Are you trying to "Go Native"?
At a recent San Francisco Integrated Pest Management Technical Advisory Committee (yes, it's a mouthful, and yes, it's part of San Francisco's ever-growing bureaucracy)... we were introduced to a website called SFPlantFinder.org. This site was created by San Francisco Department of the Environment. A very useful if you'd like to determine what grows natively in your neighborhood, and which plants will (presumably) thrive in the natural conditions in your yard.