CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANTS WILL MAKE YOUR GARDEN SMELL TERRIFIC
WE ASKED LOCAL GARDENING EXPERTS TO SHARE THEIR FAVORITE FRAGRANT NATIVES
FULL disclosure: I wasn’t always a fan of California native plants because, honestly, I didn’t know anything about them. I was too busy being googly-eyed over show-stopper ornamentals like roses.
My grandmother grew abundant roses as easily as I grow weeds, and I used to follow her in the garden as she cut huge bucketfuls for the cemetery (never for the living; I never saw a vase of flowers in her home). But as I lugged the buckets behind her, I’d put my nose in the growing bouquet and breathe in all those scents, some spicy, some rosy and some just honey sweet.
I loved the colors, yes, and their variety and form, but what really hooked me was their smell — almost like I could assimilate their grace with one big inhale.
It took many more years before I understood the power of fragrance on my mental health. I lived in central Washington then, surrounded by orchards, and on crisp fall mornings, the thin, candysweet smell of ripening apples curled into my being like a drug. It made me happy, it gave me hope, for no good reason I could explain except for the scent.
And that, ultimately, is what lured me into the native plant world. These lean, scrappy plants are rarely as showy as their ornamental cousins, but when it comes to fragrance, they win every award, hands down.
That’s because droughttolerant native plants have work to do. They can’t afford the pampered sterile beauty of a rose without pollen, as many hybrids are today. The natives are busy providing habitat to keep other creatures alive, offering up their branches and blooms as shelter and food in exchange for seed dispersal and pollination. It’s their raw, intense, sometimes overwhelming fragrance that entices butterflies and bees.
Hummingbird sage, for example, exudes a sugary cloud of scent at just the faintest touch. White sage is more restrained, but all it takes is a gentle rub of its silver leaves to release its distinctive savory smell. So yes, native plants save water and provide habitat. But imagine whole neighborhoods filled with their wild aromas, where happiness is just a gentle leaf rub away.
Fans of native plants rave endlessly about their fragrance. I contacted 13 experts in SoCal’s native plant world, asking for their five favoritesmelling plants, but most sent a list of 10 or more because they just couldn’t narrow it down.
Below is a list of the top 10 vote getters, most of which are native plant standards every fragrance lover should have in their yards or on their patios.
Our panel of experts includes Liv O’Keeffe, communications director for the California Native Plant Society; Lucinda McDade, executive director of the California Botanic Garden; landscape designers Shawn Maestretti and Leigh Adams of Studio Petrichor; Nicole Calhoun, owner of Artemisia Nursery;
Mike Evans, president and co-founder of Tree of Life Nursery; Evan Meyer, executive director of the Theodore Payne Foundation; Madena Asbell, director of plant conservation programs, and
Jessica Dacey, communications director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust; Carol Bornstein, native plant horticulturist and author; Mt. San Antonio College horticulture professor Chaz Perea and his landscaping team at the Dodger Stadium Botanic Garden; and Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small, producers of the documentary “Saging the World.”
Here are the top 10 picks, in alphabetical order by their common names. 1
1 California laurel
(Umbellularia californica)
This handsome forest tree can grow from 6 to 60 feet tall in the right conditions, according to the native-plant database CalScape. It also releases terpenes into the soil that can kill off many plants competing for its nutrients, so consider carefully where to put it in your yard. Or better yet, try growing it in a large (at least 24-inch) container. When it comes to cooking, the leaves are spectacularly savory, especially when crushed, says Evans. David Bryant, one-time education and engagement director for the California Native Plant Society, now communications director for the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in Hawaii, uses these native bay leaves to enhance soups, stews and especially macaroni and cheese. Just don’t leave it in too long, he says, because the flavoring can become too intense. 2
Tim Becker
2 California sagebrush
This silvery shrub is often called “cowboy cologne,” because, as the story goes, cowpokes of old would ride through stands of this pervasive aromatic brush to improve their personal aroma — back when showers and Old Spice weren’t readily available. These days, consider California sagebrush as a foundational native plant whose weediness can be tamed with a little judicious pruning while you’re inhaling the fragrance Evans calls “invigorating.” Its gray-green coloring sets it off nicely against darker green shrubs and its feathery foliage is lovely when backlighted by the sun. It’s easy to grow and very drought-tolerant; a good choice for sunny, sandy hillsides or lots.
3
(Artemisia californica)
Erin Johnson (Salvia clevelandii)
The sage/salvia family is huge in the native plant world, and most are quite fragrant. But with aromas that range from tooth-achingly sweet to sharply savory, Bornstein swears that Baja Blanca Cedros Island sage (Salvia cedrosensis ‘Baja Blanca’) has leaves that smell like chopped liver. She describes the smell as “a sensory reminder of my Jewish heritage.” Cleveland sage, her favorite and mine, falls happily in the middle, with a dusty, slightly honeyed perfume that is intense but never cloying.
4 Coyote mint (Monardella villosa)
Imagine tall violet dandelionlike flowers that smell minty delicious — that’s coyote mint. The rounded, fluffy flowers come in bright violet or pink, and they’re endlessly cheerful, standing on tall stems like little sparklers. This perennial herb has small, neat leaves “that smell like a strong, pungent mint,” says McDade. Indigenous peoples used the plant as a remedy for upset stomachs, sore throats and respiratory problems, but it also works well steeped in hot water to make a soothing cup of mint tea.
5 Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata)
This is for all you desert dwellers out there — an airy green shrub with bright yellow flowers that mature into cottony fluff balls. But it gets its name, and inclusion on this list, because of its pungent chemical odor like, yes, creosote — a tar-based substance. The smell is especially strong when the leaves are wet, says McDade. “The Indigenous people of the desert say, ‘The desert smells like rain,’ and it is the fragrance of the creosote bush.” It reproduces by seed but also by sending up new shoots from the roots, creating “clonal rings” around the mother plant.
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Tim Becker
6 Desert lavender (Condea emoryi)
This leggy shrub has graygreen leaves and tall sprays of purple flowers that look sugarfrosted. Desert lavender grows natively throughout the deserts of the Southwest, and in California around the Salton Sea. It prefers sandy, gravelly soils and very little water, but the heady fragrance of its flowers and leaves makes it a natural for potpourri mixes, says Evans, and Ramirez heartily agrees. “Desert lavender is probably my favorite,” she says. “I have about 10 plants that I dry and make into a bath tea. It is heaven!”
Erin Johnson
7 Fragrant pitcher sage (Lepechinia fragrans)
If you love sweet, complex aromas, this is the plant for you. Despite its name, fragrant pitcher sage is a pale green mint, not a sage, with sprays of lavender, bellshaped flowers popular with hummingbirds. And almost everyone praised it. “It’s sweet pungent, with delicate, longlasting sweet aromas,” says Evans. “Notes of grapefruit,” says Calhoun. It flowers from spring through fall, and it grows quickly, according to CalScape, which recommends occasional light pruning to keep it from looking too wild.
8 Hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea)
There is nothing subtle about hummingbird sage. Its magenta blooms are tall and thick like exotic fruits, and if you happen to just graze a leaf, or drag a hose in its midst, the whole garden will be enveloped in its intoxicating perfume, sweet and powerful at the same time. Most of the fragrance comes from its large, light green leaves. It spreads easily, especially in its preferred habitat of dry shade or partial shade, like under a sprawling oak. Plant a couple, don’t overwater and wander through as often as you can for an aromatic pick-me-up. I can’t imagine my yard without some. 9
9 Woolly bluecurls
(Trichostema lanatum)
While we’re on the topic of sweet smells, woolly bluecurls wins the confectionary award hands down. Maestretti smells a cross between “bubble gum and sage.” Calhoun describes it as “grape candy.” Bornstein is more poetic: “The resinous leaves have an intoxicating fragrance.” I’d agree with all of those, plus this little proviso: Woolly bluecurls are great habitat plants, beloved by hummingbirds and other pollinators, but they are hard to keep alive. Water them the first year to get them established, but after that, they’re pretty much hydrophobes. Just a little summer water, more than once a month, can lead to their demise, according to CalScape. 10
10 White sage (Salvia apiana)
Southern California and northern Baja are the only places where white sage grows natively, and because our homes, businesses and roads have wiped out most of its native habitat, it feels only proper to plant some wherever we can. White sage grows so readily here that there’s absolutely no excuse for anyone in SoCal to buy dried bundles for smudging; with their tall clusters of pale silvery leaves and arching spikes of white flowers streaked with lavender, they look dramatic in any setting. Because people all over the world purchase white sage for burning like incense, that should be a clue that this plant has an unmistakable aroma, lingering and sharp, nearly to the point of bitterness.
Adams adds a benediction after sharing her favorites: “May all gardens emanate smells that make us stop and breathe a moment longer!” My grandmother would like that.