Theodore Payne "Hummingbird Mix"

A list with photos of the flowers included in the "Hummingbird Mix" seed packet -- "an assortment of annuals, perennials and low shrubs most attractive to hummingbirds, designed to keep hummingbirds in your garden year round" -- from the Theodore Payne Foundation. All images from Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons.

Castilleja exserta (Owl's clover).

Purple owl's clover, March 2015, Antelope Valley California Poppy State Reserve, Lancaster, California. Photo by Walter Siegmund.

Clarkia unguiculata (Elegant clarkia), May 2010, photographed on Panoche Road, San Benito County, California by Eric in SF.

Clarkia unguiculata, at the Grotto Trail, Circle X Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California.

Diplacus longiflorus, syn. Mimulus longiflorus (Monkey flower), May 2017, photographed by Jesse Rorabaugh.

Penstemon centranthifolius, photographed at the Wild Animal Park, Escondido, California, USA by Wikimedia Commons user Stickpen.

 

Penstemon centranthifolius (Scarlet bugler), photographed in Cottonwood Heights City, Utah.

Penstemon spectabilis (Showy penstemon), Wild Animal Park, Escondido, California.

Penstemon spectabilis, photographed by Wikimedia Commons contributor Dennismudd.

Peritoma arborea, formerly Cleome isomeris (Bladder pod), photographed near California State Route 58 west of Barstow, California by Stan Shebs.

Peritoma arborea (formerly Isomeris arborea, syn. Cleome isomeris)m photographed on Kelbaker Road near Willow Wash, Mojave National Preserve, southeastern Californiaby Stan Shebs.

Salvia columbariae (Chia), photographed by Walter Siegmund in a dry wash west of Godde Hill Road, 150 m north of Hacienda Ranch Road; Lancaster, California.

Salvia columbariae (Chia), photographed by Walter Siegmund in a dry wash west of Godde Hill Road, 150 m north of Hacienda Ranch Road; Lancaster, California.

Salvia mellifera (Black sage).

Salvia mellifera.

California burclover

Probably most kids in Southern California are familiar with this weed, from having the burrs stuck in their socks after playing outside at recess or lunch (I remember being fascinated by the burr's spiral construction!).  There is rather a lot of it in our front yard this year for some reason, so I decided to look it up.  It is Medicago polymorpha, also known as burr medic, toothed bur clover, and, for some reason, California burclover -- it is not native to California at all, but to the Mediterranean, presumably the reason why it grows so well here.  In lawns it is usually short, most likely because it keeps getting mowed off, but when given its head it is long and sprawling, either along the ground or borne up by nearby plants. 

(Quite a number of online sources remark on its being called "California burclover" while native to the Mediterranean, but none of them wants to even hazard a guess as to why it is associated with California!)

Matilija poppy

A matilija poppy, presumably Romneya coulteri and not the very similar R. trichocalyx. This semi-evergreen flowering shrub is native to southern California and Baja California.  Apparently it can be a bit difficult to get started in the garden, but once it is established it is quite sturdy and tolerant of less-than-ideal conditions.

It can grow to 3-5 feet tall and spread to 8 feet, with beautiful bluish-greenish-grey foliage and bright-white parchment-like petaled flowers with a globe of yellow at their centers.

Laguna Lake Park, June 2012.

Wildflower garden

A very charming front garden in the Preservation District of Fullerton. Included are California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and mountain garland (Clarkia unguiculata), both California natives.  Mountain garland -- the tall pink ones here -- are also known as elegant clarkia.

Saucer magnolia

Magnolia soulangeana, or saucer magnolia, is I think one of the most beautiful of spring trees.  This deciduous tree is a slow-grower up to 25 ft. high with a 25-ft. spread (7.6 m).  It is recommended for Sunset zones 1-10 and 12-24 -- the blooms are subject to frost damage, and the tree tends to do poorly in hot, dry, or windy areas. It requires moist, well-drained neutral or slightly acid soil, with deep and thorough watering.  Flowers are white to pink or purplish-red, and appear in early spring before the leaves expand.

M. soulangeana is named for French plantsman Étienne Soulange-Bodin (1774–1846), a retired cavalry officer of Napoleon's army, who first bred the tree in 1820 as a cross between M. denudata and M. liliiflora, two ornamental magnolias native to China. The saucer magnolia has since proved very popular as an ornamental shrub or small tree in England, Europe, Japan, and the United States.

The blooms pictured above are from M.s. "Alexandrina" (also found as "Alexander"), which has large, elegant blooms of deep purplish-pink with pinkish-white insides.

In my garden, the leaves in late summer have a tendency to get sunburned, and they usually fall much earlier than most trees in the area; on the plus side, the bare grey branches are quite striking.

Sunset notes that the saucer magnolia is "also erroneously called tulip tree" (Liriodendron tulipifera, also in the Magnoliaceae family). The name is also spelled M. soulangiana.

A young saucer magnolia, possibly also "Alexandrina", in a charming cottage-garden setting in north Fullerton.