Chinese houses: in the wild
Collinsia heterophylla or Chinese houses is a pretty annual that is easy enough to grow yet not often seen in seed catalogues or in gardens. In ‘The Ladies’ Flower Garden of Ornamental Annuals’ by Mrs Loudon (1842) she writes that it was only recently discovered in California (in 1838) and seed was available but still rare. In the Plantaginaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae) I assume the common name comes from the whorls of flowers in decreasing sized clusters up the stem that look fancifully like a pagoda. These plants were growing wild near Placerville in eastern California on a shady bank.
And below are some Californian poppies (eschscholzia) growing wild and free near Amador city in California.
The Biking Gardener 
they look so happy growing like that .
they do 🙂
They are beautiful… a new one for me…