CNPS-SLO holds our annual Native Plant Sale the first Saturday of November
The Nipomo Native Garden also holds an annual Native Plant Sale
Nurseries in San Luis Obispo county:
(Call for confirmation of times open to public)
Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery 3232 Las Pilitas Road, Santa Margarita 805-438-5992 (Retail Fri & Sat)
Growing Grounds Farm Wholesale Nursery 3740 Orcutt Rd, San Luis Obispo 805-543-6071 (Retail 3rd Tues of Month) SAGE Ecological Landscapes, 1301 Los Osos Valley Road, Los Osos, CA 93402 (805) 574-0777
Clearwater Color Wholesale Nursery 2335 Jacaranda Ln, Los Osos 805-528-4458 (Wholesale only)
Native Sons Wholesale Nursery 379 W. El Campo, Arroyo Grande 805-481-9636 (Retail 2nd Sat in April)
West Covina Wholesale Nursery 165 W. El Campo, Arroyo Grande 805-481-7626 (Wholesale only)
Nurseries outside of our county:
(Call for confirmation of times open to public)
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden 1212 Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara 805-682-4272 (classes)
Matilija Nursery 8225 Waters, Moorpark 805-523-8604
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden 1500 W. College, Clairmont 909-625-8767 (classes)
Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery 10459 Tuxford, Sun Valley 818-768-1802 (classes and seed sales)
Tree of Life Nursery 33201 Ortega Hwy, San Juan Capistrano 949-728-0685
If you can’t find what you are looking for, ask your nursery to order it for you
Additional Sources
You may also find California Natives at these local sources
BenJoy Nursery 2168 Lopez, Arroyo Grande 481-7488
Cherry Lane Nursery 436 Traffic Way, Arroyo Grande 489-1809
Miners Ace Hardware 186 Station Way, Arroyo Grande 489-9100
Miners Ace Hardware 9370 El Camino Real, Atascadero 466-0270
Bay Laurel Nursery 2500 El Camino Real, Atascadero 466-3449
Windmill Nursery 925 W. Hwy 246, Buellton 688-3993
Cambria Nursery and Florist 2801 Eton Rd, Cambria 927-4747
Los Osos Valley Nursery 301 Los Osos Valley Road, Los Osos 528-5300
Miners Ace Hardware 520 Highway 41, Morro Bay 722-2233
Nipomo Old Town Nursery 323 W. Tefft, Nipomo 929-1084
Whispering Tree 110 Norris, Orcutt 937-3808
Farm Supply 675 Tank Farm, SLO 543-3751
Miner’s Ace Hardware 2034 Santa Barbara St., SLO 543-2191
Do you have a nursery or source for California Natives that isn’t listed here? Or an update to this information? Please enter a comment below and we will update this page …
This presentation will describe California native plants well suited for gardening and landscapes in the Shandon area and other inland portions of the County where temperatures can be over 100℉ in the summer and below freezing in the winter.Bill Waycott and Zach Tanner with the San Luis Obispo chapter of the California Native Plant Society will discuss how to select, grow, and use local native plants in your garden. They will share a list of recommended plants for your inland garden with a photo tour of their desirable features, and a question-and-answer period at the end. This presentation is free to everyone at the Shandon Library and no reservation is required.
Uno de los representantes de la Sociedad de Plantas Nativas de California hablará sobre el tema en español y estará disponible para contestar sus preguntas y recomendarles cuales plantas nativas están adaptas a su región. Gracias.
On our chapter website, we have a SLO County native landscape planting guide which is especially helpful with five easy garden projects and steps to get your yard ready for a native garden. More resources for designing and maintaining native plant gardens are at our CNPS SLO website here.
After you get inspired to garden and grow natives, buy your native plants at the spring native plant sale. The San Luis Obispo chapter of the California Native Plant Society will hold their spring plant sale on Saturday, April 20, 2024 in the City of San Luis Obispo. A few weeks beforehand, our website will feature photos and descriptions of the plants that will be available at the sale. The website will be set up to allow pre-ordering; browsing and purchase of plants will also be available onsite on the April 20th sale date. Check our website calendar here in late March for details on the spring plant sale.
San Luis Obispo County is lucky to be home to Las Pilitas Nursery, one of the first nurseries entirely devoted to California Native Plants and conveniently located east of the town of Santa Margarita, closer to those in north county. The Las Pilitas Nursery website is a treasure trove of information about how to garden with native plants and additional background on California flora, landscape, and ecology.
Photograph of bladderpod (Cleomella arborea), an easy to grow native plant that does well in hot and dry areas, and attracts many pollinators.
REGISTRATION IS NOW FULL AND A WAIT LIST HAS BEEN CREATED. Local botanists Kristen Nelson and Dena Grossenbacher will lead a field workshop to help biologists improve their plant keying skills. We will use the meadows at Johnson Ranch Open Space in the City of San Luis Obispo as our classroom. Participants will key plants in the field to family, genus, and species using the new edition of the Flora of San Luis Obispo County, California (FSLOC) by Dr. David Keil.
The workshop will be outdoors, hiking up to 1 mile, sitting on uneven terrain, and will be cancelled or postponed if the forecast calls for more than a few sprinkles. Participants should bring a hand lens (10x recommended), field notebook, and the Flora of San Luis Obispo County (hardback or e-version); loaner copies will be available. Bring water, snacks, hat, sturdy shoes, and dress in layers for changing weather. A plant list for Johnson Ranch can be found on our website here.
Advance registration required, $35 (waivers available upon request, if needed). REGISTRATION IS NOW FULL BUT IF YOU REGISTER YOU WILL BE PUT ON A WAITLIST AND NOTIFIED IF SPACE BECOMES AVAILABLE.
This is an intermediate-level workshop – working knowledges of plant terminology and dichotomous keys are pre-requisites. Participants who have not had a field botany class or equivalent experience or need to brush up should: review an illustrated glossary such as Plant Identification Terminology by J. G. Harris and M. W. Harris, read pages 34-54 in the FSLOC, watch basic botany videos (e.g., Botany for Beginners by Michigan Nature Association or University and Jepson Herbaria Mini-workshop #3), and practice using a dichotomous key (e.g., use FSLOC before the class to key out some species that you know or can confirm).
We will meet at the preserve information sign near the parking lot: From San Luis Obispo, take Highway 101 south to exit 198 for Higuera Street. At the bottom of a horseshoe bend in the off ramp, take Ontario Road a short distance north and turn left into a parking area for Johnson Ranch.
Contact with any questions: kmnelsonDOTnativeplantsATgmailDOTcom or denagrosATgmail.com
This presentation will introduce you to California native plants that do well in the soils and climate of Nipomo, and to pollinators you can attract to your native plant garden. Zach Tanner with CNPS-SLO will discuss how to select and grow these plants in your garden with photos of the recommended plants and a question and answer period at the end. Free to all at the Nipomo Library and no reservation is required.
This event is co-sponsored by the Nipomo Native Garden. The website for the Nipomo Native Garden has photos and a list of suggested native plants for the Nipomo area including sun/shade preferences, flowering season, soil type, mature size, and more. Print out and bring this list so you can mark it as you learn in the presentation about different plant species. We have a SLO County native landscape planting guide on our chapter website that is especially helpful with five easy garden projects and steps to get your yard ready for a native garden. More resources for designing and maintaining native plant gardens are at our CNPS SLO website here.
Take a walk at the Nipomo Native Garden to see examples of beautiful native plants that thrive on the Nipomo Mesa. Volunteering at the garden on the first Saturday of the month from 9am to noon is a good way to learn from the experts who regularly help at the garden about the basics of caring for these local plants.
After you learn about native gardening in Nipomo, get your native plants at the spring native plant sale that the San Luis Obispo chapter of the California Native Plant Society expects to hold on Saturday, April 20, 2024. A few weeks before the sale, our website will feature descriptions of the plants that will be available at the sale and allow pre-ordering. Browsing and purchase of plants will also be available on April 20th. Check our website in late March for details on the spring plant sale.
Photograph of sand mesa manzanita (Arctostaphylos rudis), a shiny evergreen shrub that grows on the Nipomo Mesa and attracts hummingbirds and bumble bees.
You have probably wandered the nursery isles looking for the ever more popular native plants being sold. Do you ever consider how those plants have been propagated? Many, if not most, native plants in the nursery trade are propagated by cuttings. The nursery person knows what the plant will look like and behave like. And (more…)
Coffeeberry Frangula californica – Images courtesy of Marlin Harms Way back in 1992 the Watershed Education Program for San Luis Obispo County, in conjunction with U.C. Extension and the Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources Conservation Service)...
Resources Native plant tips, information, and sources to inspire and encourage the use and conservation of California native plants Featured PlantsTake an in-depth look at specific plants and plant families view CNPS-SLO Plant LibraryDetails about native and select...
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANTS FOR SCHOOL & URBAN GARDENS
By Betsey Landis
Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter, California Native Plant Society
www.lacnps.org
August 2011
This book is written for teachers and school garden educators and planners. Anyone can download all or parts of the book for free from CNPS Chapter websites. However the book may not be printed and sold without the express permission of the Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter of CNPS. We have discussed printing small special orders but we do not plan to do any more printing of the book in the hundreds or thousands. I understand what I have written on those first two pages is a type of “creative commons” copyright. -Betsey Landis (the author)
Download Here
Because of the size of this book, we have created four separate PDF files for viewing on the web and for download:
We will visit the the Milpitas Special Interest Area (the “Indians” Memorial Park), Los Padres National Forest, near Jolon, CA (GPS point 36.1178611, -121.4650278). This will be a joint field trip with the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. The Milpitas Special Interest Area contains approximately 9,500 acres in the upper watershed of the San Antonio River, much of which is within the Ventana Wilderness and is approximately 17 miles from Mission San Antonio near the border of Fort Hunter Liggett. This outing will last the entire day.
Please sign the liability waiver HERE to register for this event.
Bring plenty of water, lunch, snacks, hat, sturdy shoes, and dress in layers for changing weather. More information about the cultural resources and rehabilitation activities can be found in the management plan for this National Forest land here.
Meet at the Templeton Park and Ride at 8:15 am for caravan and carpooling options (GPS point 35.553966, -120.713761).
