Scientific Name

Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia

Full Sun

Part Sun

Low

Max. Height × Width

4 inches × spreading

More information

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The long, brittle, vine-like stems of California Four O’Clock love to weave themselves into the scaffolding of woodier chaparral species like buckwheats and sages, which is how you’ll most often see them in the wild.

Festooned with beautifully delicate, purple-magenta flowers, this sun-loving plant will also spill over the edge of a retaining wall or act as a part-time ground cover before it goes mostly dormant in the summer.

Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia can take the punishing heat of a southwestern exposure, but will appreciate a little shade during the hottest part of the afternoon. By July it will look fairly “dead” without any supplemental irrigation, at which point it can be pruned back hard in preparation for the “rainy season,” when it will miraculously spring back to life in a flush of rapid, new growth.

Drawing of plant with berries

Bitter Gooseberry

Ribes amarum

flowers

Blue Dicks

Dipterostemon (Dichelostemma) capitatus

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Blue Elderberry

Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea

Blue Wildrye

Elymus glaucus

Branching Phacelia

Phacelia ramosissima

Brickell Bush

Brickellia californica

California Aster

Corethrogyne filaginifolia

California Aster

Corethrogyne filaginifolia

California Fuchsia

Epilobium canum ssp. canum

California Prickly Phlox

Linanthus californicus

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Canyon Dudleya

Dudleya cymosa

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Cardinal Catchfly

Silene laciniata

Caterpillar Phacelia

Phacelia cicutaria

Drawing of plant with acorn

Coast Live Oak

Quercus agrifolia

Coast Prickly Pear

Opuntia littoralis

Illustration of plant in planter

Coffeeberry

Frangula californica

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Fiesta Flower

Pholistoma auritum

Drawing of plant with handing flowers

Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry

Ribes speciosum

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Hollyleaf Redberry

Rhamnus ilicifolia

Longstem Buckwheat

Eriogonum elongatum

Drawing of plant with feathery flowers

Mountain Mahogany

Cercocarpus betuloides

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Poison Oak

Toxicodendron diversilobum

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Punch Bowl Godetia

Clarkia bottae

Rooreh

Claytonia perfoliata

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Round Leafed Boykinia

Boykinia rotundifolia

Sacred Datura

Datura wrightii

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Santa Barbara Honeysuckle

Lonicera subspicata var. denudata

Illustration of plant in planter

Saw-Toothed Goldenbush

Hazardia squarrosa var. grindelioides

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Scarlet Larkspur

Delphinium cardinale

Silver Puffs

Uropappus lindleyi

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Soap Plant

Chloroglaum pomeridianum

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Southern Bush Monkeyflower

Diplacus longiflorus

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Southern California Black Walnut

Juglans californica

Drawing of plant with spotted flowers

Spotted Humboldt’s Lily

Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatum

Sunflower

Helianthus annuus

Threadleaf Ragwort

Senecio flaccidus

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Toyon

Heteromeles arbutifolia

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Western Columbine

Aquilegia formosa

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Western Wallflower

Erysimum capitatum

Wild Heliotrope