The winner of San Diego Bird Alliance’s recent public-advocacy campaign to select a new San Diego native flower was announced this week.

“San Diego Bird Alliance has concluded its ‘floral faceoff’ in public voting for the candidate for the City’s new city flower,” said SDBA’s advocacy coordinator Savannah Stallings. “Blue-eyed grass was brought to the City Council on April 22, Earth Day, as an action to change the flower from a non-native carnation to this native species.”

And by unanimous City Council vote, blue-eyed grass is now the official flower of the City of San Diego.

Between March 14 and April 16, SDBA conducted three rounds of public voting to select a new, native city flower to represent San Diego. SDBA’s “Your City, Your Flower” campaign featured three rounds of NCAA bracket-style voting before an eventual winner was selected and presented to the San Diego City Council for final approval. “This initiative aims to replace the current non-native carnation with a flower that truly represents our local ecosystems and supports our native wildlife,” said Stallings.

“San Diego County is the most bio-diverse county in the nation, and this initiative aligns with the City’s existing environmental commitments,” added SDBA wildfire resiliency fellow Hailey Matthews.

SDBA pointed out updating the City’s official flower also recognizes the Kumeyaay Native Americans that have lived here since time immemorial, and the ‘Iipay Aa language names for these culturally-connected species.

Public voting on the floral faceoff started with eight finalists: black sage, bladderpod, blue elderberry, blue-eyed grass, bush sunflower, California buckwheat, California rose and Cleveland sage, selected by a diverse stakeholder group based on environmental benefits, Kumeyaay cultural significance, drought resistance, native status, conservation concerns, and artistic potential. A total of 7,750 votes were cast in the contest.

SDBA and its partner organizations wanted to emphasize the importance of native plants to native birds and other wildlife, as well as the role the City can play in promoting native plants and their connection to local habitats.

Andrew Meyer, SDBA’s conservation director, spoke of the impetus behind this initiative to designate a new native City flower. “For us, native plants supports birds and if we can get more native plants in the ground, we’ll have more nesting sites, nectar, seeds and insects for our native birds,” he explained. “And our group of stakeholders are involved for a lot of other reasons including promoting Kumeyaay connections to our habitats, drought resistance and efficient water use, local history, wildfire resiliency, and habitat-restoration value.”

Discussing how SDBA’s floral March Madness finalists were selected, Meyer noted: “These eight made it through the six selection criteria that we have on our website, sandiegobirdalliance.org. The big criterion that keeps a lot of great, beautiful, and important flowers off the list is that there isn’t a known name for them in Kumeyaay anymore. The names of so many native plants have been lost in the Kumeyaay language. With time and research, many names are being rediscovered, remembered, and reattached to the plants, reconnecting our original stewards to the species and places where these plants grow. The stakeholders selected these eight – and now the public has chosen.”

AND THE WINNER IS

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) has been selected as the City’s new official flower after a month-long public voting process. It is a 1-foot-tall perennial herb that grows statewide, usually in open places where there is some moisture, particularly in grassy areas. Its leaves are grassy and tufted. The flowers are small and purplish-blue. It flowers from January to July. After flowering, it dies back to the ground and is dormant over the summer. It prefers some moisture and good drainage, but will tolerate summer dryness. Blue-eyed grass is very easy to grow and will easily reseed. This plant is on several fire-resistant plant lists, including that of the County of San Diego.

THE WINNER WAS

In April 1964, the San Diego City Council adopted the carnation as the City’s non-native official flower, without choosing among the carnation’s many colors. The council was surrounded by bright floral arrangements as it cast its secret ballot for the official flower. During two hours of campaigning in the council chambers at that time, supporters of various City flower “candidates” placed them on tables in the room, pinned them on council members, and presented them, in various arrangements – even including seeds and growing plants – to council members.