SILVER BUCKWHEAT

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae)

This tidy little cushion plant is one of the most drought-hardy of the buckwheats and also one of the most attractive. Its tight mounds of rounded, silvery leaves are attractive year-round, and when the fluffy pompoms at the ends of slender stalks appear in late spring, the plant is very charming. Flower color can vary from pale beaten-egg yellow to white to deep rose, and the flowers themselves are often bicolored with red stripes over yellow or white. The pompoms turn rust red as the plant goes into seed. Silver buckwheat can be used effectively in dry perennial beds or rock garden plantings. It does not compete well with other plants and needs to have some room of its own to prosper. It looks good planted with cushion globemallow, Indian ricegrass, and purple crazypea. This plant self-seeds readily--to prevent this, clip the stalks as the pompoms turn rust colored.