Tag Archives: Plants for Native Bees

Oregon Native Plant: Eriogonum umbellatum

Posted on by

Plant Name: Eriogonum umbellatum
Common name:  Sulphur Flower Buckwheat
Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial
Height:  ½’ – 1’
Spread: 1’ – 3’
Bloom Time: May – September
Flower Color:  Cream or Yellow
Exposure: Sun, Part Shade
Soil Requirements:  Gravelly Soil
Water Needs: Low
Attributes:    Leaves are green above and gray-woolly beneath.  Flower clusters occur on 6-9 in. stems. The cream to sulfur-yellow, tubular flowers fade to orange or red.  Flowers are showy & fragrant. Drought- tolerant

Note:   This is an exceedingly variable species with many different varieties & subspecies, and this adds to the difficulties of identification in a complex group of similar western species. Because the species is so variable, it is especially important to choose material from a habitat that matches your site.  Propagate by thickly planting seed; does not transplant well due to long tap root.

Uses:  Attracts butterflies, native bees, & birds. Native Gardens; Rock Gardens; Pollinator gardens; Dry rocky slopes.
Native to:  California, Oregon, Western US & Canada
Oregon Native:  YES
USDA Hardiness Zone:  4 – 8

Find seeds through native seed growers: Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, and  Plant World Seeds

Report by: Viki Ashford,
Photo 1 by: Carlotta Lucas
Photo 2 by: Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds

Red-Flowering Currant

Posted on by

Plant Name:  Ribes sanguineum
Common name:  Red Flowering Currant
Plant type: Deciduous Shrub
Height: 3-9 feet
Spread:   21/2  feet
Bloom Time: February – April
Flower Color: Deep Pink to Red
Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Soil Requirements: Fertile, Well-drained
Water Needs: Moderate
Attributes:   Elegant showy fuchsia-like flowers, Drought tolerant, Deer-proof, Plant for pollinators, Foliage eaten by Zephyr and other butterfly larvae, Small black berries are eaten by songbirds and small mammals  
Uses: Dry Open Woodlands, Native Plant, Cottage Gardens, Perennial Garden,
Mixed Shrub Boarders
Native to: Pacific Coast
USDA Hardiness Zone: 6-10

Seed Planting

Posted on by

A nice gathering of garden club members met in N. Mountain Park’s greenhouse last Tuesday for a seed planting workshop. Their focus was planting containers of native wildflower seeds, so that by May 11th these wildflower pollinator plants would be ready to sell at the club’s annual plant sale.