Westminster, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

The City of Westminster treats native and drought-tolerant plants as the preferred path, not a restricted one. Municipal Code Chapter 17.310 (Landscaping) provides for conserving water through efficient irrigation, an appropriate mix of plant materials, use of artificial turf, water-recycling features, and regular maintenance. Projects subject to the City's Water Efficiency Landscape Measures must comply with the City's adopted Handbook of Water Efficiency Landscape Measures and California's Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), which steer designs toward low-water and climate-appropriate (including California native) plantings, hydrozoning, and efficient irrigation. Westminster's standards also require incorporating compost into landscape soil at a minimum rate of four cubic yards per one thousand square feet of permeable area, worked to a depth of six inches, to improve water retention. To make native and drought-tolerant choices easy, the City maintains three Water Conservation Gardens featuring nearly twenty species of drought-tolerant California-friendly and native plants, with plants sourced from local nurseries so residents can buy the same varieties. There is no city rule requiring native plants in private yards, and there is likewise no published city prohibition on native or pollinator gardens; the nuisance rules (Chapter 8.20) still apply only where vegetation becomes overgrown, dead, or pest-harboring. For design help, see the Handbook of Water Efficiency Landscape Measures on the City Planning Division pages.