Tall Cineraria - The sought-after weed

You may know Cineraria from the cute little potted flowers sold all over the country for indoor, seasonal color. But it turns out, this highly hybridized version of the flower can go native here in the Bay Area and the resulting plant looks nothing like its commercial cousin.

The Mystery

I discovered this when I found a few weeds growing in my garden and thought the leaves had nice, generous shapes to them and wondered what they'd grow into. So I transplanted them into pots and set them aside to do their thing while I cleaned up the garden. At first bloom, the colors were a vibrant purple but the petals scraggly and weak. So I shrugged them off as just a purple weed and went about gardening intended to toss those out and refill the pots at some point in the future. Then the scraggly petals unfolded and made me glad I had kept them around.

You can see the milkweed-like buds on this flower. They really don't hint at how large and vibrant the blooms will be. It takes them a few days to open up, stretch out, and unfold.

As I walk around the Bay Area, I'm seeing the leaves of these plants popping up in random places. They aren't really planted with much intention. Rather, they seem to be welcome but uninvited guests.

In my research, I discovered that purple was only the start and, amazingly, these Canary Island natives can do well in San Francisco shade and fog. Officially, you should put them in part shade, but it doesn't take much sun to get them to bloom like this.

For more information, and other people's photos of these fun flowers, see here:

Golden Gate Gardener

Daves Garden