Yellow and purple flowers are showing off in the Native Plant Demonstration Gardens along the Tule River Parkway. This week’s featured plant is Woolly Blue Curls. Woolly blue curls is one of the most fascinating and attractive native flowering shrubs to both people and hummingbirds alike. It is a small evergreen shrub growing with upright branches 2-3 ft. tall and spreading 3-4 ft. across within the first year. Tall spikes of striking purple, blue and white flowers are rich in nectar and occur with greatest intensity in early spring and intermittently throughout the year.
Woolly blue curls is a highly popular native plant due to its remarkable flowers and long flowering season, which can be extended by removing older flowers. It requires well-drained soils and grows best with low amounts of supplemental water once established. It serves as a flowering accent shrub in native gardens, on banks, around rocks and in revegetation plantings. Cultivars of this species can sometimes be found at native plant nurseries that offer different foliage, form and flowering characteristics.
The flowers are royal blue, fuzzy, 12" clusters and excellent for cut flowers. Both the flower and foliage have a sweet fragrance like freshly cut cedar with a bouquet of lavender. Woolly Blue Curls attract hummingbirds, a variety of butterflies, and bees.
The following are just five of the plants which you can see blooming in a quarter mile walk along the Tule River Parkway between Jaye Street and Parkway Drive.
Woolly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum)
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)
Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
Bush Monkeyflower (Diplacus aurantiacus)
Common Lippia (Phyla nodiflora)
Many California native plants available at Luis’ Nursery 139 S Mariposa Ave, Visalia, Quercus Landscape Design in Springville https://quercuslandscapedesign.com/availability, and Alta Vista Nursery in Three Rivers which is open by appointment 559-799-7438. More information on this plant can be found at calscape.org by searching for the plant by name.
The Tule River Parkway is a City of Porterville public park which features a three-mile paved walking and bicycle path. The gardens were planted and maintained by volunteers with project management by the Tule River Parkway Association. We have three volunteer garden days each month. Follow Tule River Parkway Association on Facebook for announcements. Volunteers are welcome to join us to care for the gardens on July 30, August 13, 18, and 20 from 7:30am till 10:30 am. Visit and join our Facebook group of the same name. The public is encouraged to explore the gardens to learn more about the featured plants and the project. For More information contact TRPA at tulerivergardens@gmail.com
Submitted by Cathy Capone 7-21-2022