Best Northern California Plants for a beginner?

[greenheyo]

Hey,

I hope I am doing this right, but I am trying to help out my roommates in gardening.
They've been pulling up weeds and cleaning up our backyard and front yard, but now we have a very bare (very dry) back yard/front yard. (So far we have not used pesticides... at least that I know of. I am currently trying the boiling water and vinegar mix technique.)

It is fairly hard soil. There is a combination of rocks and very dry dirt. The only things I've seen grow are the two very gigantic trees we have in the front yard and back yard (I will try to find out the type), the very strong weeds, and a few saplings from the tree in the back yard.

I'd love to fill up some of that space with amateur safe, California native plants, but where would I start?

I've read up on succulents and dwarf coyote brush and costal gum plants filling up space well.

Any ideas? And thanks for the help. First time investing in a garden.

 

[897tgigvib]

Howdy Greenheyo, welcome to the forum...hang on to your login stuff, and after 10 posts you can do all the features. We keep spammers out that way.

I'm in Lake County. Real huge trees might be Oaks?

A local nursery will know the plants native to your area or county, but some I really like include Huechera coral bells. There are completely wild versions all the way up to developed modern varieties. They like shade in the afternoon. The wild Allium Onions make nice flowers as bulbs. There are tons of grasses...

Let us know more about your conditions. Sure is hot today, isn't it!

 

[ninnymary]

Welcome to TEG :rainbow-sun Where are you located? Zone? This will help us out a lot. I'm in the bay area but it sounds like you are in the central valley?

Mary

 

[greenheyo]

@ marshallsmyth: Thanks for the welcome! And I know the tree in the back is putting out acorns, so it probably is an oak. While the one in the front, if you are familiar with that yellow pollen floating around from a lot of Northern California trees, it is putting off that stuff. I am actually not sure of the name though, hope that helps.
And the onion bulbs sound nice, I looked those up. They are very pretty.

@ ninnymary: Thanks for the greeting! I am in the Santa Clara Valley! It is pretty hot right now, as Marshall said, but it is expected to cool off by the end of this week (at least the 80s, haha). And I've read it's best to start planting after summer.

 

[bj taylor]

hi greenheyo! welcome! I don't know your area at all. I think no matter what area you are, the number one thing to do is build the soil. if the soil is healthy, the plants will be healthy. since you're talking about "dry", I would try to add as much organic matter to the soil as you can manage. when you plant, use mulch. preferably a mulch that is native to your area. depending on your plantings, you can use gravel for mulch if you like. it won't do anything for the soil, but it will mitigate the temperatures & help hold the moisture in. your description sounds like maybe mediterranean type plants would do well. lavenders and rosemary like hot & dry - but they absolutely have to have great drainage. especially the rosemary can take quite a lot of shade. you can let it grow as it wishes or shear it to the shape you want. I think your idea of natives is a sure fire winner. y'all have a plant in calif called 'pride of madeira'. if it would work in your area, it sure is a show stopper. look at what is growing nearby and what looks happy, and what you like.

let us know what you choose. it's always fun to see a garden grow