I've been enjoying a few blooms in particular lately. Most of them are blooms of plants that I propagated from local wild. And most of them are in the sunny pool garden...
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| Poppies golden poppies, Symbol of our state!! From purchased seed. Here with ornamental sage, and local native Stipa cernua, nodding needle grass in the background. Poppies are growing everywhere this year. |
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| I've been harvesting the copious seeds of the nodding needlegrass, and also Stipa lepida, foothill needlegrass - another locally native needlegrass, with shorter awns. I'm leaving plenty for the birds. I think next year I'll grow more S. lepida, the foothill needlegrass. |
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| I grew four different kinds of locally native bulbs from wild gathered seed, with varying success. My fault entirely - I forgot to feed the bulbs in the bulb boxes after harvesting the bigger ones, and the ones I planted out - probably didn't get enough water, or got eaten by gophers. Of the ones planted out - Fairy Lanterns, Calochortus albus did very well - as shown above, seed pods developing. Fremont's star lily - not so much. One plant grew, of the bulbs I planted out. And one fritillary, Fritillaria affinis (I was glad to get an ID on that one!) Soap root plant is doing great though. |
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| The plant that's captivated me this year is Eriophyllum confertiflorum, golden yarrow - not a true yarrow. It brightens up so many spots around our property. Does best around here with a little shade, and some water - but it also grows on the arid and sunny chaparral slope down near the road. It's a perennial - just cut it back a bit for the next season. |
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| Also I've been very happy to see that the hairy honeysuckle, Lonicera hispidula, that's growing through the golden yarrow here is doing so well. I grew this plant and others like it from local wild seed several years ago, and I'm enjoying how they sprawl around the edges of the garden and clamber up the fence here and there (they're not very tenacious climbers). |
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| And I'm very happy to see that lupines large and small are reseeding all over the place. They are just starting to bloom. I'll be curious to see if these Lupinus arboreus pack it in after one year, as they did last year, or if they will be perennial as advertised. I also have seen a lot of the little annual lupine, L. bicolor. |
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| Alum root, Heuchera micrantha, second year in its pot there. Just lovely! They are returning where I planted them - doing better with a little shade and water than in sunnier areas. |
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| Over in the shady bed, things are looking interesting - and a bit chaotic. Right now Mimulus guttatus, seep monkey flower, is bursting out all over. I really love them - but if they dry out in the sun, they really wither big time. |
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| The Verbena lilacena "De La Mina" is coming back after being pruned back hard last year. This is a nursery bought native that the butterflies love. |
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| And here is a butterfly to prove it - The Variable Checkerspot or Chalcedon Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona). It's been wonderful seeing their caterpillars and pupae too. |
Well, that's it for now - I just wanted to share these native California blooms that make me feel so very happy. I'll be writing about a special garden bed I'm putting in, next time. Apart from enjoying the reseeding plants, I've mostly been weeding like crazy everywhere I can. But today - I was overjoyed to see that I've got seeds of local wild western columbine,
Aquilegia formosa finally germinating - the first time I've had success with them - I hope I can bring them on!
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