Bay Area | Far Out Flora

Dead Heading the Echium wildpretii

July 6, 2011 by Matti | 14 Comments

The Echium wildpretii, aka the Tower of Jewels, is one of the coolest plants we’ve grown in the garden. Can’t say for certain, but believe we planted it back in Jan 2010. You can see an old skool picture of it from a post a year and a half ago (1st pic, left hand side).

Echium wildpretii is a biennial monocarpic plant native to the Canary Islands. We started ours from a four inch pot. During the first year it forms a short 2-3 foot stalk of leaves in a rosette pattern. Below is our baby with about a years worth of development.

During its second season of spring growth, it starts to pop out one massive flower which can reach 3-9 feet tall. Our flower spike lurked out last March. The next couple of pics show its progress.

April 2: the excitement builds and it bloomed in time for April’s Bloom Day.

Three weeks later, a flush of flowers began filling in…and two more small flower spikes shot out from the bottom of the stem.

Just a week later, the budding was nearly complete. I would have to call May 7 the day it peaked (see 1st pic).

…3 more weeks and this puppy was about spent. Well, it’s monocarpic thus it’s not coming back so…it was time to dead head it.

We are surprised how well it did in a container. We thought for certain that the roots would be bolting out the bottom of the wooden box it was planted it in. Turned out that everything was well contained inside the planter.

The balancing act

Oh, here’s a tip if you want to balance an Echium wildpretii on your head. The freshly cut stem was super slimy. So instead of resting it on your chin where it easily slips off…try balancing it on your lower set of teeth.

Final resting home

Today, he’s resting against the fence, pining for the fjords. There’s a ton of pin head sized seeds attached to the flower stalk. We’re gonna try collecting some seeds to see if we can get any of them to germinate. Any suggestions how long we need to let those seeds sit before trying to sow them?

– Far Out Flora

Edgewood Natural Preserve Wildflowers

June 29, 2011 by Matti | 7 Comments

Chlorogalum pomeridianum - Wavy-leafed Soap Plant

Wildflower season is getting pretty scarce here, and we tried to get in one more hike before everything dries up. 30 minutes south of SF there’s a cool place called Edgewood Natural Preserve just outside of Redwood City. (oh, btw…we did this hike about 4 wks ago). Kudos to Megan…she did all the leg work trying to identify the names on these guys with the help of their wildflower identifier tool. There’s always a chance that the ID is off, but hey…we try. Check out this Chlorogalum pomeridianum above. These California native perennials grow from bulbs and can be lathered into a soapy foam in your hands with a little water.

Calochortus luteus - Yellow Mariposa Lily

Calochortus luteus is another bulb grower that likes our western coast. I didn’t realize it until now, but Megan just saw these in Tiburon on her solo trip.

Bellardia trixago - Mediterranean Lineseed

Bellardia trixago - Mediterranean Linseed

Sounds like Bellardia trixago are a little obnoxious out in the Bay Area. Native to the Mediterranean, here it grows like a weed and likes to seek out neighboring roots. After latching on to them, it starts stealing nutrients from their wildflower buddies.

Lotus scoparius var. scoparius - Deerweed

Butterflies dig the nectar from this Lotus scoparius var scoparius. Extra bonus, their larvae enjoy munching on this guy too. Seems like a great plant to have if you adore attracting some winged friends. Wildscaping does a great in-depth write up to check out.

Snake hiding in the Grass

So we were hiking along and…OMGosh we saw a big old snake. Actually, Megan saw it first. Sensing her slight panic…I just froze. Another two feet and my foot would have been stepping on it. Oh, did I say it was big? Okay, only 4-5 feet long…but still a little freaky.

Snake heading down the hole

Not certain why maybe a guy thing, but I felt the urge to get super close to it to see if it had a rattle. Well, it didn’t so I felt safer. What we saw next was awesome. It slithered along for a couple minutes then jetted straight down what looked like a gopher hole. Crazy.

Achyrachaena mollis - Blow Wives

Okay, Matti has a new favorite common name for a plant. Yes, Achyrachaena mollis is also known as Blow Wives. I must work that into conversation some time today.

Brodiaea - Cluster Lilies

Gnaphalium californicum - California Cudweed

Gnaphalium californicum grows readily up and down most of the West Coast. NOTE we don’t recommend this, but heard that people brew this guy into a make shift tea. Any harvesters out there do this regularly?

Mimulus aurantiacus - Sticky Monkey Flower

Maybe it’s because this is one of the few flowers that I can regularly identify, or the name just rolls off my tongue…but I love Mimulus. Seems to grow well in a variety of soils and sorta a work horse in the landscape. Hey, you know who has the heartbeat on CA wildflowers? Phyte Club. You must swing by their blog and give them a read.

– Far Out Flora