Wildflower Watch - Spring 2005

A shot of our wildflower meadow. Baby-blue-eyes are just starting to bloom in front; 4 varieties of clarkia fill the rest of the meadow and are not yet in bloom.

Sticks with ribbons and tape discourage birds from eating our seedlings.

Wow! The Baby-Blue-Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) finally came out in full force. A shimmering blue oasis... (Seeds available in our garden shop.)

Baby-blue-eyes still putting on a show. Not much from the Clarkias yet...

I suppose this is why Clarkias are called "Farewell-to-spring"; we've got to wait until the end of spring to begin to see their show. This picture was taken just as the clouds were starting to roll in; a customer today described the brilliant blue as "dazzling, nearly blinding."

The rain pummelled the Baby-blue-eyes a bit. Yet, the show continues...

The Baby-blue-eyes (Nemophila menziesii) are actually still going strong, but the overall effect isn't as great as the rain turns the flowers in all different directions (rather than reflecting light all in the same direction).

Baby-blue-eyes (nemophila menziesii) on their way out.

Sorry it took us so long to get out this next batch folks! Our digital camera left the country for two weeks, so it had travels, but our garden missed its weekly photo. Here is a big batch to make up for the break.
Enjoy!

Our meadow this week...

A few Clarkia blooms are beginning to show in our meadow here and there -- in this picture they are identifiable as little spots of pink. The Clarkia seem to be blooming later in our meadow than in other places around the garden.

Finally some pink! It's a pleasure to watch the Clarkia unfold... The ones in this picture are primarily Clarkia amoena, though the Clarkia unguiculata are also in bloom in other parts of the garden.

Wow!!! This uncontrollable explosion of color has been worth the wait! Clarkia amoena is the main blast of color, but some Clarkia rubicunda are also blooming in the upper left of the meadow -- the more purplish patch.

The garden is truly a spectacle to be beheld right now. If you were thinking of making a visit, now is the time!

The meadow this week. The meadow was planted with four different species of Clarkia: amoena, rubicunda, unguiculata and bottae.

Amoena was last week's highlight; this week we present close-ups of the other three species.

The Clarkia amoena are winding down, but the C. rubicunda (upper left) are still going strong. The Clarkia unguiculata have yet to come into full bloom.

Can't see the Clarkia rubicunda very well in this photo, but this crop is the star of the garden right now.

The meadow winding down...

The meadow this week.

The meadow is truly finished. All of that brown is the finished Clarkia, loaded with seeds for wildlife, and next year's crop. The green bits are several volunteer Lupinus arboreus that showed up this year.