Wild and wonderful

Photos by Mary Hurlbut

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California Poppies – The California poppy is native to grassy and open areas from sea level to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) altitude in the western United States throughout California, extending to Oregon, southern Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and in Mexico in Sonora and northwest Baja California. 

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It was selected as the state flower by the California State Floral Society in December 1890, winning out over the Mariposa lily (genus Calochortus) and the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) by a landslide, but the state legislature did not make the selection official until 1903. Its golden blooms were deemed a fitting symbol for the Golden State.

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Yellow Fiddlenecks and Parry’s Phacelia: Phacelia parryi is a species in the Boraginaceae (Forget-Me-Not) family known by the common name Parry’s Phacelia. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in coastal and inland mountain ranges and deserts. It is found in many types of local habitats, such as coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and open, recently burned slopes. It is an annual herb growing a mostly erect stem 10 to 70 centimeters long. It is hairy and coated in soft and stiff glandular hairs.