Here Are The Best Native Plants For Menlo Park Gardens

MENLO PARK, CA — Planting season, as Menlo Park gardeners know, is officially upon us. And before you dig out those dusty trowels and gloves, take note of the plants that naturally grow in the area. We're talking about native plants, which grew here long before Europeans started building settlements. They're the foundation of the region's biodiversity, and provide key food sources and shelter to birds.

Fortunately the folks at the National Audubon Society have done all the hard work to ensure gardeners have what they need to find the best native plants. The group has a database that includes perennials, shrubs, grasses, succulents, trees, vines and evergreens. Each entry also details what types of birds the plants attract.

The database allows users to filter results by plant type, resources and bird species they attract.
Regional Audubon experts hand-select the "best results" for each. In Menlo Park, some of the best flowers to grow this season include Blue Bunch Fescue, which attracts vireos, orioles and sparrows.

This perennial grass also goes by Bunchgrass Fescue and Idaho Fescue. It grows in tufts 2 1/2 feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide with blue-green to gray-green stems and flowering stalks. It is drought tolerant and does well in full sun to partial shade and rocky soils, as well as in containers.

Here are places you can find native plants:

• San Bruno Mountain Watch at 44 Visitacion Avenue, Suite 206 in Brisbane
• Sutro Native Plant Nursery at 476 Johnstone Drive in San Francisco

Americans spent a record $47.8 billion on lawn and garden retail sales in 2017, according to the National Gardening Survey. The average household spent more than $500 on gardening. And while older adults accounted for 35 percent of all gardeners, millennials were getting their hands and knees dirty at all-time high levels. Adults 18-34 accounted for 29 percent of all gardeners, the survey found.

Among the recent trends — more people are investing in raised beds as opposed to digging holes, and they're spending money on apps rather than glossy gardening books.

—Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.