I continue to be amazed by the wildflowers in our garden. I had low hopes, since the last time we tried wildflower mixes — which was, oh, six to eight years ago in the front yard and parking strip — all we got were Calpops. Those are nice of course, but they’re rather short-lived, and somewhat boring when they’re the only flowers.
Anyhow, as April progresses, more and more flowers are popping up in the backyard. While the fivespot remains comparatively shy, I’ve seen over half a dozen individual plants. Whoa.
The fivespots seem to prefer sunny borders. Field view of a mound (single plant).
In my last entry, I forgot to mention that vast majority of the wildflowers are these tall, reddish-veined dudes with succulent stems. Lots and lots. Yet no flowers, failing to help in identification. I got my answer this past weekend during the Going Native Garden Tour: Clarkia unguiculata (formerly Clarkia elegans), also called Mountain Garland or Elegant Clarkia. (It’s a Clarkia, which would make Samuel proud. 😉 Moreover, these guys are ¡muy hardy! to the point of outcompeting many weeds. I think I’ve found a solution for the stubborn parking strip.
But since the Clarkia haven’t opened up yet, I’ll offer some Bird’s-Eyes Gilia (Gilia tricolor).
The first ones to bloom, the many baby blue-eyes, are petering out. But now we also have a bunch of composites opening up, mostly tidy tips and tarweed.
Tidy tips.
The seed mixes also included a couple lupines, but they seem few and far between. Perhaps our soil isn’t nitrogen poor enough? I guess that’s something good in many other ways, though!
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