Of these things, I’ve seen a few, but I’ve not seen many more.
Thus what follows is based instead on little bits of lore
The fivespot, Nemophila maculata, a California wild flower, is said to likely feel at home in:
- sandy, somewhat alkaline soils which drain fast, or, at least, not slowly.
- temperatures between 24° F and 77° F / -4.444° C and 25° C.
- low humidity.
- the shade, for a while, when it’s hot.
- open spaces in grasslands, on foot hills, and in forests.
It is said that the fivespot is:
- often comfortable being watered only once or twice a month in summer.
- spreading in form.
- fast in growth, but limited to a foot or so in size.
- in bloom in late winter, throughout spring, and, perhaps, even into summer.
- able to survive cold down to 0° F / -17.8° C.
- an annual.
- attractive to bees, the funereal duskywing, the alfalfa looper moth, Viridiseptis marina, and Annaphila depicta.
- often to added to bee gardens.
- in the borage family – a member of the waterleaf subfamily, specifically.
There is also the desert fivespot, Eremalche rotundifolia, but those are different.
Sources:
https://calscape.org/loc-california/Nemophila%20maculata()
https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Nemophila+maculata
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=NEMA