Jenn, I have a very similar thing I want to do.
Mine faces SE and is along the walkway to my front door.
I am thinking ceanothus-concha, rhus ovata-sugar bush or rhus integrifolia lemonade berry. But I think it is too hot here for the second 2. But I would like more year round color not just spring, so I gonna watch this thread.

Get the book: California native plants for the garden by Carol Bornstein, David Fross and Bart O'Brien. Numerous pictures grown in real landscapes.

I have a similar yard and if there's anything I've learned, don't skimp on the inital preparation. That clay hardpan can be tough even on natives. My suggestion would be to target planting native perennials in October.

Get the tree and grass out of there soon and take the soil down about 6 inches and get out all the roots you can. Water the clay until it is soft and workable and then loosen to 18 inches deep. Get some well-composted purchased soil and long-lasting nutrients like blood and bone meal and mix well, ideally around 1/3 organic matter and 2/3 native clay soil. Then water and wait to see how many weeds/grass you still have there. You can then decide if you want to use RoundUp or continue to hand pull or use another organic method.

It looks like you have enough of a slope for good drainage, which is essential for many natives. Ceanothus are great - I like Concha and Dark Star. For salvias, the best full-sun blues and puples include S. clevelandii (including Winifred Gillman, S. leucophylla, S. arizonica, S. brandegeei, S. chamaedryoides, S. pachyphylla, S. munzii, S. leucantha and S. greggii. Against the back wall, you might consider one of the tree mallows, like Lavatera assurgentifolia. The easiest plant I've grown in that sort of area is Gaura.

I've used gazanias and Mexican primrose as ground cover, although neither is a CA native. Sundrops and hybrid iceplants are nice too.

Just some thoughts - hope they're helpful.

I took a trip to Denver in June, and was impressed with their xeriscape gardens. They get less than 15 inches of rain on the leeward side of the Rockies, so they try to use natives and other tough as nails plants that can stand up to heat, low humidity and minimal irrigation. You might want to peruse High Country Garden's website for plant suggestions, especially the inferno-strip garden. Most of the plants on their website can be found in California nurseries, no need to mail-order.

Here is a link that might be useful: xeriscape gardens

While High Country Gardens is no doubt a good information source for drought resistant plants, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people recommend it for California situations. There are so many better and more local resources, better adapted to southern California's Mediterranean climate. Why look for winter dormant/cold winter climate plant choices for inspiration when we have year round growing conditions here in California?

I would suggest that a visit to some of the more local botanic gardens that feature California natives would be more helpful, such as Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, and have always found the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden a particularly beautiful setting full of great planting combinations.

Some widely available and adaptable California natives that I would highly recommend would include herbaceous flowering shrubs such as Salvia clevelandii cultivars, Salvia leucophylla 'Pt Sal', Diplacus aurantiacus, Eriogonum crocatum and E. grande rubescens, and some of the very ornamental native grasses such as Elymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince'. Some of our native succulents such as Dudleya caespitosa or D. brittonii or D. pulverulenta are also gorgeous accents. Some other flowering accents might include Zauschneria/Epilobium cultivars, of the Pacific Coast hybrid Iris cultivars.

Not all the Ceanothus hybrids do as well in full hot inland southern California full sun, so I would check with local nurseries as to the varieties that do best in your local area, and whether they can in fact take full sun. I know that the California Flannel Bush, Fremontodendron 'California Glory' is well adapted to inland southern California conditions, and can be just as showy as any Ceanothus in full bloom, over an even longer period of bloom.

If you like the idea of choosing really drought resistant plants that may have a more desert look to them, a visit to the Cactus/succulent plantings at the Huntington Botanic Garden is also inspirational, although so many of the plants there are not actually California natives but from Mexico, northern Africa and South Africa. A lot of desert species also do quite well in inland Los Angeles locations, and plants such as Calliandra eriophylla or Hesperaloe parviflora have very showy, long lasting blooms. Another flowering tree that you might consider to replace the Magnolia might include Parkinsonia aculeata or Chilopsis linearis which are both very drought tolerant, long blooming small to medium sized flowering trees which take heat and drought.

I would suggest doing the soil prep/weed killing, etc this summer, and don't see any real reason to try and till soil to an 18 inch depth, this is way too much work. If you can rototill a good 6 inches of any organic based soil amendment into the top 4 inches of soil, that is more than enough. I'd also recommend that you wait to plant until mid November to early December to take maximum advantage of cooler conditions and likelihood of sufficient rains by then to help soften the soil and get things established. If you are not providing irrigation or soaking the soil to make it softer to work in advance, early to mid October is usually still way to hot and dry to plant new small native plants without they being stressed by heat and winds of typical Santa Ana fall conditions, and December/January/February temps in southern California are still plenty appropriate to get new plants off to a good start temperature wise, although you won't see much top growth that first winter. It will also repay you handsomely if you mulch heavily to retard weeds and retain moisture. California natives can make a great garden, but will tend to all mostly go summer dormant and stop blooming in inland southern California if they are planted without any supplemental summer drip irrigation. I'd suggest you ask yourself whether you want something that is visually interesting at all seasons as a primary criteria, or whether using the minimum amount of water possible is more important to you. I personally prefer to see some continued bloom and vitality in mid to late summer, so I tend to select plants that will still look good at this season, and give them the additional supplemental water they may need to keep from going summer dormant. In my opinion, too many all native California gardens look like dried up sticks by late summer if they receive no supplemental irrigation. If that is to be the case, then you may in fact get better aesthetics if you choose desert species that can take greater heat and drought yet still look good year round.

My rhus (sugarbush and lemonadeberry) are both quite happy in a very tough spot -- sunny south facing hill, crummy soil, frying hot with no supplemental irrigation. Others that do well on the hill, both natives and non-natives, are: echium (might get too big for your narrow space), cistus (a real winner -- native, unthirsty, gorgeous flowers, nice scent, not too big), teucrium, Matilija poppy, grevillea, and various salvias. Some lavenders might work. I agree with bahia's comments about ceanothus not doing well in inland SoCal -- I love blue flowers and I've tried too many times! I'm trying westringia this year, although again it might get too big for your narrow strip. A trip to Theodore Payne in October is a great start to fall planting.

In my hot dry median strip, I have (2) Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' trained as standard trees, a couple of Salvia 'Gracias' for ground cover, 3 Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens - which looks great pretty much year round), a Romneya that keeps popping up even though I dug it out, but it doesn't make me terribly unhappy cause it's really pretty, some Eriogonum arborescens (drought-tolerant to the extreme and butterfly attracting too...blooming mid to late summer), and a Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra) that's starting to look really good...it's only it's second year), and a few CA fuchsias.

There's also wildflowers which make it look amazing in spring (lupines, tidy tips, CA poppies and Gila 'Bird's eye') and brown in summer(gotta let them ripen and reseed) until I clean them out.

Check out Las Pilitas website, type in your zipcode, and peruse the right plants for your zone.

Bahia is right that many natives look like "sticks" in the dry season, but they are some that don't and you can plan for 4 season interest and plant for workdays to cut things back. Do your research carefully and choose plants that are right for your climate.

Some of the suggested plants I think will get too big for the space, although they are well suited otherwise. In the last year I have removed two Rhus lemonaid berry and one Ovata sugar bush, and one Fremontodendron San Gabriel, all 15 years old and had outgrown their space. Plus I live on 6 acres and have no 'planting strips'. Al

In my parkway I have planted Cotula lineariloba "Brass Buttons". I don't know that it is a native plant but it certainly is drought tolerant. It is mat-forming, not invasive but will creep along, and has lacy foliage and bright yellow mushroom cap flowers on 6" stems. Very cheerful! Would look great in a corner or along the edges.

"California Fuchsia", Epilobium is a native that has orange tubular flowers and grows to about 16".

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree of Life Nursery - California Natives

I really like the information and inspiration on this Landscaper's web site linked below(California's Own Native Landscape Design).

When I planted my natives I did NO soil prep. I only watered them the first year by hand and now I leave them be.

Here is a link that might be useful: California's Own Native Landscape Design

"While High Country Gardens is no doubt a good information source for drought resistant plants, it never ceases to amaze me how so many people recommend it for California situations. There are so many better and more local resources, better adapted to southern California's Mediterranean climate. Why look for winter dormant/cold winter climate plant choices for inspiration when we have year round growing conditions here in California?"

And it always amazes me how Sunset gives us 21 zones but you almost always read on this forum the inclusive "in California" or "California's Mediterranean climate" or "we have year round growing conditions in California." That's just not true unless you think those of us who live and garden in zones with more traditional four seasons don't count. ; ) I realize you were addressing Jenn's post but still your generalized statements seem just as much in error and don't apply to all who garden in So.Cal. : )

I like HCG and think many of the plants they recommend will work in Jenn's situation. A lot depends on how much maintenance and watering she wants to do, plus if she wants a lot of year round interest.

Bahia, I have to disagree. 6 inches is just not enough depth for packed, baked clay. I agree that perhaps the soil doesn't have to be amended all the way down for 18", but you need tilth so the roots can penetrate and provide that buffer from a week of scorching temps that bake all the moisture from the top soil layer. Even just using a garden fork to penetrate and loosen can be enough, but I find as time goes on that tilth is invaluable.

dicot we sometimes forget that California natives seed themselves in the toughest clay soil with no cultivation at all. They do it by germinating during the wet season and sending down a taproot to carry them through the first summer. A new plant can actually benefit from starting in an area with established trees or large shrubs nearby. Its normal to think of them as competition, which they are, but they are also a source of water and nutrients as they bring water up closer to the surface by a process called 'hydraulic lift' that takes place in the cool of the night. With six acres of native woods it is a struggle to keep cleared the amount of fuel in the form of brush which is really new trees able to grow with no summer water and very little sunlight. Al

Point taken about how not all of California is a Mediterranean climate, certainly there are deserts and high elevation mountains as well, which are not classic Mediterranean climates, but are still influenced by one. As you noted, the OP is located in a part of southern California that is squarely within a year round growing climate, so I was directing my comments to her situation. On the other hand, even interior southern California mountains and the Sierras are more similar in rainfall patterns to coastal Mediterranean conditions; we don't get the bone chilling winter cold nor do we get the summer rainfall, but instead just less frequent and less intense thundershowers. So the point I am making with regards to plants selected for New Mexico conditions, is that they won't always be the best fit.

As to the need to cultivate soil to an 18 inch depth, I still think it is an outmoded approach, and would only advise a client to even consider it if they knew they had caliche or heavily compacted subsoil due to home construction, and would then suggest they do some deep drilling to break through the caliche,(for deep rooted trees only), or have the soil ripped if this is feasible to improve the drainage and they can afford it. Otherwise I think it would be much more efficient to mound the topography to get the required drainage and soil depth, and use the top dressing method of organic mulches and soil amendments to be renewed every few years, and let the soil bacteria and earthworms do the work of creating a better soil profile. As Al also alludes, it is much easier to plant smaller plants at the right time of year to work with the soil conditions, rather than force the issue and try to establish new plants in bone dry clay soils in the middle of summer; in my opinion it is just foolish to think they will get off to as good a start as anything planted to work with our rainy season and cooler weather. Not to mention that it will take a lot more water and regular attention to establish a new native plant planted outside the rainy season window of planting opportunity.

If you want to till the soil to an 18 inch depth, and have the energy to take this on, feel free to continue with your approach. My take is that there are easier ways to landscape that work just as well, and take less resources of personal manual energy or mechanical energy to accomplish. I don't think there is any question that late fall into winter planting, no soil amendment or cultivation, planting out from smallest size possible and mulching heavily and supplemental watering as required the first several years can accomplish the miracle of catching up to larger sizes,(0ften as quickly as 3 years), with more intensive manipulation of the soils and more water for things planted outside the winter rainy season, and this process more closely replicates how nature actually does it in California situations.

Now if you are talking about plants that require more water retentive yet also well drained soils, additional depth of soil amending may make sense, but to generalize and say that it is always better or required is not necessarily true. It is often illuminating to find that plants from one part of the world where they are subjected to seasonal flooding may in fact prove to be fairly good candidates for rather drought tolerant plantings here in California. A couple of examples from South Afica come to mind; such as various species of Kniphofia/Poker Plants, or Restios such as Chondropetalum tectorum. Plants are often more adaptable to situations outside the norm of their actual habitat than we would expect, but it also happens that there are others which are not...

Thank you for all your great suggestions. After I posted this, I learned that Hubby wants ground cover plants, not a lot of tall shrubs. He still wants a tree at the top, with low-growing plants from there to the sidewalk. He does not want the fence to be hidden, for security reasons.

I visited Las Pilitas very informative web site. They do NOT advocate drip irrigation for CA natives; natives are naturally watered by rain, not by water that drips from a tiny tube placed at their root zone. Also, they now recommend a varied planting schedule depending on region. Huh!

Drip irrigation of natives

When to plant

Here is a link that might be useful: Las Pilitas

Las Pilitas' opinion of drip is not universally shared. I don't have a drip system, but in the Calif. native plant forums that I visit, drip is usually regarded as OK. One person laid out their drip tubes in a grid over the site, rather than running them to specific plants, and they seemed to be satisfied with the results. One thing's for sure: if you plant Calif. natives now, one way or another you're going to have to water them, and probably pretty frequently. You don't care about growth, just survival through the summer and fall. At least in my area (Temecula), it could be Dec before we have really decent rain, barring a summer thunderstorm (there are one or two every year). In 2007 we were lucky to have a soaking rain on Nov 30, and in 2004 we had a lot of rain in late Oct, but that was just good fortune, not the usual.

Thanks for posting those links, Jen! It's nice to see at least one nursery stepping outside the box and passing along techniques I've personally utilized, and found great success with, for some time. :)

Brenda