by Ann Elliott | Jan 30, 2025 | Native Gardening Advice
Ribes sanguineum
Photo by Caroline Christman
Gardening with Natives
Caroline Christman
If you have a shady spot in the garden to fill, look no further than the flowering currant. Ribes sanguineum and R. sanguineum var. glutinosum are wonderful plants for the Marin habitat garden; they are beautiful, easy to care for, and provide food for a wide variety of native birds and insects. They are also readily available at many nurseries and local plant sales.
Although winter deciduous, flowering currants add interest to the garden all year round. They have an upright growth habit, creating an elegant form that gradually expands to create a vase-shaped shrub up to 10 ft high and 6 ft wide. They are great as a foundation plant along edges, fence lines, or in corners, providing a structural element and backdrop to lower growing plants. In winter, leaves drop to reveal delicate branches. Soon after, pendant pink flowers emerge like hanging chandeliers to brighten shady nooks and attract pollinators. Soft green foliage begins to grow in spring as the flowers fade.
Flowering currants are drought-tolerant in coastal zones. They do well in shade or part shade, such as under oaks or bay laurel, in north or east-facing areas of the garden, or along the outer edges of a riparian corridor (as long as their feet are not wet and soil drains well). They also can do well in more acidic soil under conifers. Once established in a shady spot, they will generally not need summer water. However, if planted in full sun or areas with hotter summer and fall conditions, summer water may be needed.
Ribes sanguineum bush
Photo by Caroline Christman
The entire flowering currant plant has habitat value for native wildlife. In winter and spring flowers provide nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies (including Monarchs). Later in the year berries are a food source for a variety of birds and small mammals and foliage is eaten by caterpillars. Deer will also browse on currant foliage, so netting or protection of some kind may help young plants get established.
In my walks around Sausalito, I visit this flowering currant in an east-facing garden under coast live oak and bay laurel. It is on the boundary between two houses, and though both gardens have recently been redone, the flowering currant has been saved. I like to think it is an inspiration, as the houses on either side have added native plants to their gardens. In all seasons, it beckons to me; as I round the corner and catch my first glimpse of pink flowers or the smudge of distinctive green it brings a smile to my face.
See more about R. sanguineum and R. sanguineum var. glutinosum at Calscape.
Do you have stories, tips, or photos from your garden that you’d like to share? Please send these to Ann Elliott for inclusion in an upcoming Marin CNPS Newsletter.
by David Long | Mar 23, 2014 | Native Gardening Advice
California Natives are adapted to our climate and soils
California native plants evolved over thousands of years in our soils and climate. California has one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth. These range from seashore to high mountain top; from coastal areas with a temperate Mediterranean climate to deserts with dramatic temperature extremes including some of the hottest on earth.
Natives are beautiful
Clarkia in a Native Garden
California native plants can create a garden that is every bit as beautiful as one populated with exotic plants from faraway places. And native plants can be combined with other common garden flowers and shrubs. However, a garden in which California natives predominate is hard to beat for natural beauty. Our local natives, many with green, gray and silver foliage, provide a restful and tranquil quality to the garden. But if you want bright color, local natives such as California fuchsia (Epilobium canum), California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) and Clarkia will knock your eyes out.
Reduce water usage
One of the myths about California native plants is that all are drought tolerant. Many are, but the diverse plant habitats in California include riparian, wetlands and bogs, with plants that need regular water. By using some of the many California natives that are drought-tolerant, you may be able to significantly reduce your water use.
Reduce maintenance and reduce or eliminate fertilizer and pesticides
It is another myth that California native plants in the garden need virtually no maintenance. While some are maintenance free, most require some periodic attention such as weeding, pruning, and checking irrigation. But being adapted to California soils, most need little or no fertilizer. And because native vegetation attracts lots of good bugs you are much more likely to be able to rely on nature’s balance for control of insect pests rather than resorting to pesticides.
Increase biodiversity
Biodiversity is increasingly recognized as the key to a healthy planet. By developing, paving over and building on huge swaths of formerly pristine land, we have set in motion an unprecedented threat of extinction for not only many plants, but also birds, butterflies, bees and larger animals.
Native Bumblebee on Native Coast Buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium)Native gardens can play an important role in maintaining and expanding biodiversity. Scientists have found that in urban and suburban gardens native plants are much more effective than exotic plants in supporting biodiversity. Plants and insects, which are at the bottom of the food chain, are the foundation of all other biodiversity. California native plants and insects have coevolved and are the food source for local butterflies and birds. Most insects are “plant specialists” and can’t survive on exotic plants. For example, research by Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, found that native plants in gardens, in comparison to exotic garden plants, produced four times the insect biomass, three times as many insect species and 35 times more caterpillar biomass (D. Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home (Timber Press 2007)). This is the food chain and source of biodiversity that is missing in gardens that use only exotic plants. Another example closer to home: Gordon Frankie, a bee researcher at UC Berkeley, has found that many California native plants are highly attractive to local bees; see Best Bee Plants for California.
Attract Wildlife
One of the great joys of gardening with native plants is observing the critters that are attracted throughout the year. Our Marin native gardeners report that their gardens are focal points for birds, bees and butterflies.
by David Long | Feb 4, 2016 | Native Garden Photo Gallery
The theme of this virtually 100% California native hillside garden is the wealth of garden-worthy native plants local to Marin County that can create a beautiful and diverse garden landscape. The vast majority of the approximately 200 species of plants in this garden are California natives that grow in the wild in Marin County. The garden is sectioned into different habitats that include riparian/woodland slope, coastal shrub, dry meadow, brushy meadow, hedgerow and chaparral.
- Attracts Pollinators and Birds – One of the joys of the native garden is the return of beneficial insects and bees. With the huge and sudden decline of European honeybee pollinators, California native bees are the pollinators of last resort. Native bees flourish among the wide variety of flowering plants in this garden. A variety of butterflies visits the garden for nectar and larval plants. Insects, nectar, seeds, berries and protective cover also attract a variety of birds, including Bewick’s wrens, scrub jays, ruby-crowned kinglets, juncos, towhees, golden-crowned sparrows and Anna’s Hummingbirds.
- Woodland Slope – A dry creek bed and path wander down the slope among California currant, scarlet monkey flower, red twig dog wood, creambush, elk’s clover, salal, California myrtle, solomon’s seal, coastal irises and a variety of ferns and Spring ephemerals are among the many native riparian plants found in this area.
- Dry Meadow – A dry meadow features drought tolerant grasses, perennials and a few shrubs. It also features a variety of annual wildflowers that are sown annually to supplement those that reseeded from the previous year. Most showy are the clarkias that come in many shades of pink and red.
- Hedgerow – One side of the garden is planted with large native shrubs that form a hedgerow that provides cover for birds.
- Declining Water Use – Grouping plants by habitat results in more efficient irrigation and lower water usage. Plants in the most drought tolerant zones receive no supplemental water after they are established. Drip irrigation is used throughout the garden except for the dry meadow. Plants in the chaparral and hedgerow areas have been completely weaned off of irrigation.
- Virtually No Fertilizers or Soil Amendments – Because most California natives are happiest without much fertilizer and soil amendments, this garden uses no continuing applications of fertilizer. During planting only a small amount of soil amendment was worked into the soil to lighten up the clay/chert soil and a small amount of organic fertilizer was added.
- No Pesticides or Fungicides – California natives are adapted to surviving and, if happy, thriving in Marin without pesticides and fungicides. The variety of plants and habitats in this garden attract a large variety of beneficial insects and birds that maintain a natural balance in the garden. Nature is allowed to take its course rather than resorting to chemical warfare, and nature’s course in this varied ecosystem has favored this benign neglect.
by David Long | Jun 25, 2014 | Native Garden Photo Gallery
By Charlotte Torgovitsky
OVERVIEW
We live on Cherry Hill, a spur of Mt. Burdell that reaches out towards Deer Island. Our property is on the south facing slope, 225 feet above the wetlands that surround the island and Novato Creek. The woodlands are an interesting, hybridizing mix of Coast Live Oak, Blue Oak, and Oregon Oak; on the north slope of the hill there are also Black Oaks, Madrone and beautiful old drifts of California Fescue. Manzanitas grow on the crest of the hill in the sunnier places.
Next to our two acre property is about 50 acres of wildlands, including a meadow. Much of the land surrounding our home was used to graze cattle in the days of the Black Point Creamery; many of the typical oak understory shrubs are gone, but the meadow is still dominated by Purple Needle Grass. During the rainy season lots of other native plants show themselves amongst the meadow grasses; Ground Iris, Soap Lily, Blue-eyed Grass, Buttercups, Milkmaids, as well as a number of flowering bulbs such as Blue Dicks, Ithuriel’s Spear and Mariposa Lilies.
I love the setting, living next to open space, and all the wild animals; I’ve seen coyote, bobcats, and gray foxes, lots of birds of all sorts, and of course, the deer live here, too. Lizards and tree-frogs populate my garden and find lots of hiding places in the dry-stacked stone walls. Because of the proximity of wild land I’ve been careful to avoid including potentially invasive non-natives plants in my garden. The main intent of my gardening activities has been to re-introduce a natural bio-diversity, and thereby also enhancing the foraging opportunities in order to bring nature closer to home.
Native plants are the best at providing for native creatures since they co-evolved, and life cycles are closely aligned. My front garden border is about 70% native plants and 30% drought-tolerant Mediterranean species that help extend the season of bloom through every month of the year. Plantings under the native oaks are strictly natives; and once established get no water other than the rain.
Photos by Bob and Mieko Watkins
