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.

Theodore Payne "Meadow Mix"

These are the seeds in the "Meadow Mix" seed packet available from the Theodore Payne Foundation --

Achillea millefolium (Yarrow), photographed by Wikimedia Commons user Georg Slickers.  [Note that the TPF doesn't specify, but perhaps the one they include is A. millefolium var. californica].

Blue dicks (Dichelostema capitatum), photographed in Mitchell Canyon by Wikimedia Commons user John Rusk from Berkeley, CA.

Dichelostemma capitatum leaves before the appearance of flowers. Photographed at Hedgepeth Hills, Maricopa County, Arizona by Wikimedia Commons user Mike.

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) by Wikimedia Commons user Ryan McMinds.

Western blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) photographed by Wikimedia Commons user Björn S... [sic].

Creeping or molate red fescue (Festuca rubra "Molate").

Festuca rubra, photographed by Wikimedia Commons user Bildoj.

Acmispon glaber, formerly Lotus scoparius (Deerweed). Photographed on the Backbone Trail in chaparral habitat, in Circle X Ranch Park, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California, February 2004.

Stipa pulchra, syn. Nassella pulchra (Purple neddlegrass), photographed in the Santa Monica Mountains, within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Southern California. Credits NPS photo from Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California.

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.

Christmas cactus

The Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera bridgesii, also found as S. buckleyi and Zygocactus truncatus, has arched, drooping branches of curiously flattened and jointed sections, growing as much as 3 ft. across (1 m), with long tubular and many-petalled blooms of purplish-red, red, pink, white, and even yellow, depending on the variety.  It can be grown outdoors in Sunset zones 16-17, and 21-24 in half-shade, or indoors in a cool but bright spot out of direct light.

I hesitate to jinx my luck by saying so, but I do almost nothing to this plant -- I don't feed it, I don't keep it in a dark spot in November to set its blooms for December, and I usually forget to water it regularly -- and yet it still rewards me with scores of blushed-white blooms in early December, and even here and there at other times of the year.  It is also absurdly easy to root new plants -- pinch off a section of stem and put it in water for a few weeks, or plant directly into a pot.

This photo was taken from underneath the plant, which sits on top of a bookcase near a north-west facing window.

Greens

This bed under my living-room window has long been a trouble spot, being very narrow and sandwiched between the foundation of the house and a concrete path, both of which are apparently notorious for leeching acid into the soil.  These three plants are almost completely trouble-free and are attractive year-round.  The Sanseveria is so slow-growing that I have not yet had to cut it back.  The aspidistra needs some dead leaves cut away now and then, but the fern is the only rampant grower of the bunch and needs regular (every few months or so) cutting back or it tends to flop over the path.

At left, Sansevieria trifasciata.  This is a common house and garden plant in Southern California.  It has thick, almost plastic-like leaves that grow in sharp, unrelenting blades -- hence the unkind common name of "mother-in-law tongue".  It grows upright from 1 to 4 ft. (0.3 to 1.2 m), in various patterns of green and cream shades.  I chose this one because it did not have the usual cream edges; I tend not to like variegated leaves much.

At right, sword fern, probably Polystichum munitum.  This easy-to-grow fern is native to the western United States.  Its yellow-green fronds grow from 2 to 4 ft. (0.6 to 1.2 m), depending on soil and moisture conditions. 

At the bottom can be seen a single leaf of Aspidistra eliator, or cast-iron plant.  This evergreen perennial certainly lives up to its name: it can apparently survive in some of the worst planting conditions possible, indoors or out.  Glossy dark-green leaves are 1 to 2 1/2 feet long and 3 to 4 inches wide on a 6 to 8-inch leafstalk. The aspidistra has been very popular as a house-plant for decades -- almost every Victorian parlor had one.