Yellow monkeyflower, mimulus guttatus, is a colorful addition to damp areas of the garden. Common from Northern California to British Columbia, in the wild it is often seen in ditches, on gravel bars and in moist meadows. Yellow monkeyflower prefers sun or partial shade and has a rather relaxed growth habit, meandering along the ground. It will bloom from May to September in ideal conditions. Mimulus guttatus grows in several places in the Buck Lake Native Plant Garden. Most notably, it wanders through the rocky drainage leading to the rain garden basins. Bees are attracted to the flowers.

Enjoying similar growing conditions and a similar growth habit is Mimulus lewisii or pink monkeyflower. In our garden it is found along the main path near the south entrance, and also at the western extremity of the rain garden.

Mimulus take up sodium chloride and other salts from the soil, and were used by Native Americans and early white settlers as a salt substitute to flavor wild game.