Sierra Foothill Garden

Roadside treasures worth  stopping for

In the first week of July in the Sierra foothills of California, you believe that Spring is long gone, and yet, the season hasn’t said its final farewell.  Our beloved wildflowers called ‘Farewell to Spring are blooming this year at the same time as the sunny wild sunflowers, Hall’s Mule’s Ear.  This combination is well worth stopping for!

I stop this day, after errands in town, and this is my chance.  Best to photograph wildflowers when you see them, because next week, they may be gone.  This day, they both were waving gently in the breeze and a riotous clash of pale lavender, hot pink and chrome yellow.

Hall’s Mule Ears, Wyethia elata
Hall’s Mule Ears grow, distinctively, in patches 6 to 8 feet wide that dot the roadsides, spreading with underground roots. The leaves are furry and grey and the flowers look like small sunflowers, about 2-3 inches wide.  They are in the sunflower family and are endemic (limited) to California alone, according to Calflora and  included in the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants.  A true rare plant that’s common in our area!

Hall’s Mule’s Ears appear like this along the roads around Oakhurst, North Fork, Beasore Meadow and Fish Camp.  They grow in the higher elevations of Mammoth Pool and Shaver Lake, but mostly all are found in Eastern madera County.

If you have Wyethia elata in your garden, you are lucky!  These are wonderful sunny flowers to encourage in the foothill garden, and I’ve learned not to water them at all; they die if watered.

These Wyethia have unique parasol shaped petals.

I had to dodge a few cars on Rd 274 to snap this beautiful patch of both Mule’s ears and our Farewell to Spring. I was wearing a dress and flimsy sandals, so a few drivers had concerned looks as they drove past.  ‘I love this mountain community,’ I thought, as I waved merrily.  ‘Nutty photographer,’ they must have thought as they saw my cell phone in hand.

The Farewell to Spring, here, making a frilly edge of the patch of Mule’s Ear

Our Farewell to Spring is a pet name the local folk call this flower. Here is its true name:

Fort Miller Clarkia or Fairyfan, Clarkia williamsonii

“This striking annual wildflower has ebullient, eye-catching markings and is easy to grow. The petals are stark white at the base, pale lavender halfway up, with a deep magenta splash of color at the top. The shades of pink or lavender may vary, as well as the size but not the intensity of the characteristic blotch.

Hikers in Yosemite up to 6,000 feet may have seen Fort Miller Clarkia growing in meadows and in openings in woodlands, blooming from May to August. It has a wide range in California, and grows only in California, where it is usually easy to grow. The Fort Miller of its name was a military fort south of Yosemite.”  ~~ Judith Larner Lowry

I’m glad a kind member of CNPS was able to identify this flower for me, and love the name fairy fan,  but I’ll still call it by its local name, now and then.  These bright masses of lavender-pink always fool me and I think I missed their peak bloom by Mid-June, but they multiply in the hundreds day by day and are true to that name, Farewell to Spring.

^^^

I returned home with the my prize of pictures and rinsed off my just pedicured toes and plucked stickers out of the hem of my skirt…a happy nature lover!