Cat’s tongue might be a more fitting name. Pacific hound’s tongue, Cynoglossum grande or Adelinia grandis grows where it wants. It can grow from cracks in pavement, and then be difficult to remove. It grows easily through decomposed granite, gravel or wood chips. Yet, it is not readily available from nurseries, or as seed. It is sporadic in its native range.
Pacific hound’s tongue may be uncommon because it takes a few years to bloom well. It does not bloom for its first year from seed and then blooms thinly for its first few years. By its third year though, its resilient perennial taproot should be very established. Its foliage dies back soon after late winter bloom. It stays significantly longer with garden irrigation.
Bloom resembles that of forget-me-not, but relatively sparse and on vertical stems. Floral stems are about a foot tall, or can be two feet tall. They are more numerous in cultivation. The small blue flowers are less than half an inch wide. Foliage develops basal rosettes, which may prefer a bit of partial shade. The biggest leaves are less than six inches long, like a hound’s tongue.
Tony Tomeo 
This plant looked so familiar, but the name didn’t ring any bells… I looked it up and I grow a Cynoglossum nervosum, which now goes under the name of Lindefolia longiflora. The name Hound’s Tongue does make sense! Mine will flower around May or June.
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Bugloss is more popular within gardens within other regions. I have never seen it here, but just as we know snowflake as snowdrop, some of us know hound’s tongue as bugloss. Even within its native range, it is almost never planted intentionally. It grows in my garden naturally. I tried to relocate some from the driveway, but it never works, and they still grow through the driveway.
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Love the blue color.
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It is such a perfect blue! It is odd that blue is the rarest floral color, but is not rare among the native vegetation here, including several species of Ceanothus, Lupinus and Salvia.
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That’s a new one for me. Beautiful.
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It is rare even within home gardens within its native range. It just happens to grow wild and relatively abundantly around my garden. No one actually plants it.
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