Wow! I’m jealous. I always assumed that calochortus and Triteleias and Brodiaea would be difficult to start from seed; I’ve only ever seen them growing in the Sierra mountains and foothills, though I’ve got a book that talks about how the Spanish saw them blanketing vast swaths of the valley. I’ll take a note of these, S. Bipinnata and p. Nodiflora are new ones on me. I’m also impressed that you’re growing miner’s lettuce, I’ve seen it growing wild in the valley, but it’s rare ime.
I’ve been trying to work up the gumption to try growing narrow leaf milkweed, but I always talk myself down because they seem to be very fickle germinators. Kinda similar, I tried growing some Yerba Santa, but they’re also apparently very fickle about sprouting conditions and I didn’t get any from the last packet I ordered.
Calochortus has been a bit tricky, the others were quite easy. I just collected some seed from nearby empty open spaces and put them in pots and they grew. You have to know where to find them though–they’re mostly in the hills now because those were never plowed, but there are small areas here and there that weren’t laser-leveled with the rest of the valley. iNaturalist can be helpful for these.
They seem to do better if you extend the growing season with irrigation in fall and spring but even without they do fine. So far they don’t survive when I put them in the ground though, not sure why. Pest issue maybe.
Interesting that miner’s lettuce is rare where you are. It’s a weed that grows in the sidewalk here. I guess it does like a lot of moisture, and it gets a lot drier further south. We get about 18 inches of rain here which is plenty in winter, and since it dies back in spring it doesn’t mind the summer.
Phacelia is another one I’ve been wanting to try. There’s one at a local park that is always teeming with bees.
I just googled Phacelia and holy moly! That looks amazing! Yeah, where I’m at, the miner’s lettuce really only grows in partially shady low spots down here, the kind of stuff that’s usually overtaken with stinging nettle, sow thistle, and fescue. It’s much more common to see it in damp, low lying, shady areas in the hills at my latitude.
This is really great stuff! You know, take it or leave it, I run a Lemmy community for California native plants at https://lemm.ee/c/ca_native_plants (I forget the right way to link a community on Lemmy, sorry). I’d really appreciate it if you’d indulge me with some pictures and updates there! I plan on sharing my own progress as things get out of the seedling stage.
Cool! I just subscribed. I’m not really too fussed about aesthetics so my back yard where I grow this stuff is a total mess that I’d be a bit embarrassed to share but I’ll think about it. Maybe if I get any flowers this spring. Or I could share some of the native plants I see around my neighborhood in other spaces.
Wow! I’m jealous. I always assumed that calochortus and Triteleias and Brodiaea would be difficult to start from seed; I’ve only ever seen them growing in the Sierra mountains and foothills, though I’ve got a book that talks about how the Spanish saw them blanketing vast swaths of the valley. I’ll take a note of these, S. Bipinnata and p. Nodiflora are new ones on me. I’m also impressed that you’re growing miner’s lettuce, I’ve seen it growing wild in the valley, but it’s rare ime.
I’ve been trying to work up the gumption to try growing narrow leaf milkweed, but I always talk myself down because they seem to be very fickle germinators. Kinda similar, I tried growing some Yerba Santa, but they’re also apparently very fickle about sprouting conditions and I didn’t get any from the last packet I ordered.
Calochortus has been a bit tricky, the others were quite easy. I just collected some seed from nearby empty open spaces and put them in pots and they grew. You have to know where to find them though–they’re mostly in the hills now because those were never plowed, but there are small areas here and there that weren’t laser-leveled with the rest of the valley. iNaturalist can be helpful for these.
They seem to do better if you extend the growing season with irrigation in fall and spring but even without they do fine. So far they don’t survive when I put them in the ground though, not sure why. Pest issue maybe.
Interesting that miner’s lettuce is rare where you are. It’s a weed that grows in the sidewalk here. I guess it does like a lot of moisture, and it gets a lot drier further south. We get about 18 inches of rain here which is plenty in winter, and since it dies back in spring it doesn’t mind the summer.
Phacelia is another one I’ve been wanting to try. There’s one at a local park that is always teeming with bees.
I just googled Phacelia and holy moly! That looks amazing! Yeah, where I’m at, the miner’s lettuce really only grows in partially shady low spots down here, the kind of stuff that’s usually overtaken with stinging nettle, sow thistle, and fescue. It’s much more common to see it in damp, low lying, shady areas in the hills at my latitude.
This is really great stuff! You know, take it or leave it, I run a Lemmy community for California native plants at https://lemm.ee/c/ca_native_plants (I forget the right way to link a community on Lemmy, sorry). I’d really appreciate it if you’d indulge me with some pictures and updates there! I plan on sharing my own progress as things get out of the seedling stage.
Cool! I just subscribed. I’m not really too fussed about aesthetics so my back yard where I grow this stuff is a total mess that I’d be a bit embarrassed to share but I’ll think about it. Maybe if I get any flowers this spring. Or I could share some of the native plants I see around my neighborhood in other spaces.
Glad to hear it! That’s all welcome!