Category Archives: Good for gardens

Alert hikers might first notice California hoptree (Ptelea crenulata) because of its sweet fragrance drifting across the trail. Both the leaves and the blossoms exude a sweet scent. This makes it a good garden plant not just for its own sake, but also because ants and other insects love the flowers, and in turn attract jays, flycatchers and other birds. Each blossom is very pretty, with 4 or 5 narrow white petals, and stamens tipped with bright yellow pollen. Look for ants happily roaming across the sprays of small white flowers.

This California endemic grows in canyons and woodlands; the distribution loosely circles the Central Valley (as you can see on this map).

California hoptree have distinctive deep green, shiny leaves divided into three leaflets. But be careful–it can easily be mistaken for another three-leafleted native: poison oak!! Both also have small white flowers, so be sure to be cautious.

Here you can see the winged achene-type fruit developing

Shiny leaves with three leaflets can superficially look like poison oak

Bush poppy was a stunning sight in a fog-soaked hike atop Mt. Tamalpais today. The brilliant yellow flowers adorn the chaparral like jewels. Each blossom can be a few inches across, with four delicate petals surrounding a slightly orange mound of stamens. The leathery, gray-green leaves also are attractive.

Bush poppy (Dendromecon rigida, also known as tree poppy) can grow up to nine feet tall, though all the ones I have seen have been much smaller.  You can find it in coastal chaparral, and also in the foothills of the coast ranges and the Sierras up to 6,000 feet. It thrives in well-drained, rocky soil; I saw it along the red-dirt cut banks of the Rock Spring trail on the east side of the mountain.

The photo above, which only shows the blossom, doesn’t do this plant justice–it really is a striking shrub, especially as a splash of color in the muted tones of the chaparral.

Broad-faced, freckled little flowers are scattered across the grassland. These are baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), a sweet sight of spring. Each showy blossom can be up to 4 cm across, and when they grow en masse they are even more striking. In Marin, these flowers usually are a pale blue, but they can also be white–or a dark blue that fades toward white at the center.

Nemophila menziesii var. menziesii

Baby blue eyes are in the waterleaf family, along with Phacelia and yerba santa, but unlike both those species it has only one showy flower per stalk. They can grow scattered or in dense clusters, with the long-stalked blooms rising above pinnately compound leaves. Look for this bloom from southern Oregon to northern California.

Gardeners love this little annual because it can self-sow, seeding a new batch each year.