Enjoying Zauschnerias

Zauschneria trial beds at California Botanical Garden. Author’s photographs
Zauschnerias, the so-called California fuchsias, have long been known and grown by the horticultural cognoscenti of the world. Who can resist their late summer charms? Just like that last fling of summer vacation before heading back to the staid life at home, zauschnerias provide a zesty zing that makes your garden sing until the cold and rain of winter silence them—at least until next year.
California’s rich aestival flora is little known to most gardeners. Countless natives form a wondrous, late-season, golden crescendo before the raindriven carpet of green flows over the winter landscape. Nearly all of these late-summer and fallblooming plants have yet to make their debut in our gardens, although such stellar plants as goldenbush (Ericameria cuneata, E. parishii), rabbit-brush (Ericameria nauseosus), scale-broom (Lepidospartum squamatum), and a never-ending supply of buckwheats (Eriogonum species) are certainly deserving of a place of honor. The major exception, in both color and garden presence, indeed the neplus ultra of this lat...