Arboretum Spotlight: Bumblebees love California horkelia

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum’s “40 Plants You (Probably) Have Never Heard of – But Will Love,” 40 can’t-fail, easy-care, low-water plants well adapted to our region but hard to find.

California horkelia

Horkelia californica

Size: Clumps to 1 foot high and 2 feet wide.

Bloom season: Insignificant white flowers in late spring and summer.

Exposure: Shade or dappled sun.

Pruning needs: None except to shape as desired.

Water needs: Low water; once established, water deeply once or twice a month.

Snapshot: This is a true native to our area. Horkelia – which was named for a German botanist – grows wild in the western Sierra foothills and on the scrubby slopes of the coastal mountain ranges. It’s closely related to cinquefoil and is a member of the rose family. A delicate-looking but very tough native perennial, California horkelia (one of 19 horkelias, almost all native to California) has fernlike leaves 5 to 10 inches in length divided into smaller leaflets that give it a finely cut appearance. In summer, it produces small flowers with tiny white petals that are a magnet for bumblebees.

For more on “40 Plants,” click on arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Arboretum Spotlight: Bumblebees love California horkelia."