The Real Dirt

A new season of Master Gardener Workshops is underway! The series kicked off with Fall Vegetable and Seed Starting on August 23, and will conclude on December 6 with Gardening for a Lifetime. In all, this Fall Series totals 18 workshops, covering eleven all-new topics and seven important basics.

There are now fourteen distinct gardens to visit at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch. Once the final two themed gardens have been planted, the overall master plan will be fulfilled. But don't say the Demo Garden is finished.

This final discussion of Eriogonum, or wild buckwheat, examines three beauties that are grown at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch: E. nudum; E. umbellatum; and E. grande var. rubescens (previous articles in this series have looked at E. giganteum and E. fasciculatum).

Continuing our focus on select species of Eriogonum (wild buckwheat), this week's discussion features California buckwheat (E. fasciculatum). First, here is a quick review of characteristics common to all of California's wild buckwheats.

An astounding number of species populate the wild buckwheat genus Eriogonum - over 250, according to the CALFLORA website. And, due to their propensity to hybridize, active speciation continues as we speak. There are species for almost every letter of the alphabet, from A (E. abertianum) to Z (E.