Use this chart as a guide to spread flowering color throughout the year. The time indicated after each plant is the “typical” blooming period for that plant. Start and stop times vary.
Location, cultural practices, weather and many other factors will affect flowering season and duration for native plants. You can expect variation from year to year.
You may have to scroll to the right and down to view all of the months.
| March: Let the show begin |
April: Spring has sprung – get your camera |
| Ceanothus griseus hybrids (4 wks) Cercis occidentalis (3 wks) Dichelostemma capitatum (4 wks) Garrya elliptica (5 wks) Heuchera hybrids (5 wks) Lavatera assurgentiflora & ’Purisima’ (3 mos) Malacothamnus species (2 mos) Ribes malvaceum & speciosum (3 wks) Sisyrinchium bellum (4 wks) |
Aquilegia formosa (5 wks) Carpenteria californica (6 wks) Encelia californica (3 mos) Erigeron ‘Arthur Menzies’ (3 mos) Fremontodendron species (6 wks) Iris douglasiana (4 wks) Mimulus species (3 mos) Penstemon species (3 wks) Prunus ilicifolia ( 3 wks) |
| May: It’s still open season on flowers |
June: A first glance of summer |
| Aquilegia formosa (5 wks) Ceanothus ‘Frosty Blue’ (4 wks) Eriogonum umbellatum (6 wks) Fremontia ‘El Dorado Gold’ (4 wks) Galvezia ‘Firecracker’ (6 mos) Hunnemannia fumariifolia (6 mos) Mahonia nevinii (4 wks) Romneya ‘White Cloud’ (8 wks) Sisyrinchium californicum (4 wks) |
Eriogonum giganteum (6 wks) Perityle incana (4 mos) Philadelphus lewisii (4 wks) Salvia greggii (3 mos) Salvia clevelandii (3 wks) Trichostema lanatum (2 mos) |
| July: Bright colors will knock your hat off |
August: A few desert flowers for the birds |
| Abutilon palmeri (8 wks) Antigonon leptopus (2 wks) Dalea orcuttii (4 mos starting Apr) Eriogonum arborescens (4 wks) Lyonothamnus species (4 wks) Oenothera stubbei (8 wks) |
Chilopsis linearis (4 wks) Epilobium canum (4 wks) Heteromeles arbutifolia (4 wks) Monardella odoratissima (3 mos) Parkinsonia aculeata (4 wks) Verbena lilacina (8 mos) |
| September: Cool weather a-coming |
October: Second bloom ‘false spring’ |
| Comarostaphylis diversifolia berries (5 wks) Epilobium ‘Catalina’ (4 wks) Isocoma species (3 wks) Salvia microphylla (6 mos) |
Ceanothus species & cultivars (3 wks) Cercis occidentalis (3 wks) Mimulus species & hybrids (4 wks) Salvia clevelandii (4 wks) |
| November: Rains are just around the corner |
December: Merry Christmas |
| Arctostaphylos glauca & refugioensis (4 wks) Clematis species seed (6 wks) Dendromecon species (9 mos starting Mar) Trichostema lanatum (8 mos starting Apr) |
Arctostaphylos groundcovers (4 wks) Cneoridium dumosum (6 wks) Heteromeles arbutifolia berries (2 mos) |
| January: Winter silhouettes & colorful accents |
February: Welcome the first bloom |
| Arctostaphylos ‘Sunset’ (4 wks) Arctostaphylos shrub forms (6 wks) Erysimum concinnum (4 wks) Rosa minutifolia (3 mos) |
Arctostaphylos species (4 wks) Mahonia ‘Golden Abundance’ (6 wks) Rhus integrifolia (3 wks) Ribes indecorum (3 wks) |