• San Francisco is home to a number of private and public gardens. Due the area's unpredictable weather and high average year-round temperature, a limited range of plants can survive the conditions of the Bay Area. Luckily for gardeners, a number of general ("San Francisco Chronicle" Gardening) and specific (University at California Berkeley Guide to Bee Friendly Gardens) resources exist to guide planting choices. San Francisco is designated USDA Hardiness Zones 8 through 10.
  
  

Primrose

• Gardening writer and photographer Erle Nickel recommends primrose P. capitata as a good fall plant for San Francisco gardens. Nickel writes "the real charm of this short-lived perennial...is the flowers" in a "San Francisco Chronicle" article. Said flower is a large whorl of violet with white accents on a long stem that rises 6 to 8 inches above the crown of the plant. The primrose P. capitata is native to Tibet and southwestern China. The species is suited to USDA zones 4 through 8.
  
  

Bog Sage

• According to the University of California at Berkeley, the bog gage (Salvia uliginosa) is a Bay Area garden plant that will attract bees and hummingbirds. The perennial bears blue flowers with white accents from late summer through mid-fall and will also attract butterflies. Bog sage grows in clusters that reach a mature height of 3 to 6 feet and a mature spread of 1 to 3 feet. The plant grows quickly in medium to wet soil, though will only flourish in full sunlight. Bog sage is a deer-resistant garden plant.
  
  

Firebush

• Firebush (Hamelia patens) is a flowering garden shrub that is grown as an annual in zones 8 and 9, and a perennial in zones 10 and 11. The plant is also known as scarlet bush and hummingbird bush, and will attract butterflies and hummingbirds to a garden. According to online botanical resource Floridata, firebush can cover an area of up to 15 feet, though usually grows to a smaller spread. Firebush bears bright orange-red tubular flowers on red stems. When grown as an annual, Firebush reaches a height of 2 feet and its usually green foliage turns red in the fall.