Adding New Plants to the Palette

Just a couple years ago I started thinking about California native plants. Before reading Gardening with a Wild Heart, my idea of native plant gardening was wildflower patches that turned to brown weedy patches by mid summer. I didn't want to limit myself to poppies and dry grasses. Ha! Was I ignorant! Here are a few of my new favorite plants, the California buckwheats. They are currently in a large bed of only natives that (now established) gets watered almost exclusively by rain.

Now, I am starting to think about tucking these into other areas in the yard. They shouldn't be relegated to the "native plant section," they should just become part of the plant palette I use when I think about how to "paint" the yard!