Wildflowers! Now is the time to see them

Spring native wildflowers are at their peak in Sonoma County. 

One nearby place to see them is at Petaluma’s Helen Putnam Park, 411 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma

https://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/visit/find-a-park/helen-putnam-regional-park

Try the new entrance off Windsor Drive. 

My other favorite is Sonoma Valley Regional Park, 13630 Highway 12, Glen Ellen

https://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/visit/find-a-park/sonoma-valley-regional-park

Here are some wildflowers I saw recently at both parks:

Yarrow
Buttercup
Fiddleneck
Douglas Iris
Milkmaids
Lupines
Poppies

This spring the wildflowers I planted in my backyard last fall are starting to bloom. 

California native wildflowers I planted from seed include
Clarkia
Yarrow
Baby blue eyes
Tidy tips
Chinese houses,
Gilia
Five spot

Also blooming are the native grasses—deer grass, California fescue, purple needlegrass (our state grass) are putting out roots and seedheads.
The native plants—some with flowers— I bought at the Milo Baker native plant sale last fall are also doing well. 

Monkey flower
Ceanothus
Manzanita
Coast buckwheat
Narrow-leaved milkweed (essential for monarch butterflies)
Coffeeberry
Ninebark
Vine maple

And surprise! Given space, some native plants have arrived on their own initiative: oak trees (valley oak and coast live oak), stinging nettle, and greenspot nightshade.