Three-Leaf Sumac, Rhus trilobata

Three-Leaf Sumac, Rhus trilobata

Full Sun, Part Shade
Low Water

Mature Size: 3-6’X 3-6’
Blooming Season: April
Flower Color: Yellowish-green

An ornamental native shrub that is well adapted to a wide range of soils from sandy to rock to heavy clay. Three-Leaf Sumac is a moderate to fast grower, depending on how much water it receives. The unremarkable tiny flowers are followed by tart, red berries that are much sought after by wild birds. A good choice for screening and wind breaks, its leaves turn glorious shades of red and orange in the fall.

Fernbush, Chamaebatiaria millefolium

Fernbush, Chamaebatiaria millefolium

Full Sun,
Low Water

Mature Size: 4-6’X 5’
Blooming Season: Mid-Summer
Flower Color: White

Fernbush is an unusual native rose that’s great used as a single specimen or clustered in groups or rows for visual screening and hedges. The showy flower spikes resemble those of white lilacs and attract butterflies all summer. Its aromatic olive green foliage is soft and fern-like and its upright stems with their peeling bronze bark create a pleasant, rounded silhouette without shearing. This hardy plant loves south- and west-facing exposures and well-drained soil.

Blue Mist Spirea, Caryopteris clandonensis

Blue Mist Spirea, Caryopteris clandonensis

Full Sun, Part Shade
Medium Water

Mature Size: 2’X 3’
Blooming Season: July-August
Flower Color: Blue-purple

A very popular, low-care shrub that’s perfect for landscape or flower beds. It needs only average garden soil to thrive. Hundreds of purple-blue flower spikes cover the mature plant in late summer. Cut back 1/3 of its previous year’s height in spring to encourage heaviest flowering. Butterflies love this shrub!

Chocolate Vine, Akebia quinata

Chocolate Vine, Akebia quinata

Full Sun, Part Shade
Medium Water

Mature Size: Climbing X 15’
Blooming Season: Summer
Flower Color: Red

What’s not to love about a plant named for one of the major food groups? Alas, the common name refers to the brownish red flower color rather than the flavor of its tasty (but not even remotely chocolate) purple-brown fruits. This  graceful vine with slender stems and finely divided leaves is semi-evergreen in warm microclimates, and an asset where a light shade canopy or tracery of foliage against a north or east facing wall are needed.

Stone Pine, Pinus pinea

Stone Pine, Pinus pinea

Full Sun
Medium Water

Mature Size: 60’X 50’

This majestic round-crowned conifer is found growing along the Mediterranean coast in hot, dry places subject to salty sea breezes. Ponderosa Pines, native to the mountains of the Southwest, are moving higher upslope as bark beetles cull those too stressed to thrive in increasingly hot environments, but Stone Pines seem perfectly content as the urban temperatures creep to new highs.