blue dicks

Dich­e­lostemma cap­i­ta­tum, in bloom in the gar­den now:bluedicksclose.jpgbluedicksplant.jpg

My plants come from a native plant sale ten years ago, and they’ve mul­ti­plied in the front yard, through both divi­sion of the bulbs and self-sowing. In a wet year the flow­er­ing stems may rise up two feet, and lit­tle clus­ters of laven­der blos­soms for a cou­ple of weeks. Though mostly stems, the plants in bloom are sur­pris­ingly strik­ing. Out of bloom, there’s so lit­tle to the plants that they almost van­ish out of sight.

I haven’t been out to the local canyons this sea­son, but I’m sure the blue dicks (really, that’s what they call them!) are mak­ing their pres­ence known. Even if you don’t devote your whole yard to natives, hav­ing some exem­plary ones around con­nects you to your envi­ron­ment. You know that if some­thing is bloom­ing in your yard it’s bloom­ing in the wild lands around you. You feel a part of some­thing much larger than your own gar­den. On the other hand, with things like hybrid petu­nias or mod­ern roses, well, they might look pretty, but they don’t root you in the same way. They don’t give you that same sense of place and belonging.

March 08 2008 10:50 am | Categories: my garden • plant profiles • rambles | Tags: • •

2 Responses to “blue dicks”

  1. Elizabeth on 08 Mar 2008 at 12:03 pm #

    Glad to dis­cover your blog!
    I am also a keen gar­dener — even though cur­rently restricted to a roof ter­race in Mar­rakech.
    Greetings.

  2. into the wild : [ Lost in the Landscape ] on 14 Mar 2008 at 6:41 am #

    […] blue dicks […]

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