Native buckwheat still blooming and lovely

The native buckwheat plants are simply the best to grow in our hardpan California clay soil.

The very lovely red buckwheat Eriogonum grande rubescens is considered rare, and is native to the San Miguel and Santa Cruz Channel Islands. I purchased this one a few months ago as a little seedling. What a treat to see it flourish and produce so many flower clusters on 24 inch tall stems.

Just when I was getting used to the rust color of drying Seaside Buckwheat Eriogonum parvifolium flowerheads, the plant is now producing new growth. I've had this plant for at least a decade, first in a container on the patio of our previous home. It didn't grow much in the container.

When we moved four years ago to our current home, a few miles further north, we planted the buckwheat in the ground, as part of the native patch. For the first couple of years it grew a little.

This year it grew three times its size in width and height.

I guess you could say that this is a very happy buckwheat plant.

All of the buckwheat plants are constantly visited by bees and butterflies throughout the day.

Now that the Seaside Buckwheat is quite dense, it also acts as a host plant for the Gray Hairstreak and Acmon Blue butterflies.