A mediterranean meadow

Folks,

A little over a year ago, I posted a message to this forum
asking for advice on landscaping my new hillside back yard. 
I received a lot of great advice, for which I continue to be
very grateful.  Now, at the risk of boring everybody to
death, I'd like to give you an update on a wildflower
experiment I tried last winter.

My apologies for the length of this posting -- please move
on if youıre not interested in wildflowers.

About the yard:  It's a south-facing hill, about 60 feet
vertical rise, with a slope ranging from about 20% to 30%
(borderline hard to climb in the steepest spots).  When I
moved in it had been scraped clean, down to the subsoil, by
the builder.  The soil is heavy red clay mixed with a lot of
broken rock (what I believe is called "franciscan" soil
around here).

The main thing Iıve done with the hillside so far is grow a
wildflower meadow.  This was one of the stupidest but most
successful gardening projects I've ever done.  It was stupid
because I prepared the hillside by spraying everything with
Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide during Christmas week.  I
should have done it a month earlier; many of the flower
seeds I planted after spraying would not have matured if the
rains had stopped at the normal time.  

I know my use of chemicals may disturb some of the
non-chemical gardeners out there, but keep in mind that the
land had been cleared completely.  There was nothing natural
left to disrupt, just a big crop of thistles, which melted
away beautifully a week after being sprayed.

Anyway, a few days after the spraying I spread five pounds
of wildflower seed all over the hill, using a handheld
fertilizer spreader.  With my dumb beginner's luck, it
rained every few days for the next two months, and I ended
up with a huge meadow that lasted from April to July, with
flowers so dense that I couldn't walk down the hill without
squishing things.  I also had a great crop of butterflies,
bees, and birds.  The whole hill felt wonderfully alive.

Here's a list of the things I grew, with comments on each. 
Iıll also give a letter grade, from A (for the standouts) to
C (for the disappointments).  Performance would undoubtedly
vary in other climates and soils.

--Linaria maroccana, Toadflax.  Small flowers a little like
miniature snapdragons, in a variety of colors in the pink
and yellow ranges.  Although each plant was small and wispy,
these grew in such abundance that they colored the whole
hillside from a distance.  Grade: A+.

--Lupinus succulentus, Arroyo Lupine.  The baby seedlings of
these are slow to grow and terribly delicate -- the central
stem really is succulent, and stepping on one often means
death for the plant.  But once established it grows into a
big bush with a nice succession of purple flower spikes. 
Grade:  A-.

--Linum rubrum, Scarlet Flax.  Almost the only red in my
mix, these plants produced a lot of satiny red flowers up
close, but were unimpressive from a distance.  Worth growing
if you want to walk around your meadow, because itıs
pleasant to run into one of them.  But not a standout. 
Grade:  B.

--Phacelia campanularia,  California Bluebell.  The most
intense blue flowers you can imagine, but not a lot of
plants grew given the number of seeds I planted.  Worthwhile
because they're so pretty, but I didn't get the sweep of
blue flowers I had hoped for.  My climate is iffy for them;
they're a desert species.  Also, my soil may also be too
heavy for their liking.  Grade: B-.

--Eschscholzia californica, California Poppy.  I don't think
I need to say much about these.  The flowers were brilliant,
and after bloom it was fun to walk around the hill listening
to the seed pods explode when I brushed against them.  Grade
 A.

--Lasthenia glabrata, Goldfields.  Small gold-yellow daisies
that don't look like much up close, but great from a
distance.  For some reason most of these ended up in drifts
at the bottom of the hill.  I presume they were washed down
by the rain (I should check to see if the seeds float). 
Formed great masses of yellow for a long period, and would
have been even better if ground squirrels hadn't eaten many
of the buds.  Grade:  A+. 

--Layia platyglossa, Tidy Tips.  Yellow daisies with white
tips.  Grew mixed with Goldfields (see above), but not quite
as prolifically.  The flowers look very nice up close. 
Grade:  B+.

--Clarkia amoena, Farewell to Spring.  As the name suggests,
these came into bloom just as everything else was fading
out.  Good pink shades, and they extended the bloom season
by several weeks.  There are a lot of interesting Clarkia
species; the ones I grew this time were the typical pale
pink bowls brushed with red.  Next time Iıll try some of the
other species.  Grade A.

--Phacelia tanacetifolia, Lacy Phacelia.  These apparently
came in a small packet of mixed wildflowers that I was given
as a gift.  It formed a hip-high plant with big curls of
pale purple flowers blooming for a very, very long time. 
They are also a spectacular cut flower, basically ignoring
the fact that theyıre no longer connected to their roots. 
The one problem with them was the scent.  Sweet, but with
more than a hint of overripe fruit.  Frankly, it gave me a
headache.  Even though I had only a few of these plants, you
could smell them at the top of the hill whenever the wind
was blowing uphill.  Indoors, they were intolerable.  Grade:
A (but only if you can't smell).

--Castilleja indivisa, Texas Paintbrush.  An annual species
from Texas.  I tried this on a lark.  The seeds are
unbelievably expensive (would you believe $46 an ounce?),
and I was disappointed by the flowers (more a dark pink than
the flaming red I expected).  In fairness, this one isnıt
recommended for California; maybe it looks better in Texas. 
Grade:  C.


Lessons I learned:

--Re-spray persistent weeds.  Although Roundup devastated
the thistles, one weed that survived it was burr clover. 
The clover died back to a stub but then resprouted.  I wish
I had gone back and done a second spot treatment on them; by
the time I realized what was happening, the wildflowers
around them were so dense that I didn't have the heart to
spray or hoe.  There were probably only a few dozen
surviving plants, but they spread aggressively under the
wildflowers and dumped an incredible load of seeds on the
hill.  I hate to think what'll grow this winter.

--Don't be afraid to walk around.  I was so concerned about
crushing flower seedlings that I stayed off most of the
hillside for the spring.  But it turned out that I had a lot
more seedlings than I needed; a sparse cover when theyıre a
few inches tall will grow into a seamless carpet as the
plants mature.  If I had walked around more, I still would
have had enough flowers, and I might have been able to
spot-treat those weeds.

--Plant a few rarities.  As I mentioned above, someone gave
me a packet of mixed wildflower seeds.  I stirred them in
with the others, and the result was great -- every now and
then Iıd discover something unusual.  My favorite was a
single plant of Nemophila maculata (Fivespot) that popped up
along a fence.  Nice white flowers with dark purple tips.

--Try it!  My meadow was so much fun that Iım doing it again
this year.  I wish I had tried it before I moved here, but I
had always assumed that I needed a lot of space.  Now that I
have a lot of space, I realize that I could have done the
same thing in miniature on a parking strip or sunny corner
of a yard.  In fact, a smaller area would have been much
easier, because I could have kept down the weeds.


The one drawback:

Itıs not legal to burn off the brush that's left over after
the flowers die.  Picture mowing that hillside once
everything dries out.  (Itıs good exercise.)


Sources:

--Wildseed Farms in Texas has the best prices if you need to
buy in bulk.

--So far as I know, Larner Seeds in California has the best
selection of California natives, and a lot of good
literature too.  The Theodore Payne Foundation in LA also
carried a lot of wildflowers, the last time I checked.


Next steps:

--This year, Iım trying one area with South African annuals
(available as mixed packets in the yearly seed exchange if
you join the South African Botanical Society).

--Many annuals are available only as very tiny packets from
sources such as Southwest Native Seeds and Northwest Native
Seeds.  Iım trying to grow a few of those in rows, so I can
harvest more seed and eventually grow them on the hillside. 
(This makes me sound more organized than I actually am --
chances are that if any of these grow Iıll just rip out the
dried plants and shake them around on the hill.)

--Some day, Iıd like to build a vernal pool.  Any advice?

--Anyone know of a source for Chilean annuals?  ;-)

Mike
San Jose, CA (zone 9, min temp 20F)
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