Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden
The Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden showcases a palette of particularly interesting native plants which perform well in our challenging north coast climate and soil conditions.
The changing seasons make it especially worthwhile to visit throughout the year. For a current seasonal description of the garden, see Spring & Summer 2024 In the Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden by Mark Moore, Volunteer Curator.
The Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden provides visitors with striking examples of how native plants, with their resource-conserving benefits and low maintenance requirements, can be aesthetically integrated into home landscapes.
Be inspired to learn more about our unique and diverse native flora and how to incorporate native plants into your existing landscaping or new garden design. Come visit the Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden at the Humboldt Botanical Garden.
To view a list of plants currently present in the garden, click here: Printable Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden Plant List
Featured Plants
Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri)
Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri) is a popular native landscape plant from the mountains of southern California. Beloved for its huge “fried egg” shaped flowers, Matilija Poppies have the largest flowers of any native plant in California. It can be somewhat invasive, and needs room to roam in a sunny, well drained site. No water, no fertilizer, no soil amendments. Cut the plant to the ground in late fall each year to rejuvenate.
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ‘Skylark’
Ceanothus ‘Skylark’ is a showy horticultural selection of our native “blueblossom” ceanothus. Its beautiful dark blue flowers are in bloom in the LCBNPG from spring through early summer. ‘Skylark’ ceanothus is drought tolerant but can also tolerate some water and does well in clay soils. With its small, shiny evergreen leaves, ‘Skylark’ looks good year round, and will grow to approximately five feet tall by six feet wide. A total of 35 young specimens of ‘Skylark’ ceanothus are present along the top border the LCBNPG. Planted in fall 2016 to replace older declining plants, they create a meandering row which defines the top edge of this garden. Several horticultural sources state this ceanothus “loves” adobe, which works to our advantage in the dense, clay soils of the LCBNPG. Look for our new ceanothus ‘Skylark’ plants to begin blooming in earnest in 2018.
Arctostaphylos manzanita ‘Dr. Hurd’ (Dr. Hurd manzanita)
Dr. Hurd manzanita is a beautiful evergreen shrub that performs well in our coastal environment. It grows fairly rapidly and may ultimately reach approximately ten feet tall and as wide. Like many manzanitas, the beautiful mahogany red stems are best displayed by careful and early pruning to open up the structure of branches. The pure white clusters of small urn shaped flowers cover this manzanita from mid to late winter to the delight of hummingbirds and bumblebees. On the north coast, Dr. Hurd manzanita should be planted in full sun. It will tolerate clay soils if given adequate drainage and no supplemental watering after the first year. One mature specimen and five newer plantings of Dr. Hurd manzanita are present in the LCBNPG.
Mimulus aurantiacus ‘Blood Orange’
‘Blood Orange’ monkeyflower is one of numerous horticultural selections developed over many decades from what is now botanically recognized as Mimulus aurantiacus. ‘Blood Orange’ monkeyflower is a small, heavily flowering semi-woody shrub reaching approximately two feet tall and as wide. It is tolerant of a range of soil types and moisture regimes and blooms in the LCBNPG over several months from spring through fall. Like other monkeyflowers, ‘Blood Orange’ benefits from frequent tip pruning to promote dense growth, removal of spent blooms to extend the flowering season, and annual cutting back to form sturdier plants. In the LCBNPG, ‘Blood Orange’ monkeyflower is planted in several locations easily viewed from the Paver Pavilion.