A rosette of deep green succulent leaves is crowned with a spray of bright pink flowers.

Early Spring Flowers

Early Spring Flowers

The weather is finally warming up, and with the sun comes the pollinators! We’ve got bees, flies, beetles, and all kinds of insects buzzing around the property in search of food. At this time of year when food sources are limited, many of them rely on early-blooming flowers for sustenance.

With this in mind, we’ve established a wide variety of flowering plants around the property with the intention of having something blooming nearly year-round, for the delight of birds, insects, and humans alike.

Below are just a few of the beauties that have been putting on a display in the past few weeks. They’re not only gorgeous, but they’re also all native to Oregon or the California floristic province which includes southern Oregon. Since they’re adapted to our area, they’re easy to grow and are just what the local birds and insects need!

A mound of green leaves is adorned with golden flowers. The plant sits at the edge of a pond ringed with rocks.

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) is blooming her ever-loving head off in the pond. Marsh Marigold has a bit of a bad reputation as a weed, but this variety “Plena” has been well-behaved for us. Every year around this time she puts on a lovely display of golden yellow flowers.

Small, delicate, five-petaled light pink flowers adorn a plant with tripartite leaves in green and orange.

This delicate shell-pink Redwood Sorrel (Oxalis oregana) is slowly spreading through a dry, rocky, shaded area. We planted her there to keep her in check! Otherwise – despite her diminutive stature – she might eat the whole yard!

A mound of flowers adorns a carpet of green. Each flower has five white petals with one dark purple dot.

Five Spot (Nemophila maculata) is a lovely little native that covers the ground in low mounds of cheery white flowers with purple dots. The insects just love her! She reseeds herself freely every year, meaning we only had to plant her once and now we get to enjoy her every spring.

Flowers are strewn across a carpet of green. Each flower has 5 petals which are baby blue with white in the middle.

Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) is the sister species to Five Spot. These little beauties are perfectly named, as they form a carpet of baby blue fluttering in the spring breezes. She reseeds well here just like Five Spot does.

A purple violet flower sits atop a rosette of dark green leaves.

The Western dog violets (Viola adunca) are putting out their dark purple blooms. We’ve been extremely happy to see them spreading around the property since they form the main food source for the endangered Oregon silverspot butterfly, which nearly went extinct in the 1990s. Read more about the recovery program for this butterfly at the Oregon Zoo: https://www.oregonzoo.org/conserve/fighting-extinction-pacific-northwest/oregon-silverspot-butterfly.

A rosette of deep green succulent leaves is crowned with a spray of bright pink flowers.

Lewisia (a.k.a. bitterroot) is a charming PNW native plant that puts out sprays of gorgeous flowers in shades of pink, orange, peach, yellow, and off-white. The root is edible and medicinal. Species include L. rediviva, L. longipetala, L. cotyledon, and many others.


These are just a few of the more unusual plants we’ve got established here at the Plantiva office. We’re lucky to be in southern Oregon where we can grow a wider variety of plants than just about anywhere else in the U.S.

Whether it’s for food, medicine, ornamentation, or otherwise, we love everything plants!

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