Rewilding My Lot

I introduced Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) by seed in 2023 and 2024 and have a solid population now that is propagating on its own. I sowed seed twice because this is a biennial plant with a two-year lifecycle, and I wanted to have blooms every year.

So now, in fall 2025, there are primarily two forms of this plant here: leaf rosettes that will grow and bloom next year, and spent bloom spikes from plants that are in the process of dropping seed.

Here’s an example of the first-year leaf rosettes, which will stay like this through the winter:

And here’s an example of plants that are at the end of their life, making seed for future populations:

There are also a small number of red Standing Cypress flowers in the garden now that have grown from late, short bloom spikes that only grew recently (like the first photo in this post). I suspect that these are mostly growing from plants where I had cut down the first bloom spike for some reason, which then triggered another growth.

Now that I have an established population, these late bloomers could suggest a strategy to get more flowers in a year by cutting more more plants as soon as they have finished blooming to encourage second growths. I wouldn’t want to cut everything down, though. The first photo below is an example of where I cut several plants down (the dark mounds) to make more room for a tree, but only one has grown a new bloom spike. I want to ensure that there are enough seeds produced for the following year, and letting seed heads mature completely is the best way to do that.