How to Plant Mesquite in Clay and Non-Dessert Areas
How to Plant Mesquite in Clay soil and/or Non-Dessert Areas. That is easy. The best way to plant Mesquite is in a combination of sand, clay, compost and pumas. Yes, pumas. It is also known as lava rack. It can be purchased at any home improvement store. It can be found in the landscaping section, [...]
Platystemon californicus – Cream Cups – California wildflower Annual
Platystemon californicus – Cream Cups – Delectable cream and yellow annual growing under 1′ tall, with fuzzy nodding buds. Early spring bloomer but can be planted sequentially for later bloom. California native plants are an acquired taste, but there are exceptions to the rules. Cream Cups is an excellent plant for color splash in your garden. [...]
Salvia columbariae – Chia – Golden chia – Desert chia – California wildflower Annual
Salvia columbariae -Chia- Salvia columbariae -Chia- It grows in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, and Baja California and was formerly an important food for Native Americans. This is the seed for the Chia drink. It grows about 2 feet tall with a ball of blue flowers at the top. The drink goes for about $50 per [...]
Clarkia rubicunda – Ruby chalice clarkia – Farewell to spring – California wildflower Annual
Clarkia rubicunda -Ruby chalice clarkia - Long-blooming showy pink-lavender flowers with dark red blotch at base of petals. Flower stalks 12 to 18 inches tall. Still blooming in September on the coast. Blooms the best time in July and June. California native plants are an acquired taste, but there are exceptions to the rules. Ruby chalice clarkia is [...]
Gilia capitata – Globe Gilia – California wildflower Annual
Gilia capitata -Globe Gilia - Grows quickly, blooms heavily, dies with first frost. Can regrow following spring if seed falls on bare ground. Thrives on dry banks in the chaparral. Long bloom period. Plant fall or mid-spring to bloom with summer. California native plants are an acquired taste, but there are exceptions to the rules. Globe Gilia [...]
Clarkia concinna – Red ribbons – California wildflower Annual
clarkia concinna - red ribbons- This is an annual plant with erect, herbaceous stems. The distinctive flowers have four looping sepals of red or dark pink which look like loops of silk ribbon. The longer, pink petals have three lobes which are usually streaked with white. Flowers throughout the summer. California native plants are an acquired [...]
Nemophila menziesii – Baby Blue Eyes – California wildflower Annual
Nemophila menziesii – This California wildflower Annual flower does not have to have an explanation. It has a small bold blue flower that lasts for a month or longer. They can be planted throughout the summer months. California native plants are an acquired taste, but there are exceptions to the rules. Baby Blue Eyes is [...]
Clarkia unguiculata – elegant clarkia – California wildflower Annual – Mountain Garland
Clarkia unguiculata – elegant clarkia – California wildflower Annual flowers have hairy, fused sepals forming a cup beneath the corolla, and four petals each one to 2.5 centimeters long. This flower with its pink, red or purple flowers arching gracefully in a bouquet for almost a month. One of the wildflowers that can out-compete weedy [...]
Western Hop Tree – Ptelea trifoliata – Common hoptree
The common hoptree is an ornamental, deciduous shrub that is sometimes considered a small tree. It can grow up to 20′ though such a height is rather uncommon. It is multi-trunked but easily pruned to develop a single trunk and more of a tree form. Endemic to lower elevations of California, particularly along the banks [...]
Monkey Flower – Mimulus guttatus – seep
Mimulus guttatus is an annual to sometimes perennial that grows in seeps, springs or along creeks. Useful along the edges of ponds or the fountains. Very floriforus for months in spring-summer. Seep monkey flower is well liked by hummingbirds, disliked by deer. If Seep monkey flower goes dry it disappears, sometimes coming back, sometimes it [...]
Farewell-to-Spring – Clarkia unguiculata – elegant clarkia – woodland clarkia
Farewell-to-Spring is a common native California that grows in the understory of Chaparral, Foothill Woodland, Valley Grassland, Coastal Strand. It is an easy plant to grow. The pest part of this type of plant is it is an annual. That means it has to be grown from seeds every year. That is a good thing. [...]
Island Bush Snapdragon – Galvezia speciosa
With its bright red flowers and lime green foliage, Galvezia speciosa (Island Bush-Snapdragon) is one of the happiest plants in the landscape. Galvezia likes full sun or part shade, and since it is native on California’s channel islands, will not tolerate severe frost. It is a woody perennial that mounds up to about three feet [...]
Showy Milkweed – Asclepias speciosa
This flowering plant is a hairy, erect perennial. The large, pointed, banana like leaves are arranged opposite on the stalk like stem. The eye-catching furry pale pink to pinkish-purple flowers are arranged in thick umbels. Their corollas are reflexed and the central flower parts, five hoods with prominent hooks, are star-shaped. The fruit is a [...]
Ninebark – Physocarpus capitatus – Rosaceae (the rose family) – Pacific ninebark – tall ninebark
It is a dense deciduous shrub growing to 1 to 2.5 meters tall. The name comes from the appearance of the bark, which is flaky, peeling away in many layers. The shrub has distinctive maple-like lobed leaves 3-14 cm long and broad, and clusters of small white flowers with five petals and numerous red-tipped stamens. [...]
Fremont’s Bush Mallow – Malacothamnus fremontii – Malvaceae
Fremont’s Bush Mallow is a shrub that is native to California and is endemic (limited) to California alone. It grows in the Yellow Pine Forest, Foothill Woodland, Chaparral and Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands. It’s best to plant it on a slope. A fast growing, thicket forming, native shrub with silvery white felted foliage 4 – 6 ft. [...]
Scented Penstemon – Penstemon palmeri – Scrophulariaceae – Pink Wild Snapdragon
Scented Penstemon is a showy, fragrant penstemon that puts on a display, from summer to mid-fall, of large, tubular, white flowers tinged with pink or lilac. Can bloom first season; the multiple flower stalks may reach 5 – 6 ft. Beckons hummingbirds and thrives in hot, dry conditions. Protect with mulch in winter. One of [...]
California Wild Lilac – Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’
Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’ This is a California native plant. It is best planted next to a Western Red bud for great Spring color. The bush needs to be trimmed back hard, yearly to prevent the bush looking woody and straggly. California Lilacs, or Ceanothus, are some of our most fragrant and colorful shrubs here in [...]
Golden Currant – Ribes aureum
Ribes aureum is erect or rounded shrub 1-3 m tall, without spines, the branches reddish and hairless to finely short-hairy when young, hairless and dark gray with age. The fruits are berries, hairless, round, about 7 mm long, red to black, rarely yellow, palatable. This is a great plant to have in the yard for [...]
Native Plants – Videos
Gardening Rhythms: Luke Hass in Berkeley, CA Part 1 Gardening Rhythms: Luke Hass in Berkeley, CA Part 2 Gardening Rhythms: Luke Hass in Berkeley, CA Part 3 Gardening Rhythms: Middlebrook Gardens Native Plant for California Part 1 Gardening Rhythms: Middlebrook Gardens Native Plant for California Part 2