We are offering 9 month old (approx) plants for sale. This plant is super hardy and drought tolerant. 2 plants per order at 11.00 per pair plus freight. They are bare rooted and come wrapped in moist paper and in a plastic bag. Do not let the roots dry out and plant promptly directly outside or in a tem[porary pot till spring.
California Buckwheat Eriogonum fasciculatum almost doesn’t need soil: give it a pile of rocks in full sun and it will probably be right at home. Once its root system is established, it can live for up to 50 years, requiring only the seasonal rainfall. It flowers for months on end in the heat of summer after other flowers have called it quits. It supports a diversity of wildlife-bees, wasps and other insects are attracted to it and will put on a show-beautiful to watch! What’s not to love? VERY Drought tolerant. Excellent sand dune binder and cliff hanger. This variety has white flowers that turn pinkish as it ages. Its about 4 ft X 4 ft. tall when mature. We love our mother plant. It is growing next to our community garden about 10 blocks from the ocean in San francisco. It is about 10 years old and it's covered with blooms currently. It attracts so many varieties of bees and wasps and other insects. It's a sight to see. Birds and other animals love its cover as well. Give it lots of room and it will thrive.
More about buckwheat: About California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
This common shrub California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows on scrubby slopes and in chaparral and dry washes in a number of habitats.
It is variable in appearance, forming a patchy, compact bramble or a spreading bush approaching seven feet in height and ten across. The leaves grow in clusters at nodes along the branches and are leathery, woolly on the undersides, and rolled under along the edges.
Flowers appear in dense, frilly clusters anywhere from a 1/4 inch to 6 inches wide. Each individual flower is pink and white and less than an inch across. This plant is particularly attractive to honey bees and is a good source of nectar over many months in drier areas.
Form is variable, ranging from often open and upright in the foothills, to often dense and mounding closer to the coast. There are four recognized varieties of California Buckwheat: we carry the 1st variety below.
1. Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum or Leafy California Buckwheat, a brighter green variety which grows primarily on the coast and western side of the coastal mountain ranges; it is often carried in nurseries.
2. Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium, a gray variety that grows primarily in the desert regions and through the coastal foothills; it is sometimes available in nurseries.
3. Eriogonum fasciculatum var. fasciculatum, or Coastal California Buckwheat, grows most closely to the coast.
4. Eriogonum fasciculatum var. flavoviride, or Sonoran Desert California Buckwheat, grows primarily in the Sonoran Desert and desert mountains.
California Buckwheat is tough and easy to grow, even in very dry conditions. Plant in a well-draining sunny site. It shouldn't need supplemental water after established, but it will tolerate occasional summer water better than most extremely drought-tolerant California natives.
It produces profuse pink to white and cream-colored flowers as early as March that dry to a pretty red rust color as the soil dries. It sheds its dried flowers and a significant portion of its small blade-like leaves each dry season, and is an important plant for creating natural mulch. California Buckwheat is a keystone species for sagebrush scrub ecosystems, and a great choice for wildlife and butterfly gardens.