Another exceptional  California Native:  Sun Rose Helianthemum scoparium

As landscape designer my mental inventory of exceptional plants is always tuned to “receive”, and I enjoy looking at plants with the question “Would this do well in my garden?”  and “Would it work for my clients?”  For several months now I have had my eye on a graceful shrublet that caught my admiration last year, on my hikes through a local nature preserve, here in Ramona.  I mailed a photo of it to Moosa Creek Nursery in Valley Center who helped me identify it as Sun Rose. The name fits this plant very well:  Last year I watched it radiate its bright color from May to the end of August when the heat was heavy over the valley, and from then on it presented its low, roundish form with reddish stems through fall and winter after the leaves had dropped.  This is definitely a shrub that I will try in my own garden and work into my designs, and I am happy that Moosa Creek actually have it in their inventory. 

Further research told me this:  The Sun Rose, also called Common Rock Rose, is a low, tufted “subshrub”. It grows naturally in open or disturbed areas, with good drainage, where the sunlight reaches it, below 5,000 ft.  Only 6 to 9 inches tall and about 18 inches wide, it flowers with bright yellow, small flowers from spring to fall.  It is drought tolerant and requires no extra water once established, but you can prolong the bloom with light occasional watering. It’s a color addition to rock gardens together with other perennials, such as Dudleya California Fuchsia, Buckwheat, Penstemon of course, or Monkeyflower that will distract from the sparser look after the bloom is over.  When trimmed at the end of the season it will come back nice and full in spring.  It works very well also for rock gardens, slopes, and as an accent along paths and in dry streambeds among scattered stones.

The native communities for this plants listed in the sources are Chaparral, Closed-Cone Pine Forest, Coastal Sage Scrub. 

Check out these local growers of California Native plants (and their availability lists online as well as lots of interesting and useful information):

Tree of  Life Nursery, San Juan Capistrano  at http://www.californianativeplants.com/ 

 Las Pilitas, Escondido at http://www.laspilitas.com/ 

Moosa Creek, Valley Center at  http://www.moosacreeknursery.com/

Recon Native Plants at http://www.reconnativeplants.com/index.html