CNPS-SLO holds Native Plant Sales in April and November
Nurseries in San Luis Obispo county:
(Call for confirmation of times open to public)
Clearwater Color Wholesale Nursery 2335 Jacaranda Ln, Los Osos 805-528-4458 (Wholesale only)
DW Farms and Nursery 2130 Presidio Way, San Miguel (714) 717-9671 Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Growing Grounds Farm Wholesale Nursery 3740 Orcutt Rd, San Luis Obispo 805-543-6071 Tuesday 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery 3232 Las Pilitas Road, Santa Margarita 805-438-5992 (Retail Most Saturdays)
Manzanita Nursery 880 Chalk Hill Rd, Solvang (805) 688-9692 Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Native Sons Wholesale Nursery 379 W. El Campo, Arroyo Grande 805-481-9636 (Wholesale only)
West Covina Wholesale Nursery 165 W. El Campo, Arroyo Grande 805-481-7626 (Wholesale only)
Recommended Landscaping Services:
Anza Design & Nursery info@anzadesignandnursery.com
J. Doyle Landscape Design and Construction CSLB License #: 565844. (805) 748-7190 jdoylelandscaping@gmail.com
Gritlys Horticulture (805) 674-2034 gritlys@gmail.com. Serving Los Osos and Coastal areas only. San Luis Obispo north to Cayucos.
Consultations, advice and small scale installation of native plant landscapes and irrigation systems.
Nipomo Native Seed. Specialty Native Plants
Silver Sage Garden Coaching (805) 441.6178 Instagram
Nurseries outside of our county:
(Call for confirmation of times open to public)
California Botanic Garden 1500 W. College, Clairmont (909) 625-8767 (classes)
Matilija Nursery 8225 Waters, Moorpark (805) 523-8604
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden 1212 Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara (805) 682-4272 (classes)
Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery 10459 Tuxford, Sun Valley (818) 768-1802 (classes and seed sales)
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
Bay Laurel Nursery 2500 El Camino Real, Atascadero (805) 466-3449
Cambria Nursery and Florist 2801 Eton Rd, Cambria (805) 927-4747
Cherry Lane Nursery 436 Traffic Way, Arroyo Grande (805) 489-1809
Farm Supply 675 Tank Farm, SLO (805) 543-3751
Los Osos Valley Nursery 301 Los Osos Valley Road, Los Osos (805) 528-5300
Miners Ace Hardware 186 Station Way, Arroyo Grande (805) 489-9100
Miners Ace Hardware 9370 El Camino Real, Atascadero (805) 466-0270
Miners Ace Hardware 520 Highway 41, Morro Bay (805) 722-2233
Miner’s Ace Hardware 2034 Santa Barbara St., SLO (805) 543-2191
Whispering Tree 110 Norris, Orcutt (805) 937-3808
Windmill Nursery 925 W. Hwy 246, Buellton (805) 688-3993
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 …
Fall is lovely at Three Bridges Oak Preserve in Atascadero. The leaves are turning (poison oak, walnut and sycamore especially), there are acorns galore, migratory birds and, of course, native plants. We’ll be looking (and drawing) plant skeletons, berries, bark and other goodies that we find. This is an easy loop trail where we’ll stop and draw often. It’s aimed at 5-10 year olds, but all are welcome. Art materials are provided and you can take your sketchbook home.
Bring water, snacks, sunscreen, hat, sturdy shoes, and dress in layers for changing weather. A plant list for Three Bridges Oak Preserve can be found on our website here. There are no bathroom facilities along the hike route. Rain or threat of rain cancel or postpone this trip.
Please register and sign a liability waiver
at either of the links below for this event.
Click here to register in English.
Favor de abrir, revisar, y firmar la exención de responsabilidad disponible aquí por el enlace para este evento.
Join us on Saturday, June 27, 2026 at 9:30 am for a long overdue visit to the perimeter of Morro Bay with a focus on the salt marsh plants that thrive in the ebb and flow of the bay waters. During this outing, we will visit two locations:
1. We start at Morro Bay State Park on the Marina Peninsula Loop Trail and Boardwalk that begins at the east end of the marina off of Main Street/State Park Road directly across from the Morro Bay State Park Campground (35.345289, -120.839694). This locale gives us direct access to the intertidal coastline along the bay where we will see a diverse pallet of salt-tolerant native plants. After roughly 1.5 hours, we will move to nearby location #2.
2. Sweet Springs Nature Preserve managed by the Morro Coast Audubon Society, located on the other side of the bay at 660 Ramona Avenue in Baywood/Los Osos (35.320477, -120.841536). Here, we will see similar species of the salt marsh, as well as new plants adapted to lower concentrations of salt in the brackish water diluted by the perennial ‘sweet spring’.
Bring water, snacks, sunscreen, hat, sturdy shoes, and dress in layers for changing weather. Plant lists for Morro Bay State Park and Sweet Springs can be found on our website here. There are bathroom facilities near the start of both hike routes. Dogs are not permitted at either location.
Please register and sign a liability waiver at either of the links below for this event.
Click here to register in English.
Favor de abrir, revisar, y firmar la exención de responsabilidad disponible aquí por el enlace para este evento.
The rewards of removing your lawn . . . and going native Tired of mowing, watering, and feeding a lawn that gives little back? You’re not alone. Across the country, homeowners are discovering the surprising benefits of replacing traditional turf with native plants. By...
On Saturday, October 5th at 10am, the California Native Plant Society-SLO will be offering a bilingual presentation about gardening with native plants at the City of Santa Maria Public Library. The presentation will talk about California native plants well suited to Santa Maria and other coastal portions of the County. Bill Waycott and Zach Tanner with CNPS-SLO will discuss how to select, grow, and use these native plants in your garden. They will also talk about some of the wonderful native plants local to the area. The presentation will include a photo tour of featured plants, a list of recommended plants for the garden, and a question-and-answer period at the end. Free to all and no reservation is required.
Spanish translation will be provided for any native Spanish speakers. We hope to see you there.
After you get inspired to garden and grow natives, purchase your native plants at the fall native plant sale. The San Luis Obispo chapter of the California Native Plant Society will hold their fall plant sale on Saturday, November 2nd. A few weeks before the sale, their website will feature descriptions of the plants that will be available at the sale and offer pre-ordering. Browsing and purchase of plants will also be available at the sale. Check the CNPS-SLO website in late September for details on the fall plant sale.
We have a SLO County native landscape planting guide on the 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 the CNPS SLO website here.
If you have any questions, please call or email The Natural History Museum at (805)-614-0806 or naturalhistory412.santamaria@gmail.com.
photo: Nipomo Mesa ceanothus, Ceanothus impressus var. nipomoensis, Zach Taylor
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.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY REGISTERED, THE LOCATION HAS CHANGED TO LAGUNA LAKE PARK AND NATURAL RESERVE IN THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO – meet near the restrooms. REGISTRATION IS FULL but contact dkincmbriaATaolDOTcom for one possible final last minute spot. 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 Laguna Lake can be found on our website here.
Advance registration required, $35 (waivers available upon request, if needed).
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).
New meeting location is Laguna Lake Park; if you have any questions, contact : 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.
BOTANICAL INTEREST SITES Calflorahttps://www.calflora.org/index.html Jepson Herbarium eFlorahttps://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/ California Invasive Plant Councilhttps://www.cal-ipc.org/ Urban Forest Ecosystems Institutehttps://ufei.calpoly.edu/ CNPS RESOURCES CNPS...
by Marti Rutherford
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…)
