Santa Cruz County, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

The County's Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (Chapter 13.13) strongly promotes native and Mediterranean-climate plants but does not require them on private lots. Under WELO, landscape areas planted with all native or other climate-adapted plants and irrigated only for a 2- to 5-year establishment period (after which the irrigation system is removed) are exempt from water-efficiency standards. The County's WELO guidance encourages disturbing as little native habitat as possible, conserving existing grasslands, oak woodland, chaparral, and coastal scrub, and selecting non-invasive plants suited to dry summers and wet winters. It includes two notable cautions: owners should maintain landscapes free of invasive plants such as French broom, pampas grass, and thistle; and when using natives they should avoid species that can invade local habitats or contaminate the gene pools of sensitive natives, because landscape Arctostaphylos (manzanita) and Ceanothus varieties can hybridize with rare, endemic plants and jeopardize them. The California Native Plant Society and the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum hold native plant sales. In sensitive habitats (sandhills, riparian corridors), clearing and planting choices may be further constrained by the Sensitive Habitat (16.32) and Riparian (16.30) ordinances.