So to speak…

The native perennials and wildflowers are looking really nice. They like it when Rikki waters them.

Eriogonum grande v. rubescensis from San Miguel Island of the Channel Islands National Park.

The rubescens is for the red flowers. The grande is for the big leaves, as far as buckwheats go.

We give them full sun, but then we’re at the coast just like the islands they come from. On the other hand further inland they need some afternoon shade to be at their prettiest.

They will bloom on and off for months through the summer, and yet they don’t need summer water after the first year in the ground. I assume that is because they’re native to clay soils.

Butterflies love them. Deer might too, but we don’t have deer very often down here in the Berkeley Flats, so we watch the butterflies instead.

Blooms are popping out all over.

Achillea “Cerise Queen”

Achillea “Heidi”

Achillea “Paprika”

Not to mention the previously posted Achillea “Red Velvet”

Here, have some flowers.

OK, so those flowers aren’t exactly “pretty” but they are called Baja Fairy Duster.

Calliandra californica will get 6 ft. x 6 ft. in an open, vase-shaped shrub. The red puffball flowersare pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies too. But not today. They’re all hiding from the rain.

Lewisia longipetalas are all still in crazy bloom. They are going for months. Who wants to bet they keep blooming into August?

Achillea “Paprika”

Do you want to see all the different yarrows currently in bloom all at once, or should I space them out so you can enjoy their colorful blooms for weeks to come?

I have jury duty today. Hopefully that will be it. But blogging may slow down a bit. Of course, I could always do jury-pool-blogging for you.

Sisyrinchium bellum in the iris family. In person it always seems more blue than in the photos.

Dudleya attenuata

Also known as Fleabane

Erigeron glaucus is a reliable California coastal bloomer. Easy to grow, lives for years, spreads out a bit. It’s a Northern Cal. native, up through the Oregon coast, so it can handle clay soils and sandy soils. High winds too. It’s an exposure-junky, although that’s not to say a bit of afternoon sun won’t make it happy. I love double negatives! Did I just say it likes a bit of afternoon shade, or not? Hard to say.

Will be found an attractive plant by the butterflies and the bees.

Malacothamnus palmeri is actually called Bush Mallow. This California native has hairy leaves, thus being a deer resistent option. Native to the Central Coast, it’s naturally found as far north as Monterey. But it’s a reliable yearly bloomer with reblooms in the fall, so it has been planted successfully farther north than Monterey. Why, one could even claim to have seen it in the Berkeley area.

Mimulus “Eleanor” has some very interesting colors.

Dudleya hassei

I love Santa Catalina Island! OK, well, no. I’ve never been there. I’ve never been to the Channel Islands at all. I have been to Santa Barbara though.

Sisyrinchium californicum

This tiny yellow flower is hard to photograph. The yellow is very dense and the flower is very small. Here’s my secret: (shhh, it’s photoshop.) I isolated that baby from the rest of the picture and tweaked it up good.

Here’s how it looked straight out of the camera.

Bright!

Our first giant poppy flower of the year!

According to Calflora,

Matilija poppy is a glabrous, shrubby perennial, heavy branched and woody at the base, growing to 8′ tall.

I wonder what glabrous means? I suppose I should take a botanical terminology class. Or, let me check the wikipedia.

In botany and mycology, glabrous is an adjective used to describe a morphological feature as smooth, glossy, having no trichomes (bristles or hair-like structures), or glaucousness (see also indumentum). No plants have hair, although some structures may resemble it. Glabrous features may be an important means of identifying flora species. Glabrous characteristics of leaves, stems, and fruit are commonly used in plant keys.

Romneya coulteri

Malacothamnus fasciculatus is one of three mallow species we currently have at the nursery, all in bloom or bud. Plus the related Flannel Bushes in big bloom.

Salvia brandegei “Pacific Blue” – is from Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara.

These are a nice size. They’ll get 4 ft. tall x 6ft. wide. Heavily branched, the narrow green leaves are nicely scented. The tiered whorls of dark lavender blue flowers open slowly over the course of a month long bloom period. Long-lived, very drought-tolerant, hardy to at least 15°F.

Fremontodendron californicum

This is a shorter of the California flannels. Generally it will stay below about 10ft. They put out an amazing show of these buttercup-yellow flowers in spring, i.e. right now. Right Now!

I hear from the grapevine that they will espalier well. They’re totally freeze tolerant so you could probably grow it in Oregon too, just try to keep them a bit drier in the summer.

Encelia californica, also known as the California Brittlebush. You can extend the bloom season by deadheading religiously. The shrubs will get hundreds of flower heads at the same time. It is a daisy, or sunflower, or aster, depending on if you prefer to call the Asteraceae Family the Aster, Sunflower or Daisy Family. I usually call it the Daisy family since the flowers are all, clearly, daisy flowers.

It will survive most Berkeley winters, but is short lived regardless, so mix it in with your ceanothuses and your echeverias for maximum effect.

A couple productive garden plants in their Northern California coastal native habitat.

Artemisia pycnocephala

Lupinus arboreus

The x Chiranthofremontia has bloomed.

This Chiranthodendron x Fremontodendron hybrid is interesting. It’s a 15ft. shrub with stunning flowers. Far Out Flora got their photo of this plant up before me. How about that!

Pacific Coast Iris

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

This California Lilac is endemic to California. There are many cultivars and Hybrids from this, but the original Blue Blossom has a very soft blue flower. In habitat it has been known to grow about 20 feet tall, but in local gardens it stays under 12ft. generally.

The small native bees can live off these flowers. But be warned – the deer like these soft green leaves too.

Lupinus albifrons is a very pretty California lupine. The silver foliage is pretty year round while these two-toned flowers are pretty all spring long.

California has some pretty lupines. Like this one. And this one.

I see we have our first couple California Iris blooms.

Yay!