Full disclosure: I wasn’t always a fan of California native plants because, honestly, I didn’t know anything about them. I was too busy being googly eyed over show-stopper ornamentals like roses.
My grandmother grew abundant roses as easily as I grow weeds, and I used to follow her in the garden as she cut huge bucketfuls for the cemetery (never for the living; I never saw a vase of flowers in her home). But as I lugged the buckets behind her, I’d put my nose in the growing bouquet and breathe in all those scents, some spicy, some rosy and some just honey sweet.