subshrubs/Perennial Flowers

Bush monkeyflower / Mimulus aurantiacus
California fuchsia / Epilobium canum (Zauschneria californicum)
Desert four-o’clock or Wishbone bush/Mirabilis laevis
Desert mallow / Sphaeralcea ambigua
Desert marigold/Baileya multiradiata

Shrubs

Bigberry manzanita / Arctostaphylos glauca
Brittlebush / Encelia farinosa
Bladder pod / Isomeris arborea
Catclaw acacia / Acacia greggii
California buckwheat / Erogonum fasciculatum
Creosote bush / Larrea tridentata
Desert saltbush / Atriplex polycarpa
Desert sage / Salvia dorrii
Desert senna / Senna armata
Four-winged saltbush / Atriplex canescens
Green, California, and Nevada Mormon tea / Ephedra viridis, E. californica, E. nevadensis
Hollyleaf cherry / Prunus ilicifolia
Hollyleaf redberry / Rhamnus ilicifolia
Jojoba / Simmondsia chinensis
Rabbitbrush / Chrysothamnus nauseosus
Sugarbush / Rhus ovata
White sage / Salvia apiana

Succulents

Beavertail / Opuntia basilaris
Hedgehog cactus / Enchinocerus engelmanii
Joshua tree / Yucca brevifolia
Mojave yucca  / Yucca schidigera
Parry nolina, Parry beargrass / Nolina parryi
Red barrel cactus / Ferocactus acanthodes

Trees

Desert willow, Desert catalpa / Chilopsis linearis
Honey mesquite / Prosopis glandulosa
Pinyon pine / Pinus monophylla
Scrub oak / Quercus dumosa/turbinella

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The SummerTree Institute
P.O. Box 307
Morongo Valley, CA
USA 92256

760-363-7229

info@summertree.org

 

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