I suggest mountain lilac (Ceanothus.) It comes in various sizes/shapes. Dark Star has lovely flowers, though it may not get as tall as you like (I forget the height.) You can read about some Ceanothus options here: http://www.humeseeds.com/efcean.htm If you are in southern California, I suggest Matilija's or Las Pilitas. I think they both have websites. Another option is coffeeberry. Why not browse the Las Pilitas website and see if they have something that strikes your fancy? Many natives also attract butterflies, another plus. Here is a link that might be useful: Las Pilitas

If you are part of an educational institution I highly encourage you to pay a visit to the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham, MA. They are probably have one of the largest collections of rare native plants of the North East, and I'm sure you might be able to acquire some good species for your local collection from them. Also, their gardens are absolutely spectacular. Here is a link that might be useful: New England Wildflower Society

You're quite right, Pos02. I sometimes get quite exasperated at the attitude that any Australian plant is a "native". I am very jealous of mistymorn's rainfall levels, that he/she can regard Melastoma affine, which is a rainforest plant (and a lovely one), as "drought hardy". There's no way we could grow it here in Toowoomba without supplementary watering - yet we're hardly in what you'd call a "dry" part of Australia. Another important factor in choosing plants for success in drought is what time of year you have your dry spell. Some very drought-hardy south-western Australian plants don't cope at all well with Eastern Australia's wet summer/dry winter climate, becoming very short-lived plants if they succeed at all. My favourite drought-hardy shrubs include: Alectryon diversifolium Maytenus bilocularis Pittosporum angustifolium Petalostigma pubescens Psychotria daphnoides Erythroxyoum australe Croton insularis Senna artemisioides The last is the only one with showy flowers. It's also the only short-lived one. The others all have either attractive fruits or red leaves. As mistymorn says, there are lots of drought-hardy and attractive trees, of course. Here are a few, not too big, with nice dense, green canopies. Flindersia collina (lovely bark) Flindersia maculata (more drought hardy still) Allocasuarina torulosa (lovely, but very different bark) Brachychiton populneus Brachychiton rupestre Atalaya hemiglauca Geijera salicifolia Another clue, dee, is to look around at what natives your council is using as street trees. You can be sure they are tough. Trish

Thanks everyone for your comments. I am adding a few more pictures here to show the rest of the property from different angles. The picture with the large palm tree shows the edge of my lawn, my driveway and what the rest of the block looks like - here in Fair Oaks we don't have sidewalks, and many of the properties have lawns going straight down to the street. Also, there is no place to park on the street, so, as much as I would like a path leading to the house from the street as enmarene suggested, it would never be used. The second picture shows the edge of the lawn that I'm replacing on the and the big swath of concrete driveway adjacent to the lawn. If anything, I'd like to de-emphasize the driveway by planting a lovely garden. I'm not sure what the semi-circle Yardvaark suggested, was it a driveway? I do like the idea, but I have too much driveway. I do like Yardvaark's drawing, however and would like to incorporate some of the ideas indicated. The trees look great. right The third picture (above) shows the meager pathway from the driveway to the front porch/front door. I would like to enhance that path in some way, as well as make the front door pop more, but that might just be a matter that will be taken care of next spring when we paint the exterior. Thanks again everyone.