California has the benefit of having a long and luscious growing season. This means there are a lot of plant options for green-thumb Californians wanting to grow a garden. But a challenge to California gardening is water. Water conservation is important everywhere, especially in warm and dry climates. Therefore, choosing plants that don't need gallons of water every day is a good idea. Enter drought-tolerant landscaping.

Drought tolerant landscaping often makes use of plants local to the area being landscaped. These plants have adapted to the natural seasons, and water availability, of the area, and therefore require far less maintenance than more exotic plants. But being adapted to less water doesn't mean a garden of native Californian plants would be all cacti and sage brush. Far from it. The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants has a list of dozens and dozens of plant species that all thrive in the California climate, ranging from such diverse species as ferns and cacti, as well as plenty of herbs and flowers. They have a nursery where one can purchase seedlings, and packages of seeds are also available on their web site, making it easy for Californians to grow a water-wise garden.

Because there is such a wide variety of plants available, there is a lot of creative freedom with a drought tolerant garden. Many people enjoy choosing themes, such as turning part of their yard into a wildflower meadow, or having a section of rock garden with a few cacti and some herbaceous ground cover like thyme.

One of the keys to growing a drought tolerant garden is mulching. Mulch is a substance such as grass clippings, dead leaves, chipped bark, straw or something similar, that is laid down around the plants. Mulch helps the soil hold in water by eliminating exposure to direct sunlight and therefore minimizing evaporation. Mulch also reduces weeds by smothering the weed seeds and seedlings and blocking their sunlight. As mulch decomposes it releases organic nutrients into the earth, naturally increases the soils fertility.

As Americans recognize the need to conserve water, there is a growing movement away from conventional lawns. It is becoming more and more popular to replace the lawn with a garden full of regional plants. This eliminates the regular watering and mowing required to maintain a healthy lawn, but doesn't sacrifice beauty. On the contrary, these gardens are often full of flowers, bees and birds, and can remain lush even in drought weather. These kinds of gardens save their owners work and money on their water bills.