What's Blooming?

Even if you only have time to step inside our front gates, it's worth a stop at the Gardens right now to enjoy these crabapples. They're smothered in fragrant white flowers along both sides of the Promenade! Stunning!

One of the hardiest of the ornamental pear varieties. 'Autumn Blaze' produces a multitude of showy white flowers in spring. The foliage is glossy green during the summer and can turn crimson red in the fall.  They won't be hard to spot in between the east fence and the Waves of Grass!

A member of our ribbon of spring bulbs on the east side of the Promenade. An assortment of other daffodils add early color to the Gardens!

Pasque Flowers are known for their fabulous early spring flowers, soft, fuzzy, gray-green foliage, and showy, silky seed heads that persist for many months after the flowers have faded. They are also an invaluable source of early season nectar. Look for them in our Rock and Waterwise Gardens.

The flowers and fruit of this fragrant and attractive shrub make it a valuable wildlife plant. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees are attracted to the golden yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. The fruit is an important food source for many bird species as well as small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks. Look for it along the path in the northwest corner of our Waterwise Garden.

Panchito manzanita (one of three types of manzanitas in our Gardens) is our first native bloomer, found along the west side of the Promenade.  It is "buzz pollinated" by native bees that shake the flower so hard the pollen falls out and onto the bee or into the air. 

A Plant Select® species

Creeping potentilla (or cinquefoil) is a low-growing groundcover. It has dark green leaves with runners that root at each node, making it an aggressive spreader. The first individual to flower in our Gardens this spring planted itself in the gravel near the Native Garden. Look for more soon in the nearby beds where they were planted!

Look for this plant in our Crevice Garden. Its leaves are hairy, protecting it from the blazing sun and constant wind of its native habitats -- anywhere from sagebrush deserts to subalpine ridges.