Clarkia amoena, Farewell-to-Spring 'Wild Form'

The wild form of "Farewell to Spring," this annual makes the hillsides of northern California bright with its deep to pale pink-lavender satiny petals, each with a mid-petal darker pink to purple "blotch." A mass of this 1-2 ft. tall flower can bloom for months as the blossoms at the base of the flower stalk go to seed and new ones open at the top of the flower stalk. It blooms usually from mid-summer to early fall.

Not as showy (some would say "gaudy") as the Clarkia amoena that is the horticultural form, it is preferred by purists. Can handle sun or part-shade. Gorgeous in containers. The seed was and is used as a seasoning for other foods and as pinole by many of California's indigenous tribes.