This cute 2-3 ft tall plant grows wild in parts of California and is considered a native. It comes in several colors, and there are mimulus with yellow blooms growing wild along the hillsides in my neighborhood. The one I found at Tree of Life nursery in San Juan Capistrano is scarlet colored, though it seems more of an orange to me! Each blossom has a cute little monkey face inside it. The foliage is bright green, and sticky. Insects love it, hummingbirds love it and they need very little water. They tolerate a wide range of conditions and soils. The plants live for only a few years, but the stems can be weighed down with rocks, and roots will form where the nodes touch the ground, and the old stems can be severed from the mother plant. Aphids love monkey flowers, probably because of the sticky leaves and fleshy stems. I also discovered that snails like the leaves too. I put a plastic collar with copper tape around the entire plant when I put it into the ground. They need good air circulation to prevent fungal diseases.
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