Our Plants (List)

This little alumroot grows at high elevations throughout California except the Coast Ranges. Its preferred habitat is crevices on rocky north facing slopes. The round leaves grow low to the ground, spreading by rhizome. A flower stalk appears in spring, with alternating little pink bell-shaped flowers. This perennial is quite…

The alumroots of the genus Heuchera are endemic to North America, with about 37 species growing primarily in the US but also in Canada and Mexico. California hosts 14 species. Alumroots have been favored in the garden for many centuries because of their attractive foliage and tall spires of often…

This member of the mallow family is found in wet places in the northern portion of California’s Central Valley. After winter dormancy it sends up several stocks of soft, apple-green leaves topped with one or more large white flowers with maroon centers. The rose mallow thrives in a hot, sunny…

California hemp grows in moist places in the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada from Lake County south into northern Baja, Mexico. It forms a stand of upright stems punctuated with compound leaves, each with three large leaflets. In early summer each stem will be topped with several clusters of lavender…

This SF Bay Area endemic is found in shady places that are seasonally moist. It grows with a tri-leaflet compound leaf in an open, spreading patch to about three feet in height. The flowers are purple and white, very similar to a lupine flower in appearance. As the summer progresses,…

Ocean spray occurs in mountainous settings throughout California and beyond. It is found in a variety of situations, but usually with some shade. It grows in an upright, rounded form with an open structure. The soft leaves are slightly lobed and scalloped. Ocean spray displays dense clusters of white flowers…

Meadow barley is found in much of western North America, often in vernally wet areas. One can imagine meadow barley thriving in the marshes that would develop every winter in northern Santa Clara County before our local creeks were “channelized.” The plant grows as an expanding bunchgrass to about three…

This member of the pea family is a rather uncommon inhabitant of mountain plant communities throughout much of the state. In Santa Clara County one occasionally encounters it at higher elevations in the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. It grows as an open, fountain form of compound leaves. The flower…