Gardening With a Wild Heart - Judith Lowry's Blog

To paraphrase a poem that my brother used to recite, breathes there anybody with soul so dead as not to love baby-blue-eyes, Nemophila menziesii? It's getting to be time to sow the seed of this annual wildflower. Low-growing, good for the front of the flower border, and stunning in containers, baby blue eyes is a universal favorite. It can be sown this time of the year in the midwest and east coast; Californians and West Coasters would have to supply the necessary irrigation for germination and early growth, and a part-shade spot would be preferable. My large mass of nemophilas, blooming full...

This year brought an abundant harvest of the annual wildflower hayfield tarweed, Hemizonia congesta ssp. lutescens, growing in such pure and extensive masses that we were able to gather it in a modern imitation of the time-honored indigenous way - substituting tennis racquet for a seed-beater, and stainless steel bowl for gathering basket. We learned some fascinating lessons about this ancient way of harvesting wild seeds. At the same time, we gathered other species growing with tarweed and setting seed at the same time, which includes one native grass, meadow barley, one perennial wildflower, blue-eyed grass, and two more annuals,...

It's been a very long time since I've updated our Garden Journal on our website, but the remarkable late summer bloom has inspired me. In bloom today: August 2, 2013. It's hard to believe how much is in bloom at the beginning of August in the coastal Larner Seeds Demonstration Garden, but here goes:  Annual wildflowers are heavy on the clarkias, including Clarkia rubicunda, Clarkia amoena 'The Real," Clarkia amoena 'The Unreal,' and Clarkia unguiculata. Also, Trifolium wormskioldii, springbank clover, is responding to a bit of extra moisture with a whole new round of flowers.  This interesting clover is one of the few native clovers that are perennial,...

Wildflower seedlings are now making good growth, having germinated with the fall and winter rains. Soon, they will be bursting into bloom.  Tip: Rain in January and February is critical for a good spring bloom. Since it has been a record-breaking dry spell, provide irrigation now where and if you can.  We've been asked if it's too late to sow in February and March. We do it all the time, and you can too, if you are willing to provide irrigation for early germination and to make good root growth. We sow wildflower seed in the ground as late as April. We've frequently...