A mix of hand-collected Native California Plants chosen for the semi-arid climate of Alameda, and places like it, below 1,000 feet.
All of them are full sun; except for the Tomcat Clover, which is happiest with a little soil moisture.
Tomcat Clover
Trifolium willdenovii
Credit: Jennifer McNew, BLM
Most of the plants in the Landback Wildflower Seed mix were selected because they are easy to grow, and help to provide food and pollen for a variety of life-forms, the most popular of which would be butterflies, and native honey bee and bumble bees. But these plants also sustain Birds, and Moths.
Gilia Capitata is beautiful, blue, self-sewing and easy to grow. Blooms throughout spring, well into summer.
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Blue Thimble Flower
(aka “Globe Gilia”)
Gilia capitata
Credit: Amada44
Many of these plants should look familiar, if you’ve ever been hiking around the East Bay. We live in a place where there are many places where you can observe wildflowers as they exist in nature.
Goldfields are numerous, and can be found all over the shoreline of the Bay Area, for instance: on Doolittle Drive, along the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.
Goldfields
Lasthenia glabrata
Credit: Cliff Hutson
The California Coastal Poppy is a native cultivar developed for its drought tolerance, deer resistance, and self-sowing attributes. The orange dot in the center make the perfect landing pad for all kinds of pollinators.
Coastal Poppy
Eschscholzia californica var. maritima
Credit: Paul Hermans
Each seed pack has a unique ratio of seeds.
Chinese Houses set themselves apart with their long stalks, which reach up to 2 feet high, and their distinctive purple petals. These wildflowers are especially attractive to pollinators, including the Variable Checkerspot, Edith’s Checkspot Butterflies; and the Bilobed Looper Moth (among others.)
Chinese Houses
(aka “Innocence”)
Collinsia heterophylla
Credit: Stickpen
Some packets have a small amount of these beautiful and super drought tolerant California native plants:
Elegant Tarweed
Madia elegans
Credit: Calibas
Smells like pineapple. Drought & Deer tolerant. Reliably self-sows. Late-season bloom from Mid-Summer to Fall.
Serpentine Sunflower
Helianthus bolanderi
Credit: Richard Spellenberg
Grows up to 5′ tall. Doesn’t care what soil you plant it in. Goes crazy in compost-enhanced soil. Great cut flower. Self-Sows.
About the Seed Packets
The Landback Wildflower Mix has been specifically chosen to be easy to grow and drought-tolerant; requiring only a couple of waterings a month once they are established.
These seeds require no pretreatment and can be sown directly into the ground where they will be grown. Coastal Poppy roots are fragile, and should not be transplanted or moved from their original plot, once established.
Planting Instructions:
Prepare seedbed by removing existing weeds. Mix seeds with compost, broadcast where it is to grow, rake in lightly, and tamp. If fall rains don’t begin, irrigate 1-2 times weekly until seedling have made good growth.
Watering:
Water 1-2 times weekly until the plants are established. Once these plants are established, they can be water 1-2 a month. [With the exception of the Tomcat Clover, which enjoys a little moisture in its soil.]
Planting Time:
Fall and winter are optimal for annual flowers. The sweet spot is mid-fall.
Sowing Rate:
The Landback Wildflower Mix seed packet can seed approximately 5 square feet.
Source of the Seeds in the Landback Wildflower Mix:
These seeds were purchased, mixed, and repackaged by Alameda Native History Project from Larner Seeds, and Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, for give-away purposes only.
Neither Larner Seeds, nor Siskiyou Native Seeds are affiliated with the Alameda Native History Project.
A Note On Larner Seeds:
Larner Seeds was founded by Judith Larner Lowry. She is an expert on local native plants, seed gathering, and propagation, and has written a number of books on this subject.
Larner Seeds is based in Bolinas, California, and is definitely worth the visit, if you can make it over to their Seed Shop & Demonstration Garden.
How To Get the Landback Wildflower Mix
You can pick up a Landback Wildflower Mix seed packet from our booth at the:
