Native Revival

Creating California-Native Gardens Since 1991

Twenty-nine years ago, we decided to open a plant nursery that sold nothing but plants that were indigenous to California.  By indigenous we meant plants that had evolved over millennia to our climate and soil.  Plants that were adapted to go all summer and into fall without a drop of water. Plants that could grow in rocky outcroppings, salty sand or windswept deserts. In short plants that were not bioengineered in a greenhouse to look pretty, but bring nothing but their looks to the table. We like pretty plants. We just happen to think many California natives are just as pretty, if not more beautiful, in a sophisticated, sublime sort of way, and more importantly, wildlife needs them to survive.

This whole idea started because we were young and wanted to save the planet, but because the planet was too big and overwhelming to save, we decided to simply save our own backyard. The idea that one backyard could make a dent in the epic environmental degradation that we are facing  is not as crazy as it seems, and we would like to argue that now, more than ever, anything you can do for the environment is crucial, and some of the issues that didn’t seem crucial to anyone but us twenty-eight years ago are rising to the front and center.

First and foremost, using clean drinking water to spray all over a lawn, when a large part of the world doesn’t even have clean water to drink is, well, crazy. Second, the use of chemicals like Round-up, which became endemic in the landscape industry has come full circle and we seem to be paying the price now (Google “Monsanto” and “Round-up”). Third, creating a wildlife corridor of plants needed for food and habitat, could mean the difference between a species surviving or going extinct; we include ourselves in that list of species. And lastly, we argue simply for beauty. To see a landscape that pulls together a myriad of plants from the same plant community, plants that have a natural affinity for one another, that are refined and elegant like the gnarled red bark of the manzanita or the cobalt blue flowers of the Ceanothus should bring joy and serenity to anyone.

While we had to close the door to the nursery site in 2017 our work continues. We continue to offer landscape consultations that outline plants appropriate to your site, and to source the plants, place them and plant them if you’d like. Most importantly we continue to offer a way for you to help save the planet, one backyard at a time.