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Baby Blue Eyes
Nemophila menziesii
  
About Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii) 39 Nurseries Carry This Plant Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii), a common annual of California, Oregon, and Baja California, is a popular garden plant. It is a spring-blooming wildflower that gets its name from the bright blue flowers of two of the three varieties that are recognized. One variety, var. atomaria, is found in the north coast and has almost pure white flowers.

It can occasionally be found outside its native range as an introduced species, in Alaska, for example. Baby Blue Eyes grows virtually throughout California at heights from sea level up to almost 6500 feet in many types of habitat. It is easy to grow from seed along with other annuals in a wildflower meadow or in openings between trees and shrubs.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Annual herb

Size
Size
6 in tall
.5 ft wide

Flower Color
Flower Color
Blue

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring

Wildlife Supported
 
Numerous insects including butterflies are attracted to the flowers

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 1 confirmed , 4 likely * ) SHOW ALL
Annaphila depicta Image
Annaphila depictaAnnaphila depicta
*
Viridiseptis marina Image
Viridiseptis marinaViridiseptis marina
*
Stamnodes albiapicata Image
Stamnodes albiapicataStamnodes albiapicata

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 5° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium

Soil Description
Soil Description
Sandy to loamy. Soil PH: 6.0 - 8.0

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Use with other wildflowers such as California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Clarkia spp., and Sidalcea spp., with geophytes such as Brodiaea spp., Mariposa Lily (Calochortus spp.), and Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum), and with succulents such as Dudleya spp. and various cactus species.

Propagation
Propagation?
By seed. For propagating by seed: If sown outdoors in late fall, no treatment may give good results. Germinate at 59°F (Association of Official Seed Analysts 1981); or at cool temperature (less than 70°F) and in darkness first 3 days (Chen 1968; Cruden 1974).

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Meadows, grassy places and canyons

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 4.6" - 113.7", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 3.21", Coldest Month: 27.1" - 56.6", Hottest Month: 48.3" - 84.2", Humidity: 0.29" - 37.04", Elevation: 3" - 10144"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Baby Blue-eyes


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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