California Buckwheat Seeds (Eriogonum fasciculatum)

California buckwheat pulses with life along dry hillsides.

Native from Southern Oregon, throughout California, and expanses of the Southwest, this is one of the most important wild insectary plants in chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and dry slopes.

While this plant isn’t a buckwheat in the soba-noodle human food crop sense, it is a food crop for virtually everything else. Birds and small mammals live abundantly off its seeds. NUMEROUS native bees have been documented on its blossoms (60+ species have been observed on this plant – including specialists such as the buckwheat masked bee - Hylaeus polifolii). It is a larval host plant for numerous lepidopteran caterpillars: the blue copper (Lycaena heteronea), the Mormon metalmark (Apodemia mormo), the lupine blue (Plebejus lupini), Behr’s metalmark (Apodemia virgulti), the gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus), the square-spotted blue (Euphilotes battoides), the buck moth (Hemileuca electra). Tremendous others convene as well, including scores of beetles, flies, true bugs, and many wasps, including greatly endearing green-eyed American sand wasp (Bembix americana).

California buckwheat is an evergreen shrub, rising to only about 2 to 4 feet tall, with long-lasting blooms as one of its most defining features (persisting for many weeks between April and October) as dense clusters of white to pink flowers that age to rust.

This is a virtually bullet-proof plant in dryland conditions, in landscapes touched by fire, drought, extremes of temperature. Yes, it’s great for chaparral restoration. It’s also spectacular as a yard showpiece, a plant to stick dead-center in a massive drift, with a comfortable seat nearby to watch the show (better than any streaming video). 

Best seeded in the dormant season either directly into prepared ground (most ideal), or in deep containers that can accommodate California buckwheat’s taproot development. (If container-sown it is best to transplant sooner rather than later). Once established this plant neither wants nor should it require summer irrigation. This is generally a heat-loving plant, one that prefers sandy, well-drained soils. 

If you’re growing California buckwheat in cool climates on the edge of its natural range, try placing it where it can benefit from some reflective and stored heat: the south-facing sides of buildings, adjacent to asphalt, urban heat island locations where more delicate species struggle. This is a plant that you can find in the remote Mojave, but it could probably tolerate a busy, sun-baked street island anywhere from Oregon to New Mexico.

50+ seeds (3.0 grams).