Here are a few native plants which make great additions to your landscape. They are hardy and well-adapted and provide color and interest.

First is a pink Salvia (Salvia greggii). The red-flowered plants behind it are also salvia gregii, so the plant comes in different varieties. The pink plant is about 3 feet tall and the red ones are about 1.5 feet tall. The leaves smell like mint when you crush them. The flowers are sure to attract hummingbirds and bees.

Salvia

Next is another salvia, commonly known as Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea). The flower spikes are about 1 foot tall on this plant. It also attracts bees and hummingbirds.

Salvias are members of the mint family and the two examples here are perennials.

Mealy Blue Sage

This is a close up of the fruit on a Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa). This one is a small tree, about 10 or 12 feet high. The fruit have a distinctive three-lobbed shape and contain from 1 to 3 black, shiny seeds. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and moths. The seeds provide food for birds and small mammals.

Mexican Buckeye

People sometimes think that native plant landscapes are dull or ugly, but I think these three plants provide great counter-examples.

The advantages of planting a native in your landscape are that you’ll have a plant that is well-adapted to our climate and will probably do better than a transplant. You’ll water less often and not have to work so hard on your landscape, giving you more time to enjoy it!