Erigeron glaucus

Erigeron glaucus is a very flowerful & easy plant to grow in dry sun.  It blooms continuously through the summer, with the largest number of flowers coming in June.  Bloom can start in April & end in October.  Bees love it.  The normal flower color is blue-lavender.  'Sea Breeze' has pink flowers & seems to be the form most commonly sold in Seattle.  The plant is low & spreading, not more than one foot high & up to 3 feet wide.  It looks nice cascading over rocks & walls.  It is drought tolerant, but can't do entirely without water during the summer.  Water regularly, but not heavily, or more than once a week.  The stems of this plant & sometimes also the leaves survive the winter.  Don't cut it back to the base, just remove the obviously dead parts, mostly the flower heads.  It is native to the California & Oregon coasts, where it grows on bluffs, sand dunes & beaches.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

River Trail

Rhododendron macrophyllum (Pacific Rhododendron)

Adiantum aleuticum (Maidenhair Fern) & Blechnum spicant (Deer Fern)

Stout Grove

Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwood)

Oxalis oregana (Redwood Sorrel) Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in April 2014

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is located in northern California near Crescent City.  It is one of several parks in the area designed to preserve redwood trees & their ecosystem, which stretches from northern California to the Alaskan panhandle with minor variations.  The understory plants found here are the same as those in the forests near Portland OR, Seattle, or Vancouver BC.  Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is very accessible from the coast highway.  Stout Grove is a short hike from a small parking area.  It is not nearly as crowded with people as some of the other redwood groves in the area.  The trees are very impressive.  Jedediah Strong Smith led the first American explorers to pass through this area in 1828.  Frank Stout was the lumber baron who owned this land.  His family donated the parcel that established this park in 1929.  The park now covers more than 10,000 acres.  It is part of the California Coast Ranges International Biosphere Reserve.  The Smith River, which flows through the park, is the only major undammed river in California.