Hooker's Evening Primrose

Year-round

Hooker's evening primrose is native to California, including the Los Angeles area, so it already fits this climate and does not need special coddling.

• It is native to much of coastal and inland California, from around San Francisco down through San Diego, so an LA yard is well within its natural range.
• It wants full sun to part shade and tolerates just about any well-draining soil.
• It grows tall arching flower stalks, usually 3 to 5 feet, rising up from a low rosette of leaves at the base.
• The yellow flowers open in the evening and draw in sphinx moths, other night-flying moths, and hummingbirds.
• It naturally grows in moist spots but is surprisingly drought tolerant once established in a garden bed, matching the low-water approach this plant is set up for here.
• It reseeds itself readily, so expect volunteer seedlings to show up nearby and plan to thin or pull the ones you do not want.

Fall

Bloom winds down in fall and the plant sets seed, which local goldfinches come to feed on.

• Leave some seed pods to dry on the plant so goldfinches can feed and so it can reseed itself for next year.
• Cut back flower stalks that have finished blooming and gone brown to clean up the plant before winter rain returns.
• Watering can taper off as LA's cooler, sometimes rainy fall weather sets in.
• Expect new seedlings to sprout at the base once fall rain arrives.

Cutting back the spent, browned flower stalks now keeps a front-yard bed looking tidy and HOA-friendly heading into winter.

Winter

Winter is the time for the hard cutback that keeps this plant from getting rangy and woody.

• Prune it back hard, close to the base rosette, sometime in winter. It recovers quickly and comes back fuller in spring.
• LA's winter rain is usually enough on its own, so extra watering typically is not needed this season.
• Pull unwanted volunteer seedlings now while they are small and easy to spot.
• The plant sits low as a bare rosette through winter, so it will look sparse until spring growth resumes.

A winter cutback keeps the plant low and neat through the dormant months, which reads as HOA-conscious for a front-yard bed.

Spring

Spring is when this plant wakes up in LA, pushing new growth from its base rosette before the flower stalks start to rise.

• Water it a couple times a week if spring stays dry, especially on a young plant, to help it size up before the flower stalks shoot up.
• Watch for tall flower stalks starting to rise out of the low base rosette as days get longer.
• Thin out crowded volunteer seedlings now if last year's plant self-sowed heavily nearby.
• It does fine in average soil, so skip the fertilizer.

Summer

This is peak bloom season here, with the yellow flowers opening each evening through LA's long dry stretch.

• Give it a deep water every week or two during the driest weeks, more often if it looks wilted by midday, since LA summers bring little to no rain.
• Flower stalks reach their full 3 to 5 foot height now and can flop in wind or open space, so a stake or nearby support helps if that happens.
• Sphinx moths and hummingbirds tend to visit in the evening when the flowers open, so this is the best time of day to watch for them.
• Deadheading spent stalks keeps the look tidier, though leaving some seed pods on also feeds goldfinches later in the year.