Flattop Buckwheat

Name: Flattop Buckwheat
Brand: Outdoor Dream Builders

Eriogonum fasciculatum

A compact Sonoran Desert native with white-pink summer blooms that age to rust-red seed heads and attract bees, birds, and butterflies.

Hardy in USDA zones 7-11; a Mohave and Sonoran native tolerant of mid-desert cold and low-desert heat, evergreen and requiring no protection.

AMWUA Notes

A low-water native with exceptional pollinator and seed-bird value; its persistent seed heads feed wildlife into winter.

Care Guide

💧Watering

Low water; a deep soak every 2 weeks in summer suffices and it tolerates real drought, resenting overly wet soil.

✂️Pruning

Leave the rusty seed heads through fall and winter for wildlife and interest, then shear back lightly in late winter to renew the low mound.

🌱Fertilizing

No fertilizer needed in native soil.

🛡️Pests

Pest-free and an important larval host and seed source for native insects and birds.

☀️Seasonal Notes

Evergreen low mound; white-to-pink summer flowers age to rust-red seed heads that persist into winter and feed birds.

🪨Soil

Sandy, gravelly, sharply drained soils; tolerates caliche and alkaline pH 7.5-8.5.

💧Drainage

Needs sharp, fast-draining soil.

🌱Nutrient Needs

None — thrives in lean desert soil without fertilizer.

🌰Propagation

From seed; short-lived and self-sows.

📐Spacing

2 ft

🌳Roots & Placement

Shallow, non-aggressive roots; ideal as a rock-garden and path-edge filler.

•Very low at 1 ft by 2 ft; space 2 ft apart and mass as a flowering groundcover or rock-garden filler.
•Ideal tucked among boulders and along decomposed-granite path edges.
•Low litter and small size make it a tidy pool- and walkway-side plant.
•Plant in full sun; it is a superb low-water pollinator and seed-bird plant.