Plants That Won’t Grow Out of Control in Your SoCal Yard

Written by Kelsey W.

Creating a beautiful and easily manageable yard in Southern California often means choosing plants that won’t spread and grow swiftly whenever the weather becomes beautiful and encourages swift growth.

In California, that often means drought-resistant plants that don’t need a lot of water and, once established, are happy to rely on the native rainfall that usually comes to the area during the winter and early spring.

With these slow-growing and drought-tolerant plants, you won’t need to hire a full-time gardener to visit your home every two days to wrangle the bushes getting out of control or the vines crawling over the neighbor’s fence.

Let’s explore some of your slow-growing plant options for a beautiful, low-maintenance, and simple Southern California yard.

The 70/30 Rule in Gardening

One piece of wisdom you might want to consider when designing your garden is the 70/30 rule. This design philosophy suggests making 70 percent of your garden native plants that don’t require a lot of upkeep and making the remaining 30 percent seasonal or special plants for decoration and fun.

For example, you might plant some native succulents and cactuses around your home for their drought-tolerant nature, but also include a bed of seasonal flowers somewhere in your yard that you’ll refresh each season. Perhaps you’ll grow daffodils in the spring and marigolds in the summer.

However, the rest of your lawn won’t require any significant upkeep or seasonal work. Maybe you’ll have a nice bunch of lavender growing on one side of your lawn that never needs any input from you (truly, you can leave lavender almost completely alone after it’s settled, and it’ll do just fine).

Even if you’re not keen on having a full 30 percent of your yard dedicated to seasonal plants, having one or two in a nice pot on the porch isn’t too much of a time sink. That single pot on your porch or deck can change with the season, but the rest of your lawn can remain beautiful without any significant work.

Slow-Growing Plant Options for Your Maintenance-Free Yard

One of the most beautiful, low-maintenance, slow-growing, and drought-resistant plants you can put in your Southern California lawn is the California lilac, sometimes referred to as ceanothus. For the first few years, these happy shrubs and their beautiful purple flowers do need regular water, but after that, they only need external water once a month during the summer if they’re planted in the desert areas of SoCal.

Tip: Wild California lilac doesn’t even need any fertilizer since it’s a plant that actually returns nutrients to the soil and keeps it healthy. So, not only does this plant not really need any attention with your watering can or the hose, but it doesn’t even need food. It’s truly a “set it and forget it” type of plant.

If you have a relatively shady area in your yard, a beautiful option for a colorful, low-maintenance plant is the Douglas Iris. You’ll see it growing frequently in wild areas in Northern and Central California along the coast, but it’s quite happy to grow in coastal areas in SoCal, too. Douglas iris actually likes its soil to dry out before it receives more water, and it’s easy to grow after it’s established.

Another plant that’s an excellent choice if you have an area of your lawn without full daily sun is the California coffeeberry, which takes about three or four years to reach its full size and comes in dwarf varieties that make it easy to keep in a smaller yard. Coffeeberry grows in almost any type of soil and doesn’t need much water.

One relatively slow-growing option when you want to plant something large (or something that will eventually grow large) is the manzanita, which is native to Southern California. Although there are a few varieties of manzanitas that grow faster than average, some types take years to reach maturity, like the “Howard McMinn” and “Dr. Hurd” manzanitas, which take years to grow.

If you want a plant that you can absolutely ignore and do nothing with, there’s no better plant choice than the venerable agave plant. There’s the classic century plant, or Agave americana, which is the plant that takes three decades to reach full size and grows a giant stalk out of its center at the conclusion of its life, but there are actually other agave varieties out there that you can plant in your yard and not worry about them taking over your space.

Many compact agave species exist that only grow a few inches to a few feet at full size. You can even grow some of these petite agaves as container plants, which is ideal when you don’t actually have a yard but want plants you won’t need to re-pot frequently.

Consider a Creeping or Bushy Ground Cover for No Mowing

One of the first things suggested to SoCal homeowners when looking for ways to simplify yard maintenance is removing the lawn, but that recommendation doesn’t necessarily mean taking out all the grass and just leaving a large expanse of dirt in its place.

In fact, you have quite a few neat-looking ground covers for your lawn that aren’t simple dirt, yet also don’t require any significant work when it comes to mowing and maintenance. It may take some elbow grease to get these ground covers started, but they’re amazingly self-sufficient once established.

One SoCal-friendly option for ground covers is Huntington carpet rosemary, which remains green all year and grows anywhere from a foot to 18 inches tall, producing blue flowers in the spring. It’s a great ground cover when your home sits on a gentle hillside, and you can even shape it if you want a tailored look to your yard.

If your home sits in a cooler area of Southern California, or you’re reasonably near the coastline, one interesting option for your ground cover is California fescue, which does grow at a decent rate but won’t outgrow your lawn or become burdensome. You don’t really need to water it and can choose to let it grow in its natural state, or you can trim it a few times a year to keep it looking a bit more orderly.

A final option that offers you the choice of mowing or a “low mow” yard is called bentgrass, which you can actually mow down to just a few inches to make it look like a traditional grass lawn, or you can also let it grow to its natural height of about a foot. You only need to trim it a few times a year to keep it in check, and it’ll never grow out of control or get too crazy in between mows.

Ground covers that grow well in the Southern California climate are a great choice when you don’t want an overwhelming amount of yard work and want things to stay looking relatively static, since these ground covers will usually fill a space and simply thrive with only minimal trimming required a few times a year, if at all.

The Importance of Ensuring Plants are Established

The most important part of getting to enjoy a yard where you can truly and simply enjoy your plants without lifting more than an occasional finger is ensuring that your young plants get nicely established before you leave them to fend for themselves.

Many plants that don’t require frequent watering and that we consider drought-tolerant can only reach that point when they have the energy to grow deep roots capable of reaching water deep in the earth when the climate above ground is parched and dry.

In the early months and first year of life, most plants do need some care and attention with regular watering, which helps them grow faster than they might when otherwise relying solely on rainwater and groundwater for sustenance.

Green Thumb Nursery is Here to Help Beautify Your Garden and Home

If you’re searching for some new plants for your yard, or you’re thinking about updating the greenery around your home, your first stop should be Green Thumb Nursery. With locations across Southern California, you’re always just a quick trip away from all the professional advice and knowledge you need to embark on your next gardening project. Visit Green Thumb Nursery today to get started.

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