This weeks cool plant is another native annual. Gilia tricolor is endemic to California and found in the foothills and valley as well as on the coast. It is so easy to grow from seed that I think it is well worth giving a try even if you don’t live in California.
With its bright blue anthers and petals of lavender, maroon, and yellow perhaps “Gilia quadricolor” would have been a better name.
It is a great filler or companion, I have some growing with Orlaya and Scabiosa. Each plant is covered with hundreds of little blooms on ferny foliage that waves and bounces in the breeze. Kind of like a pale purple Gypsophila or Heliophila. I consider this a must for the spring garden now. My only regret is that I didn’t grow more of them. Something I plan on remedying next year.
I saw this book on Amazon called Reimagining the California Lawn:Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs. I was wondering if you have seen it, or suggestions on landscaping books. Thank you!
Yeah I have that book. It is pretty good and the authors are definitely really knowledgable. David Fross is the founder of Native Sons Nursery whose plants fill probably 70% of my garden.
My only complaint is that throughout much of the book they use plants common names rather than scientific names which I found really jarring. I can’t really think of another gardening book I own that has done that so I think it was a really odd choice. Maybe they wanted to appeal to a broader audience of non-gardeners who are looking for lawn alternatives.