Random Harvest : Want to see the seasons change? Scatter some wildflower seeds for a springtime’s . . .
Spring can slip by almost unnoticed in Southern California.
“You don’t get hit on the head with spring out here,” says Fullerton gardener Beverly Schmidt. “It’s not dramatic like back East where the snow stops, the lakes thaw and you put away your woollies. It’s more subtle here. You have to watch for it.”
Or do what Schmidt does: Broadcast wildflower seeds in the winter. When they emerge a few months later in a dazzling array--as they surely will (“I’ve had good luck with every wildflower packet I’ve ever tried,” she says)--there won’t be any doubt about the season. Wildflowers proclaim spring at the top of their lungs.
“They put on a glorious show,” Schmidt says. “They really make it feel like spring.”
The most exciting way to use wildflowers is to devote a special area to them. Pat Stephenson, another Fullerton gardener, has put her parkway to this use for a number of years.
“It’s very easy to do,” she says. “You sprinkle the seeds over cultivated ground, cover them with a little mulch so the birds don’t eat them all, and then sit back and wait for rain.” (If the rains don’t come, of course, you’ll have to provide a little artificial irrigation.)
“Once the seeds germinate and the plants begin flowering, wildflowers don’t need much,” Stephenson says. “I only watered when they began looking droopy or when things looked like they had come to a standstill” to trigger late bloomers.
Mary Lou Heard of Heard’s Country Gardens in Westminster just put in a large wildflower plot in front of neighbor business, Vintage Rose, and is eagerly anticipating spring.
“This will be a lot different than the more-controlled perennial garden, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out,” she says. “When you sow (mixed) wildflowers, nature makes most of the decisions. The tall flowers may come up in the front instead of the back; you get colors next to each other you wouldn’t have planned; some things germinate, others don’t; some plants reseed, others won’t. You let go and let Mother Nature do her thing.”
Design flaws are more than compensated for in exuberance, Heard says. “If you’ve never tried this before, you’ll be amazed at how powerful it makes you feel.”
Though, as Schmidt attests, almost any wildflower mixture yields good results, there is a growing trend among gardeners toward planting California natives because they are already acclimatized to the soil and weather patterns.
The Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano offers two seed blends, Nature Mix and Trail of Flowers, tailor-made for Southern California gardens. These are the wildflowers that grew naturally on Orange County grassland and chaparral before houses did.
“We picked things that would germinate, bloom and grow easily in Southern California over a long season,” says Mike Evans of Tree of Life. “Some things will do better inland, and some better on the coast, but there’s enough variety in either mix that at least one-third of the things will do well no matter where you live.”
Schmidt and Stephenson began planting wildflowers before the Tree of Life’s seed mixes were available and got their seeds from other sources, but both vouch for many of the flowers that have been included.
Schmidt says she never fails to have success with California poppies, blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), and clarkia; Stephenson with gold fields (Lasthenia glabtrata), Gilia tricolor, baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) and lupine.
Either of the Tree of Life’s mixes would look great in a parkway, a separate bed like the one coming up at Vintage Rose or in a mini-meadow for gardeners with the space and inclination. The nursery recommends mixing wildflowers with a “nurse crop” like Plantago indica or bunch grass when trying this on hillsides for better erosion control.
The majority of purchasers, says Evans, simply use the wildflower mixes as a quick and economic way to add spring color and an element of surprise to existing landscaping.
If you like more control over your color scheme, you can still incorporate wildflowers into your landscaping. Seed packets of individual wildflower varieties are becoming easier to find.
N. menziesii (baby blue eyes), for example, is now available at most nurseries. China blue in hue and shaped like a dainty saucer, low-growing N. menziesii complements similarly delicate cultivated plants like snapdragons and calendulas or makes a soft contrast to bolder, warm-toned flowers like California or Iceland poppies.
“Baby blue eyes take shade, work great as a bulb cover and look good with all kinds of things,” Stephenson says. “They’re easy to find a place for in the garden.”
Sister plant, Nemophila maculata (fivespot), which is white with wine-colored veins and has a purple spot at the tip of each petal, is just as versatile, she says.
Good low-growing wildflowers to add to the front of a sunny border, Stephenson says, are tidy tips (Layia platyglossa campestris), a butter yellow, daisy-like flower with cream-dipped petals and gold fields (Lasthenia glabtrata).
“Gold fields are the little, yellow flowers you see growing in colonies on the hills when you drive north on I-5 over the Ridge Route,” she says. “Or going through Corona on the way to Elsinore.”
If you have room for something taller, you might want to try trumpet-flowered Gilias (1 1/2 to 3 feet). With their cool true- or lavender-blue tones, they make an elegant contrast beneath pink, cream or apricot roses, for example.
Or experiment with showy pink, bright rose or lavender clarkias and nurture a few butterflies while you’re at it.
“I don’t know which butterfly clarkia is a host plant for,” Schmidt says. “I’ve yet to see one hatch from a chrysalis. But the caterpillars themselves are beautiful--deep purple and velvety. I like having them around. They’re something else to look forward to--another sign it’s spring.”
Seed Sources for Wildflowers
* Tree of Life Nursery has two blends of California native wildflower seeds tailored for Southern California which it sells in bulk, minimum purchase 3 ounces. The wholesale nursery, at 33201 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano, is open to the general public every Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (714) 728-0685.
* The Theodore Payne Foundation for wildflowers and native plants has 11 different wildflower mixes (e.g., blue and lavender, golden, shady) and four pages of individual wildflower packets. For the seed list, send a 9-by-12-inch self-addressed, stamped envelope with 52 cents postage to the Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley, Calif. 91352. The foundation also has a hot line later in the season you can call to find out where to view wildflowers. Call (818) 768-1802 for more information.
* The Fullerton Arboretum has California poppy, scarlet flax, baby blues eyes and fivespot seeds for sale in individual packets. The last two flowers are also available in 4-inch pots. Weekend plant sales are held Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. The Arboretum is at the northeast corner of the Cal State Fullerton campus. Entrance is off Associated Road. Phone: (714) 773-3579.
* Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93105. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for seed list.
* Moon Mountain Nursery, P.O. Box 34, Morro Bay, Calif. 93443. Send $2 for catalogue.
* Larner Seeds, P.O. Box 407, Bolinas, Calif. 94924. Send $1.50 for catalogue.
