Commentary by Angel Rutherford
Wick News Service

Chocolate flower — Berlandiera lyrata — is a native of our high desert and is considered the flower of Cochise County. It is also the flower of the Sierra Vista Area Gardeners Club.

Of course, it also is found in the high desert areas of Texas and New Mexico and northern Mexico. Where it is not found is in our nurseries, but sometimes if you get lucky Ace Hardware will carry it. Keep in mind that it just doesn’t look good in a nursery pot, which might be the reason the nurseries don’t carry it.

I dug up my first plant at a friend’s home more than 10 years ago. I took a tiny start and planted it in front of my home on my island bed. It has thrived with very little additional water, and in recent years it has naturalized in my front yard. What I mean by that is that it has self-seeded itself into different areas.

Chocolate flower is a perennial and long lived. It’s a member of the daisy or the sunflower family, and it is a composite. The plant forms a neat little clump of green leaves crowned by daisy-like flowers. The flowers have brown centers and the rays are yellow, and there are lots of them. An adult plant can have more than 20 flowers at the same time.

The plant will freeze down at the first heavy frost. I do not cut it to the ground until spring, this way the spent foliage will protect the roots. In spring, it will recover quickly, which is when I clean it up. I used to cut down spent flowers to induce more of them, but that is really more work than necessary. The plant will put out new flowers all season long. If it isn’t dead-headed, it will self-seed.

The chocolate flower got its name because when it flowers the air around it smells like chocolate.

One spring, I went to the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum and on the patio in front of the cafeteria they had planted big containers with chocolate flower.

I sat down and had a cup of coffee there and the air was filled with the beautiful odor of chocolate. It was so amazing. It was not amazing because this is what this plant is known for. It was amazing because I smelled it for the first time.

My plants do not put out the odor of chocolate. Even if I crush the pedals I cannot smell chocolate. I can only guess it must be my soil. Well, I can live with that, My plants are lovely, low maintenance, need low to no additional water and are always looking so happy. You cannot go wrong with yellow flowers. They bring sunshine into your yard.

Here is some data on the plant. Chocolate flower forms a clump of 1 1/2 feet high and 2 feet wide. It blooms from April to October in elevations 4,000 to 5,000 feet. It is considered a perennial herb. The Native Americans used the flower heads to flavor foods and it thrives in clay soil.

Events

• I am the featured artist this month at the Huachuca Art Association. I have invited my friend, Lori Kovash, to co-chair, and they named the show “A little of this, a little of that.” The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. and is located south of Highway 92 at 3818 Astro St. For information, call 378-2493.

• I will be giving a program on habitat gardening at the Southwest Wings Birding Festival — “Build it and they will come” — from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Aug. 8.

• My artwork also will be on display at the Windemere Hotel and Conference Center in August and September.

ANGEL RUTHERFORD is a Cochise County Master Gardener and member of the Sierra Vista Area Gardening Club. Her column appears the first Sunday of each month.