While I was at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (early 1990s), I had my own garden. I also had my own kitchen for the first time in my life. I loved to invite fellow students to share my meals from my mother’s kitchen.

With a student’s income, I wanted my friends to EXPERIENCE a meal. I would run to my very small garden and make a bouquet of green bell pepper branches with nasturtium vines and dahlias which complemented the very Mexican dish of Mole Casero. The candle lit evening with Pedro Infante Cien Anos in the background would be interrupted when my guests would be blown away by the bell peppers in the centerpiece.

I now live in the California High Desert and my favorite wild flower arrangement ingredient is Baileya multiradiata (Desert Marigold). It produces almost 12 inch leafless gray stems with the most simple bright yellow flower. It blooms almost all year in my California Native front yard.

– During the spring, they accompany Firecracker Penstemon, Penstemon Eatonii.
– During the summer, I have bouquets of Desert Marigolds since most California Natives are dormant.
– I love to add it as an accent to my greenery bouquets in late fall before they are no more.
– But in January and February they are back!

Desert Marigolds are a staple in the Mojave Desert.

The plant is indigenous where I live. I grow it for wildlife and herbal medicine but keep it in reasonable bounds in my garden.