1) To show people that native plants are beautiful, excellent choices for landscaping, to help stop foreign invasive plants from being used. True, but often natives just do not respond the same way to cultivation as they tend to be soil specific, requiring more aeration of the general clayey type soils that constitute the fill that is used in lots homes are built upon. And as people tend to have lawns the way the lawn is handled is generally how the rest of the yard is handled, and that is as easily as possible. 2) To support native plants and animals. These plants were selected because a number of native California butterflies, birds, moths, etc. feed on them. We are also trying to expand the territory of the lonely little grey fox that lives near the conservancy. While many of the plants you list may be attracted to butterflies and moths as well as hummingbirds, you need plants that produce seeds that birds will eat and in your list only the Ribes appears to be so. Plants that are annuals or biennials that produce small seeds for finches or larger seeds for the larger birds of your area, which you need to research. Also butterflies need plants such as milkweed for their caterpillars to feed on. "Lonely little gray fox"??? Grey foxes are solitary hunters! And they can climb trees which is one of their escape routes from dogs. You need large trees with cavities in them for the fox to hide in. Also you will need debris piles, such as piled up branches etc for rodents to live in that the fox can feed on. 3) the bushier plants are meant to discourage trespassing. There is a real issue of homeless people basically invading sections of the river and destroying it. We want to use these plants as a barrier to save the last pristine section of land, which is only maybe a fourth of a mile long, less wide. None of the plants you list can create a suitable barrier apart from the Cornus and even it is not enough to dispell intruders. You need plants like THISTLES fronted by NETTLES to form a wall at least 5 feet deep to discourage intruders but once these idiots learn you are growing Datura then forget it as they will simply find a way to destroy your barriers to get to this plant that is used as a drug. I could not believe that you would list such a dangerous plant like this. It should not be encouraged to be grown. 4) open the door for more native planting projects. If this one is successful, we would do greater habitat restoration projects, where we would actually plant more things that would naturally occur in the area. I really think you people should contact the California Native Plant Society in your area and really talk this over with them. They have the knowledge and resources that can assist you. Check the link. Here is a link that might be useful: CNPS Santa Clara Valley

I think I may try the California sages again, now that I have discovered expanded slate pellets. These are sized bits run through a kiln to puff them up and make them porous. At one part expanded slate to 2 to 3 parts of regular potting soil, my first results look very promising. I am using them with sages that have tubers or rhizomes, like patens, lineata, stolonifera, clinopodioides, involucrata. and reptans; also with those that have rotted out over winter, even though they have no underground storage and were mininally watered, such as sinaloensis, sqalens, and discolor. My usual prescription for keeping these is to make sure I have a mature, at least minimally potbound plant for the winter, since a large plant in a small plant will use up its water more quickly. This is pretty successful, but only works about 70% of the time. Another issue is air drainage. which is why California sages like slopes. In humid climates like mine, defoliation around the base to let in air is probably a good idea. The trouble with hot, humid weather is that the humidity prevents rapid cooldown at night. Right now our minimum night temps are in the low 70s. Don't arid climates like deserts go douwn into the low 50's or cooler? South African sages form a dense thicket of soboles (suckers) that retain foliage to hold in moisture at the base, so they are the first ti go for me, especially in a hot, rainy summer. Spathacea is a bit different, and may require association with the soil under Live Oak. It is usually short-lived for me. Gotta try it again in my expanded slate mix!

Thank you art. I guess under the oaks on the west side where the low fall sun gets under the oaks will be a good place, or under a red oak that looses its leaves for the Arizonica. It does look like a shade dweller. I have some cinder blocks to build a cold frame. My Gregii are sprouting everywhere with all these well timed rains. The S. Darcyi is thriving but not blooming. I think I had it to much in the shade so I moved them all out into the mean bright hot world this week. It has a long time to get itself situated before next summer.. I only watered it early in the spring and it did well, but no blooms. How is the S.hierosolymitana doing.? As I told you before I killed mine. Is it blooming? SEEDS?...she says ever so sweetly. Oh the S. lemoni (#2) is from a mountain population in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It has a darker more purple Carmine flower. THey were wild collected by Southwestern Native Seeds. This is a first time acquiring seed from them.

Art, I tried to collect seed from Scarlet Spires this summer - a dozen plants and not one seed fully developed. Silke's Dream did make a few seeds and I am curious to grow them out and see what happens. Another interspecies hybrid Cherry Queen did make seedlings last year. They were left to survive on their own through our hard winter and one did. Unfortunatedly it struggled under a shrub all summer and didn't bloom. Yesterday after our big freeze it was dug up and brought onto the porch. Most likely it will bloom this winter and I will get to see if it is a keeper.