Sulfur Flower (Erigonum umbellatum)

Sulphur Flower Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) | $12.99 | 4-inch pot

🌿 Quick Facts: • Native Status: Native to North America — native to Colorado from the foothills to over 10,000 feet • USDA Growing Zones: 4-8 (proven selections to zone 3) • Height: 6-15 inches with flower stems above the mat • Spread: 12-24 inches

🌺 Bloom Details: • Season: Early summer through fall • Colors: Sulfur-yellow aging through cream to orange, rust and burgundy — often several at once • Flower Type: Flat-topped umbels of tiny bell-shaped flowers on wiry stems • Bloom Period: June-September

☀️ Growing Requirements: • Sun: Full sun to part sun • Water: Very low — excellent xeric plant • Soil: Lean, dry, gravelly or rocky, sharply drained; tolerates limestone/alkaline; no rich soil • Spacing: 15-18 inches apart

🦋 Pollinator Benefits: • Birds: Small seed-eating songbirds take the seeds; the mat gives ground cover • Native Bees: Special value to native bees — a top-tier native bee and native wasp plant • Butterflies: MAJOR larval host — bramble, desert green & Sheridan's hairstreaks, lupine blue, dotted blue, metalmarks • Beneficial Insects: Recognized for beneficial insect conservation — shallow nectar feeds predatory wasps & hoverflies

🌱 Plant Care: • Spring: Tidy winter-burned leaves; do not fertilize or disturb the taproot • Summer: Essentially none; leave fading rust-red flowerheads for color • Fall: Leave seedheads standing for color, seed and insect habitat • Winter: Evergreen to semi-evergreen; no mulch over the crown

🤝 Companion Planting: • Perfect paired with:

• Blue Grama
• Firecracker Penstemon
• Pasque Flower
• Bigflower Cinquefoil

✨ Unique Characteristics: • Colorado native with genuine four-season interest • Flowers shift yellow to orange to rust for months • One of the best butterfly larval-host plants for the region • Thrives in the worst dry rocky soil with no extra water • Evergreen mat suppresses weeds • Deer and rabbit resistant