Harsh Locations

Sicklekeel lupine reminds us of its close relative, riverbank lupine. The two have some physical similarities, and a tolerance for life in difficul...

Also known as Pacific Sanicle, and Pacific Blacksnakeroot, this is a perennial member of the parsley/carrot-family and a denizen of seasonally damp...

The common name of this unusual, low-growing, curly-leaved grass refers to the fact that it grows most favorably on impoverished ground, where few ...

Sometimes called “goose tongue” for the long, slender leaves, this saline tolerant native plantain naturally appears along ocean coastlines virtual...

Silky lupine shows up where the soil is thin, the sun relentless, and ancient stories are written upon the landscape. Its silver-soft leaves catch ...

This plant is a quiet remnant of a landscape left behind. Tapping deep into the soil like an old memory, this native legume of the Inland West is a...

The essence of coastal vegetation, American dunegrass (called sea lyme in old speak), is a circumpolar perennial grass, occurring both across the N...

Defiant and otherworldly. Crimson and silver. This western thistle is a plant of some certain magnificence. And, it most certainly is not a weed. ...

Don’t let the common name deceive you, this isn’t a sticky plant in the sense that it is very wet or tacky, but rather it is a plant covered in fin...

An excellently bunchy, leafy, long-lived western forb of dry, low fertility soils.  Roundleaf alumroot lives life on cliffs, rocky outcrops, and ta...

Named for enormous underground tubers that can grow to the size of an adult human, this exceptional native cucumber relative is a perennial vine. ...

Subtle, and low-growing, Spanish clover isn’t a wildflower that gets a lot of attention, but this mounding annual legume is an under-acknowledged b...

Beach pea is a quite glorious sprawling perennial adapted to coastal sand and gravel substrates. It emerges clambering from driftwood strewn shores...

Yes, it looks like a dandelion, but, no, it isn’t a dandelion. Larger (up to almost 2-feet tall!), and quite ridiculously popular with many flower ...

Nineleaf biscuitroot possesses a fantastically pleasing form. Structurally it’s comprised of super-attractive slender compound leaflets which look ...

Western peony is a supremely interesting and attractive oddity of a wildflower. Consisting of slightly fleshy foliage (i.e. glaucous), big lobed le...

A prolific re-seeding annual, a small plant that turns hillsides ocean blue in spring, and a plant that can often persist among invasives…those are...

Among lupines, this is one of the great annual workhorse species of the west – notably from northern California, southward into Arizona. It’s a pla...

While we aren’t yet ready to call this a landrace variety, this chives population has does quite well for us in the maritime rain shadow region of ...

The flower petals of this native West Coast lily are frequently (and justifiably) compared to the fuzzy ears of cat. They might also be compared to...

A sprawling green and golden ground cover. That might be the best way to describe this shorter, clumping relative of taller, more upright gumweed s...

Tall cinquefoil establishes itself in dry (sometimes craggy) soils from a sturdy anchoring taproot, wherefrom it emerges as a statuesque and magnif...

California buckwheat pulses with life along dry hillsides. Native from Southern Oregon, throughout California, and expanses of the Southwest, this ...

Our native western (and Great Lakes region) hawthorn is a tree of exceptional uses!  While the small black fruit is edible (in haw jelly, etc.), ...