When the temperature soars a garden can be a cool oasis of soothing colors.  Pale leaves and flowers can contrast to darker or brighter plants, or can be the basis of a White or Moonlight Garden. Start yours with backgrounds of silvery gray foliage.  Frame your cool garden with the fragrant and neat-looking Arizona Cypress, which has gray-green foliage and pretty grey and red bark.  Coastal Sagebrush has feathery grey-green leaves and that wonderful aroma that is iconic of California chaparral. It grows about 3-4 feet high, and is excellent habitat for quail and the endangered California Gnatcatcher.  For a more compact version plant David’s Choice Sagewort as a border. Like many California native plants they both enjoy well drained soil and low water. Larger grayish green leaves  are found on Vicky Romo White Sage, which has stalks of lovely purple flowers much of the year and is also very fragrant. Whitebark Lilac’s pale stems set off its light green foliage and clouds of blue spring flowers.

Along with pale and light green foliage, light colored flowers will make your garden cool and elegant.  Snowball Ceanothus and Snow Flurry Ceanothus are covered with mounds of tiny white fragrant flowers in early spring. The lovely white flowers on the rare White California Fuchsia can peep out from under taller shrubs and trees as this plant likes some sun protection. For eye-level clusters of small white stars try White Flowering Currant, which also produces an edible berry.  An amazing show-stopping plant is Apache Plume. Its white rose-like flowers will turn into long, feathery clouds of green to light red… well, plumes is the best word for them. This plant makes a good screen as well.  If you are planting in partial shade, you’ll be amazed that the large petals of the gorgeous and hard-to-find Bush Anemone belong to a Southern California native plant.

So while you are hiding from the heat, plan for planting a cool garden that will give you serenity all year.