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Spring Madia
Madia elegans
  
About Spring Madia (Madia elegans) 10 Nurseries Carry This Plant The cheerful yellow and red flowers of the Spring Madia brighten up the landscape and attract bees and butterflies to the garden. Birds enjoy the seeds after blooming. Spring Madia is an annual wildflower in the sunflower family. This plant is also known as tarweed because of its scent, which is pleasant and reminiscent of pineapple.

The flowers bloom from summer to fall. They look their best in the morning and curl up in the afternoon. Spring Madia does well in open, sunny places. It is an easy-to-grow, low-moisture plant that adapts to different soil types.
Showy Tarweed Seeds (Madia elegans)Default Title. (n.d.). Northwest Meadowscapes. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from https://northwestmeadowscapes.com/products/showy-madia-seeds-madia-elegans?variant=30337408958554 ‌
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Annual herb

Size
Size
4 - 6 ft tall
1 - 2 ft wide

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast

Fragrance
Fragrance
Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color
Flower Color
Yellow, Red

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Summer, Fall

Wildlife Supported
 
The flowers are attractive to numerous insects including bees and butterflies.

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 3 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 1x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to -10° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description
Soil Description
Adaptable. Soil PH: 5.5 - 7.8

Common uses
Common uses
Bee Gardens

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Compatible with virtually any native trees, shrubs, and herbs

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
5, 6, 7*, 8*, 9*, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Meadows, openings in woodlands or chaparral, other open, grassy places

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 6.7" - 133.4", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 3.85", Coldest Month: 19.9" - 54.1", Hottest Month: 43.8" - 79.3", Humidity: 0.09" - 27.93", Elevation: 15" - 12014"

Alternative Names
Botanical Names: Madia elegans ssp. vernalis,Madia elegans ssp. elegans,Madia elegans ssp. wheeleri,Madia elegans ssp. densifolia
Common Names: Spring Common Madia, Tarweed


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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