A Bountiful Spring, Part 2

 Following up my post of a month ago, here are a few more plants that are blooming now. Some of these I have written about before and some are new.

First, two colors of monkeyflower (Diplacus sp.). This used to be known as Mimulus (or Diplacus) aurantiacus, but the taxonomy of this species is really confusing now, so I'm going to just leave it at the genus. The colors make a great combination.

Next are two species of Brodiaea. The first is thread-leaf Brodiaea (B. filifolia) which I've had for many years. I can't remember it ever having so many flowers. I count 23 of them in the photo below. I have it in a container so it's easier to keep track of the corms.

The second Brodiaea is a relatively new one for me, B. santarosae. The corms were given to me by Tom Chester a few years ago, and this year they lived up to their full potential. It's a larger plant than filifolia with larger flowers. I put these in the ground because I didn't have a pot to put them in and because Tom says they propagate themselves rapidly. Santarosae is so named because it is restricted to the Santa Rosa Plateau of Riverside County where it grows on basaltic (volcanic) soil. The basalt cap on the plateau creates very interesting and unique conditions for plants, including vernal pools.

The photo below shows how I have the monkeyflowers and Brodiaea santarosae in the same area of the back yard.

I've had Madia elegans for a number of years and it is a reliable performer in late spring and summer when there isn't much else blooming. It's somewhat surprising for an annual because it gets rather large and develops a semi-woody main stem. 

Mixed in with the Madia is Delphinium cardinale. It's just starting to bloom now. The flower stalks get really tall, 7' to 8'. 

 

 

Another one of my favorites is gumplant (Grindelia camorum). Its name comes from the fact that the developing flower bud gets a large amount of sticky white sap. Native people in southern California used the sap as an adhesive for various purposes. The flower is also beautiful and attractive to pollinators.

Summer holly (Comarostaphylis diversifolia diversifolia) is a very nice shrub or small tree that more people should try. It is related to manzanita and looks quite similar but is more upright and tree-like. The bark is gray rather than red. Its upright habit makes it perfect for tight spaces. It's also relatively fast growing if given the right conditions. The one in the photo below is about 5 years old, started from a one gallon container.

The flowers are the upside down urn shape of manzanitas, but they are smaller and there are more of them, arranged in very orderly rows. In summer it produces small red fruit that are the source of the common name summer holly. Birds are attracted to the fruit.

To finish up, my elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) is flowering now. I was looking at it recently and noticed a couple of hover flies feeding on the flowers. When I see that I feel like it is my reward for planting natives in my garden.

A Bountiful Spring

 I haven't posted anything in over a year. I decided to produce a new post because this spring has been especially good in a number of ways. At the beginning of April the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society held its annual garden tour and my garden was one stop on the tour. Lots of flowers were blooming, providing a very nice display. Around 400 people visited. It was great fun.

Since then there has been a new round of blooming which is possibly even better than the April bloom. The following are some of the standouts.

In the front yard there has been an extravagant crop of Clarkia unguiculata (elegant clarkia) which I've had for a number of years. It is a very reliable bloomer and seed producer. The flowers come in shades of pink, purple and white. Scattered among the Clarkias are a number of Gilia capitata (blue gilia) and Eschscholzia californica (California poppy).

Matching the Clarkia in showiness is Collinsia heterophylla (Chinese houses). Like the Clarkia I've had it for several years but this year was outstanding. The plants are small in size but quite impressive in their color and structure. Along with the Chinese houses, this section of the garden includes more blue tones - Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes), Sisyrinchium bellum (blue-eyed grass), and Sairocarpus nuttallianus (Nuttall's snapdragon). In the photo below the baby blue eyes can be seen but the other two are too small to show up in this photo.

In the side yard I was surprised to find a number of plants of Castilleja exserta (owl's clover). I was surprised because this is the first time it has come up, although I spread seed there some years ago. I really hope they return in the future.

In a small container in the back yard I have a new onion that I got from Neel's Nursery. It's Allium abramsii (Abram's onion). It's native to the southern Sierras so it isn't locally native, but I can't resist interesting geophytes and they do really well in a container.

I have another onion in the front yard. It's Allium haematochiton (red-skinned onion). This one has more pink in the flowers and is native to the coast from LA county down into Baja. It is doing quite well in the shade of the coast live oak.

In a container in the back is a very nice Penstemon spectabilis (showy penstemon). It's a little past peak bloom now but there are still some big, gorgeous flowers on it. I've had this before and it didn't live long. I'm going to try to make this one last longer.

One more container has a nice display of Bloomeria crocea (goldenstar), another geophyte that grows from a bulb. It's related to Brodiaea and other small lily-like monocots. After flowering it completely disappears until the next winter.

Finally, a species that I didn't know I had. It is Epilobium ciliatum (willowherb). It is native to much of North America where it grows on the margin of streams and ponds. In my garden it came up in a container where I have water-loving plants such as Erythranthe guttata (seep monkeyflower, shown at bottom). But I did not plant the willowherb and I don't know where it came from. At least I don't remember planting it. It has a tiny flower that would not be noticed by most people. Nevertheless it is a nice addition to the planter so I hope it sticks around.

There will be more plants flowering in the coming weeks, including Delphinnium cardinale, Brodiaea santarosae, and Brodiaea filifolia. I'll post about them soon.