Bloom Report: Awash in purple and yellow flowers
The Native Plant Demonstration Gardens along the Tule River Parkway are awash in purple and yellow flowers. The hues of purple range from cranberry, and royal purple to lavender. Following are just five of the plants which you can see blooming in a quarter mile walk along the Tule River Parkway between Jaye Street and Parkway Drive.
1. Pozo Blue Sage (Salvia ‘Pozo Blue’)
2. Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea)
3. Woolly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum)
4. Golden Yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum)
5. Beach Aster Wayne Roderick (Erigeron glaucus ‘Wayne Roderick’)
‘Pozo Blue’ is a superior, easy to grow sage that provides tall, showy spikes of violet-blue flowers that are a hummingbird magnet. The striking flowers and dark green leaves produce a showy, aromatic shrub that averages 4’ by 4’, compact enough to fit in many locations. ‘Pozo Blue’ is tolerant of heat and heavy clay soils and needs little water to thrive. This is one of the most adaptable of sages.
Pozo Blue Sage is only one of the more than 80 sages which are native to California. Spring is the heavy flower season for sages however most will have small numbers of flowers throughout the summer and into the fall.
Maintenance for sages includes deciding to cut flower stocks once bloom has finished or to leave the spent flower stems as a decorative element. The fresh flowers can be used in arrangements as can the spent flower stocks.
The flowers, leaves and stems are pleasantly aromatic and can be used as natural air freshener. If you cut back the flower stock to a leave node you encourage new compact growth and repeat flowering. Give this bush the room it needs when you plant so you reduce trimming to clear walkways and competing plants. This sage, as most bush sages, loves full sun but grows well in partial sun. Sages also come in low growing and ground cover forms. The flower colors of native sages range from white, pink, purple, cranberry, to blue. Leaf color ranges from silver to blue gray, spring green to dark green. Sages are blooming now and available at Luis’ Nursery 139 S Mariposa Ave, Visalia, Alta Vista Nursery in Three Rivers which is open by appointment, 559-799 7438, or Quercus Landscape Design in Springville, https://quercuslandscapedesign.com/ availability/
More information on this plant can be found at calscape.org by searching for the plant by name.
Each of the Native Plant Demonstration Gardens is featured on the website tuleriverparkwayassociation.org
The Tule River Parkway is a City of Porterville public park which features a three mile paved walking and bicycle path. The gardens were planted and are being maintained by volunteers with project management by the Tule River Parkway Association. We have three volunteer garden days each month. Follow Tule River Parkway Association on Facebook for announcements. May events are today, May 19 and 21 in the morning. The public is encouraged to explore the gardens to learn more about the featured plant and the project. For More information contact TRPA at tulerivergardens@gmail.com
Cathy Capone is the Tule River Parkway Association president.