Understand, Protect, & Grow

plant power

The Regenerative Power
of Native Plants

We at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden believe one of the most direct solutions to our climate and biodiversity crisis lies within our ability to harness the regenerative power of native plants. Whether you’re a nature lover or home gardener, an urban planner or a land manager, the Garden provides the insight and resources necessary to understand, protect, and grow native plants in your own community. Because, although humans are one of the greatest threats to native plants, we can also be one of their greatest allies. With passion for the health of our planet, and a legacy of transforming knowledge into action, the Garden is inspiring a movement of native-plant advocates from backyards to the backcountry of California.

What Are Native Plants?

A native plant is one that has evolved in a particular place and continues to inhabit that geography in the wild. At the Garden, we grow plants that are native to the state of California and the California Floristic Province, which extends into Oregon to the north and Baja California, Mexico, to the south.

However, since plants don’t understand state boundaries, our Living Collection includes some plants native to a broader region extending beyond California’s borders, even across the western United States. On the other hand, we also have plants that are very specific and considered native to only one mountain range in California.

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) in Meadow Section (Photo: Don Matsumoto)
A plant bug (Miridae sp.) on Latin American fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) (Photo: Kylie Etter)

Native Plants Are the Foundation of All Life

Native plants are the foundation of all ecosystems. Because these plants have evolved in their habitats over millennia, the organisms around them have also evolved to eat, find shelter in, and otherwise rely on these specific native plants. Over time, these relationships have become a complex tapestry of interdependent lives that connect to build rich systems. Systems that all of life relies on. Without the foundation of these precious plants, the building blocks of a healthy ecosystem weaken.   

Climate Change

Our changing climate poses one of the most far-reaching and complicated challenges humans have ever faced. While the solutions will come from a variety of sources, we can turn to native plants to gain insight into this critical issue. Careful study of native plants’ responses to climate change can help us understand the scope and speed of change. Learning how to support native plants and habitats helps build the resilience necessary to thrive in an uncertain world. Through native plant horticulture, research, conservation, and education, we’re identifying patterns and looking for solutions to the climate crisis. 

Biodiversity

Native plants form the foundation of ecosystems across the planet. Starting with the tiniest insects and invertebrates, native plants nourish and provide habitat for survival. In turn, those insects feed other organisms in a complex and dynamic web of relationships. This vast biodiversity is one of the reasons for us to find hope in the face of a changing climate. By studying biodiversity, starting with native plants, the Garden helps build an understanding of how to adapt and thrive in virtually any condition.

Synergy Between Plants and People

Breathe in and exhale. With that breath, you are exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen with plants — a precious interplay that we often overlook. Beyond this, plants, specifically native plants, provide year-round food, pollen, and nectar for caterpillars, bees, and a host of other pollinators that enable California’s vast food production system. Since time immemorial, native plants have provided fiber, building materials, and food to support entire civilizations. In return, humans have thanked, cared for, and tended plants. We invite you to reconnect to the natural world by planting and spending time among native plants.

A Leader in Native Plant Horticulture

The Garden sits at the nexus of cutting-edge science and horticultural leadership. We are actively working to understand, document, and restore native plants and habitats throughout California while also researching and testing the latest horticultural practices to successfully grow native plants. These efforts — from our Living Collection research and cultivar introductions to our nursery resources, classes, and events — not only help ensure no native plant goes extinct but also, hopefully, encourage and inspire you to join us on our mission to conserve native plants for the health and well-being of all.    

The Meadow Section in bloom

How the Garden Is Harnessing the Power of Native Plants

Conservation Groves

Saving endangered plants in their natural habitats is our ultimate goal, but sometimes that isn’t possible. In some circumstances, plants can be saved through creating conservation groves, which preserve the genetic diversity of species that are severely threatened in the wild.

Propagation

Learning how to grow California’s native plants from seeds or cuttings is tough. Many species have yet to be successfully grown in a nursery setting! Our team has been responsible for leading breakthroughs in the cultivation of Channel Islands species, fire followers, and rare plants.

Research

Horticultural research can provide insight into the ecology of wild plants, as well as the cultural needs of plants for the home garden or city streets. Our years of research have led to the selection of new drought-tolerant plants, as well as recommendations for their care and cultivation.

See Our Research
Introductions

The Garden has a long history of creating hybrids and introducing cultivars that excel in a garden setting including distinctive plants like Avis Keedy hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea ‘Avis Keedy’) and the hardy Canyon Sparkles manzanita (Arctostaphylos insularis ‘Canyon Sparkles’).

Education

Part of our mission is empowering everyone to plant native! Using our decades of research, we work to help everyone from landscape architects to the home gardener care for and create thriving native plant gardens.