April 2025 Plant Availability

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Greetings Watershed,

We are so excited to see that Spring has sprung here in the Bay Area with its wild array of vibrant color! And so with all the floriferous bounty of the season, our Retail Sales Associate, Aaron, wrote this month’s newsletter on the joy of creating cut flower bouquets. Enjoy!

If we have something particularly dazzling blooms here at the nursery, greenery leftover from pruning, or an event we are tabling at, we love to make a cut flower arrangement to greet people. Almost immediately these floral displays are always met with the most enthusiastic reactions. It is special to see people explore the sensory delights of these plants and inevitably ask all sorts of questions: How do I grow this? Does it smell? What kind of pollinators visit these flowers? I find that for many (including myself) seeing these species up-close in a vase can be like meeting them again for the first time. I think this example encapsulates how among the many benefits of using CA natives as cut flowers, it can chiefly be a chance to more deeply appreciate their beauty, so we better know their value. It is lovely to know that a few sprays of flowers can be a great tool in encouraging folks to become more passionate about gardening with native plants and being ecosystem stewards! Here are some other benefits:

Environmental impact:

Behind the conventional cut flower industry is a complex supply chain that contributes to pollution, carbon emissions, and resource depletion. For example, many of the flowers sold in the US are flown in from South America or farther. The impact spans from water use, to long-distance transportation, energy-intensive farming practices, and plastic or organic waste. Growing your own native bouquets turns floral arrangement into a positive ecological practice, while creating habitat and supporting biodiversity!

Sense of Place and Seasonality:

Using CA native plants as cut flowers provides a unique regional and seasonal aesthetic that helps us keep in rhythm with nature. Think CA Rosehips in Winter, honey-scented CA Lilac in Spring, aromatic Tarweed in Summer, and zippy CA fuchsia in Autumn. By bringing a little piece of the garden indoors, we get to have a sense of place in our homes that non-native cut flowers just can’t provide. I personally love creating arrangements that have that slightly wild, “just harvested” feel. CA Native Ikebana anyone?

Mental Health, Mindfulness, and The Gift of Giving:

Green space has a positive impact on humans, with long term benefits to health and emotional wellbeing. In an increasingly urbanized and fast paced world, placing an intentional arrangement of cut flowers can be a grounding reminder of the natural world, and a thoughtful gift for anyone. Most especially to those that might not have access to green space of their own. Gifting a bouquet of flowers is a caring way to foster community wellbeing, and perhaps introduce more folks to the beauty of the natural world.

Tips & Tricks:

Only collect from your garden, or where you have written permission to do so
Cut with clean, sharp tools
Remove any leaves that would be below the water line
Use clean, cold water & replace the water every few days
Cauterize/burn cut stem ends to extend blooming
Design Principles – balance foliage, fragrance, showy blooms, and “filler” in your design. See our featured species below for more inspiration!

Annual Wildflowers

Wild Mountain Garland

Clarkia unguiculata

Available in 4″ pots for $7.70 each!

A stunning and reliable reseeder reaching up to 5′ tall, this annual grows well in full sun to part shade, and its showy blooms vary from pale to bright pink, lavender and even white!
An exceptional bee and hummingbird magnet perfect for pollinator gardens, containers, dry shade, and fits beautifully in the back of the border to frame lower growing flowers.
This wild grown form has larger blossoms that are more widespread along the stem, and blooms continuously from early to mid-summer
As a cut flower it makes a bold vertical statement, and is super long-lasting in a bouquet–often can live in a vase for over a month!

Large-Flowered Collomia

Collomia grandiflora

Available in 4″ pots for $7.70 each!

A tidy, fuzzy annual with red to green stems that range in height from 4″ to 3′ tall
Large-flower Collomia lives up to its name with open clusters of sherbet orange trumpet-shaped flowers that fade to white with conspicuous blue pollen for a multi-colored effect. These flower spikes emerge from rosettes of long, hairy lance-shaped leaves
Another prolific reseeder!
Grows best in open spaces with dry soils and full sun to part shade.
A perfect statement cut-flower for all pastel lovers, its apricot colored blooms balance well with the deep blues and pinks of lupines and Clarkias!

California Poppy

Eschscholzia californica

Available in D-16 containers for $7.70 each!

Our state flower! An easy to grow annual reaching 6”-2’ tall, and well loved for its brilliant, satiny flowers. Drought tolerant and low maintenance, CA Poppy grows in a diverse range of habitats, preferring fast draining soil but will thrive in almost any soil type, full sun being its only true requirement. In milder climates such as the Bay Area, poppies can be perennial
CA Poppy can be distinguished by silky cup-shaped flowers that range from golden yellow to orange and fern-like dissected blue-green foliage. Here at the nursery we have cultivars available in colors ranging from red, purple, pale yellow, pink and this year, a cross-pollinated mystery mix!
Is it illegal to pick CA poppies?–It is illegal to remove or damage plants from property you don’t own without permission, which may constitute trespass and/or petty theft. As well, it is illegal to pick any plant found in state and federal parks. So, stick to your garden, and you’re just fine!
California Poppies usually last just a few days in a vase, but provide a wonderful punch of color to any arrangement–just be sure to “cauterize” or burn the cut ends of the stems, which helps prevent sap leakage and allows the flowers to drink water more effectively.
At night the flowers will curl closed and open in the day’s light even in a vase, just like in the garden! For this reason, Poppies are sometimes called dormidera or “sleepy one” in Spanish.

Foliage & Greenery

California Wild Grape

Vitis californica

Available in D-16, D-40 and gallon containers for $3.65-15.25 each!

A fast-growing, dioecious deciduous vine to 30′ tall, that blankets landscapes in twisted ropes with large, deeply veined heart-shaped leaves. In the fall, these leaves turn many rich shades of orange and yellow.
Bees relish their yellow flowers from spring to summer. These blooms give way to bunches of small, edible purple grapes in autumn, which birds and other animals rely on.
CA Grape is noted as one of the best plants for supporting butterflies in the Fall!
Prefers regular moisture but is highly drought-adapted once established.
In a home garden scenario, this fast-growing vine needs frequent pruning back -so it is perfectly suited for use in a lovely bouquet or bough!

Salal

Gaultheria shallon

Available in D-40 containers for $13.35 each!

An evergreen 1.5′ tall and 4′ wide ground cover shrub that thrives in damp, shady areas and meadow edges, forming deep thickets. Prefers acidic, humus-rich, moist sandy or peaty soils. Perfect for a coastal, redwood, or woodland garden!
From spring to mid-summer, it blooms with pink to white manzanita-like urn-shaped flowers that dangle from bristly red stems which attract a wide number of pollinators.
These blooms are followed by edible dark-blue berries that ripen in late summer, providing food for birds and mammals
Salal’s round heart-shaped, shiny leaves have a rich green color that turns maroon in the colder seasons. The long lasting evergreen foliage is commonly used in floristry-if you see foliage labeled “lemon leaves” in the grocery store, it is most likely Salal!

Height

Sneezeweed

Helenium puberulum

Available in D-40 pots for $9.70-10.20 each!

A quirky 1′-4′ perennial which produces yellow pom-pom like ray flowers that bloom through summer. Rosilla makes itself at home in moist habitats such as riverbanks, meadows and streambanks. This species thrives with a reliable source of moisture, sun, and some extra compost, but can handle dry periods.
Well suited to a water feature, as a companion plant to more irrigated food crops or as an unusual container specimen.
Butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects relish the nectar and pollen rich flowers it produces. When their blooms fade to rusty brown, goldfinches make a meal out of its seeds. Self-sows readily as well!
The slender ‘lollipop’-headed flower stalks can reach up to 5 ft. in height, adding an unusual and dramatic addition to floral arrangements.

Common Horsetail

Equisetum arvense

Available in gallon pots for $15.25 each!

A rhizomatous perennial that grows to about 1.5 ft tall. A “living fossil”, Equisetum is considered one of the oldest extant (living) genera of vascular plants. This prehistoric species is found in shady woods or sunny open moist areas.
Common Horsetail grows with either sterile or fertile stems. The lush, bright green, photosynthesizing sterile stems grow taller and bushier, with jointed segments.
This non-flowering, seedless plant reproduces by spores (like ferns or moss). These spores are spread from a pine cone-like fruiting body at the tips of the succulent brown-scaled fertile stems which emerge in early spring.
Horsetail’s architectural and fractal foliage makes it a unique textural and vertical addition to floral arrangements

Early Bloomers

Red Bush Monkeyflower

Diplacus puniceus

Available in D-16 pots for $8.95 each!

Red Monkeyflower is a small, fast-growing shrub that reaches about 2′ tall.
These glorious red trumpet shaped flowers can last for most of the year (depending on rainfall pattern). This is great news for the hummingbirds that drink the nectar.
Avoid direct watering in late summer or early fall, monkeyflowers want to go dormant for the hottest months of the year

Showy Penstemon

Penstemon spectabilis

Available in D-16 pots for $8.95 each!

Showy penstemon is a short lived evergreen perennial that grows 2′ wide with erect stems reaching 3-4′ tall.
It is one of the most spectacular of the penstemons. Very drought tolerant, occasional water lengthens bloom season but may shorten the plant’s lifespan. Prune after blooms to promote new growth.
The very showy lavender flowers appear from March to May. It has a somewhat inflated blue purple corolla set off by attractive light green leaves.

Dried Flowers

Pearly Everlasting

Anaphalis margaritacea

Available in D-16 pots for $7.70 each!

This erect, short-lived, rhizomatous perennial grows to 3′ tall. Use in a perennial border, rock garden, or meadow landscape. Drought tolerant, but occasional summer water is best.
Flowers make 2″ clusters of white button heads. Pearly white flowers dry nicely in a fashion similar to straw flowers. Silver gray color gives a contrast to other plants with darker foliage and flowers of brighter hues.
Blooms mid-July through September, and preserves well in a dried bouquet!

Red-Flowering Buckwheat

Eriogonum grande var. rubescens

Available in D-16 pots for $7.70 each!

An attractive low sub-shrub that grows in low mounds to approx. 2′ tall x 10″ wide.
Buckwheats are vital for pollinators, but deer and birds like to browse on young foliage, so keep them protected.
Red-flowering buckwheat is one of the showiest of the buckwheats. It has pale red or pink flowers that bloom from June-October.
Superb in borders and containers; excellent for rock gardens or used liberally as a filler. Their pompom-like blooms dry well, and give a whimsical feel to an arrangement!

Late Season Blooms

California Aster

Symphyotrichum chilense

Available in D-16, D-40, and gallon containers for $7.27-15.25 apiece!

This perennial grows to 1-3 ft tall and makes a flower bed come alive in late summer through fall, when planted with California fuchsia and California goldenrod.
It spreads readily by rhizomes, likes moist soil but can also go without summer water, and is common on coastal grasslands and marshes.
Prune stems to the ground after flowering in the fall and it will reappear late winter.
A great habitat plant, native moths and butterflies use this plant as a nectar source and birds eat the seeds.

Hairy Gumplant

Grindelia hirsutula

Available in D-40 containers for $10.20 each!

This herbaceous perennial grows to 2’ tall and 3′ wide, with bright green foliage, and a compact form that makes for a sunny late season bloom in the garden.
Hairy Gumplant (and other Grindelia) is a great plant for the drought tolerant garden. Once stems are cauterized, Gumplant makes a wonderful addition to a floral arrangement.
The large, golden yellow flowers in the late summer attract nectar seeking butterflies, at a time when many other flowers have gone to fruit or seed.
Remarkably resilient, this species is tolerant of recycled water.

Additional Resources:

–CNPS Webinar

–CNPS article on floral arrangements

–LA Times article

‘Bee’ Well and Happy Spring from all of us at

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