Our Plants (List)

This Ventura County endemic is as close as one can come to a perfect buckwheat. Saffron buckwheat grows as a low, rounded shrub with silvery white leaves. Against this background flowers of turmeric yellow appear in late spring. These fade to saffron (paprika?) and enhance the beauty of saffron buckwheat…

California buckwheat grows in a mounding form with densely clustered narrow leaves reminiscent of rosemary. Late in spring it is covered with white pom-pom flowers which attract a wide array of pollinators. The bloom lasts for many weeks, then the flowers fade to a rust color. The flower stocks may…

Within its wide range, California buckwheat takes on a variety of growth forms. The horticultural selections all seem to derive from southern California, where the plant is most common. ‘Bruce Dickinson’ is a low mounding form that grows to about two feet or so and can spread to eight feet….

This selection of California was taken from the headlands of Dana Point in Orange County. It was introduced by Tree of Life Nursery in the early eighties. It is said to have greener foliage, smaller/finer flowers and a more mounding habit than one might expect from a typical representative of…

‘Theodore Payne’ California buckwheat is a selection of this widespread species introduced by the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sunvalley. It grows densely in a spreading mound to about two feet in height. Its appearance reminds one of low growing rosemary except when covered with white flowers in spring. The flowers…

‘Warriner Lyle’ is a low-growing selection of the widespread California buckwheat. It grows in a spreading mound to about 2 feet tall and six feet wide, with fine needle-like leaves covering draping branches. The flowers of late spring and early summer are white with just a hint of pink. The…

California buckwheat ranges from the southern SF Bay Area to Baja, Mexico, and the Southwest. There are several varieties, but the two most commonly grown are the coastal form, var. foliolosum, and the interior form, var. polifolium. The two forms largely overlap until California’s southeastern deserts where the polifolium variety…

This variety of California buckwheat has a reputation for being the toughest variety of a rather tough species. It is found throughout the range of the species, but is the most prevalent variety in hot interior regions of southern California. The ‘Margarita Fog’ selection has proven to be quite happy…

Santa Barbara Island lies off the coast of Los Angeles, about 55 miles from the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It’s a small island, measuring just over a square mile in area. Like all the Channel Islands, it is scoured by high winds in the spring. This may explain the diminutive size…