California Sagebrush, Artemisia californica

About California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica) 83 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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California sagebrush, of the Asteraceae family, is a highly aromatic shrub that grows in coastal sage scrub, coastal strand, chaparral, and dry foothill communities, from sea level to 1000 meters (3300 feet). It is native to California and Baja California. The plant branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded. Plant height varies significantly, ranging from low growing forms as little as.3 meters (1 foot) tall up to towering forms of up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) tall. The stems of the plant are slender, flexible, and smooth (hairless) or canescent (fuzzy). The leaves range from one to 10 centimeters long and are divided with 2-4 threadlike lobes less than five centimeters long. Their leaves are hairy and light green to gray in color; the margins of the leaves curl under. The flower clusters are leafy, narrow, and sparse. The pistillate flowers range in number from 6 to 10 and the disk flowers range from 15 to 30, and they are generally yellowish in appearance, but sometimes red. The fruits produced are resinous achenes up to 1.5 millimeters long.

This plant is extremely drought tolerant, and will often be the only plant growing on the driest, south-facing slopes in the driest parts of it's range. It's tough and easy to grow, fast growing up to 3 feet tall. It can handle occasional summer water, or no water at all during the summer. It can get weedy, but its foliage is a beautiful silvery color when backlit by the sun. This is one of the foundation plants of the coastal sage scrub community and the preferred plant of the California gnatcatcher, a threatened species. There are several selections available for the garden, some of which can be used as groundcovers.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Shrub

Size

1 - 8 ft tall
4 ft wide

Form

Mounding, Rounded, Spreading

Growth Rate

Fast

Dormancy

Summer Deciduous

Fragrance

Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color

Cream, White, Yellow

Flowering Season

Spring, Summer, Fall

Wildlife Supported

California Gnatcatcher, Quail, various other birds, insects
Butterfly gardens

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 5 confirmed

, 22 likely * ) SHOW ALL

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Miodera stigmataMiodera stigmata

Painted Lady Vanessa carduiVanessa cardui

American Lady Vanessa virginiensisVanessa virginiensis

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Moisture

Extremely Low, Very Low

Summer Irrigation

Max 1x / month once established

Nurseries

Carried by 83

Ease of Care

Very Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to 20° F

Soil Drainage

Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description

Usually found on very dry slopes or sandy soil with low nutrient content, although it is also said to tolerate clay. Soil PH: 5.0 - 8.0

Common uses

Bank Stabilization, Groundcovers, Butterfly Gardens, Deer Resistant, Bird Gardens

Companion Plants

Black Sage, White Sage, California Encelia, Chamise, Coyote Brush, California Buckwheat, Sticky Monkeyflower, Woolly Bluecurls, Scrub Oaks, Toyon, Lemonadeberry, Yucca spp, various cactus species

Sunset Zones?

7, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting

Site Type

Dry slopes and flats, often south facing.

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 3.4" - 63.5", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 1.67", Coldest Month: 39.8" - 59.4", Hottest Month: 57.7" - 87.8", Humidity: 0.29" - 38.63", Elevation: -22" - 4748"

Alternative Names

Common Names: Coast Sagebrush, Coastal Sage Brush, Coastal Sagebrush

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

California Sagebrush

Artemisia californica

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California SagebrushArtemisia californica

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California Sagebrush

Artemisia californica