Welcome to Our Database of California Friendly ® Plants!

This database is meant to help you look for plants based on how you want to use them. Are you looking for focal points in your yard or do you want plants to accent them? Are you trying to spruce up the borders of a walkway or do you need to hide an ugly fence? Do you want to replace part of your lawn with a new groundcover?

We’ve gone through local gardens in the Inland Empire to find beautiful plants that suit our microclimate (which is different from Los Angeles, Orange County, or the beach). Everything you see here is growing in a garden not too far away from your home. 

Focal Plants

Does your current yard lack a certain drama? Have you bulldozed your landscape to start over? Then focal plants are the beginning of your journey. We have selected some of the most beautiful and eye-catching trees, ornamental shrubs, and succulents growing in the Inland Empire. Trees are great for creating shade and the look of a traditional landscape. Ornamental shrubs can create a natural or wildly whimsical feeling and attract birds and butterflies. Succulents work well if you are going for a modern or “desert chic” look, especially when contrasted with softer, looking plants. They also add structure to the traditional Mediterranean garden. Follow these links below for more plants:

Background Plants

Background Plants are particularly useful for hiding an ugly fence, creating a privacy screen, blocking out unsightly views, and creating a natural-looking space in your garden. We have divided these plants up by size so you can choose the type of plant that best fits your situation, taste, and lifestyle.

Foregrounds and Borders

Are you looking for flowers to line your front walkway or to define one part of your garden from another? Or are you looking for low grasses, small succulents, or perennials and compliment the larger focal and accent plants behind them? Most of the plants listed here can be used for either purpose depending on how you plant them. Borders are planted all in a row and foreground plants are set out in a more random fashion. We recommend not using the sharper succulents listed for borders.

Accent Plants

What will you use to compliment your larger focal plants? The flowers, grasses, shrubs, and succulents listed here work well as accent plants. When you choose a planting combination, look for contrasts in color and texture as well as size.

Groundcovers

Do you have an ugly patch of dirt in your yard? Are you replacing a section of lawn in a low-traffic area? Does your yard have a steep slope you just don’t want to mow? Groundcovers offer a number of solutions, such as filling in space beneath trees, preventing slopes from eroding, or just looking pleasant. As different plants thrive on different terrains, we’ve separated the groundcovers listed here into ones suitable for flat ground and ones suitable for slopes. More flexible plants are listed in both.