Plant in full sun or light shade; some shade best in hot inland areas. Irrigate occasionally to not at all - this plant is perfectly adapted to our summer dry mediterranean climate! Without summer watering it is summer deciduous, dropping most of its leaves but with occasional irrigation will stay evergreen and likely flower again. It is tolerant of near shoreline seaside conditions and light frosts. It will recover from damage caused by short duration dips down to the mid 20s° F, but freeze down and not rebound at temperatures much lower, so is best used in near frost free locations. It can be planted in most any soils but performs best and lives longest in a well-drained situation. Deadhead to promote flowering and cut plants back in fall or early winter to retain vigor and a dense form. This plant is useful on hillsides or slopes, where it can help stabilize the soil and deflect rainfall while also providing a long lasting flower display and is a nice green foil for gray leafed California native plants that also like these conditions such as Eriophyllum nevinii [Constancea nevinii], Eriogonum giganteum, Artemisia californica 'Canyon Gray' and Salvia leucophylla 'Point Sal Spreader'. The yellow flowers are excellent combined with blue flowered Ceanothus or Trichostema lanatum, as well as purple-flowered Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' or Solanum xanti 'Mountain Pride, and are also useful cut and brought in for floral arrangements. Like other sunflower relatives, it is attractive to bees, butterflies and insects.

Encelia californica is native to southern California from Santa Barbara County south to north western Baja California and is a member of the coastal scrub plant community and the chaparral plant community in foothills of the Transverse and Peninsular mountain ranges. This species was described by the English botanist and zoologist Thomas Nuttall (1786 –1859), who lived and worked in America through much of the first half of the 19th century. His time in California was chronicled by Frederick Coville in The Botanical Explorations of Thomas Nuttall in California where he noted this plant as "common on dry hills near Santa Barbara". The genus name honors Christoph Entzelt, a 16th century German clergyman and naturalist who wrote about the medicinal uses of plants and animals and Latinized his name to Encelius. The specific epithet is a reference to its native range in California. It is also called California Brittlebush, though its desert cousin Encelia farinosa is more often referred to as "Brittle Bush".

The 'Paleo Yellow' cultivar was introduced by San Marcos Growers in 2017. It is a pale yellow selection originally made by Carol Bornstein from a planting in the Nature Garden at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the name is meant to be descriptive of both the pale yellow flower as well as be a reference to the museum, which houses an incredible paleontological collection. More about this plant and its discovery can be found on Carol's Nature in LA Blog. 

The information about Encelia californica 'Paleo Yellow' that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.