Category Archives: California native plants

Love your honey… bee that is!

Celebrate National Honeybee Day, August 20th

Honeybee on Prickly Poppy

 
That lovely honeybee isn’t just another pretty face… she works for a living, providing important services to humans and the ecosystem.  Honeybees are solely responsible for pollinating more than a third of our daily food supply.  Most people have heard about the honeybee crisis, but the honeybees aren’t the only ones in trouble these days. Pollinators including butterflies, native bees, and other beneficial insects are all in decline. But… there are little things–little pleasurable things–you can do to help. Even the smallest home garden can play a big role in the effort… and supporting larger scale efforts–like public gardens such as Tilden Park and the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, and agricultural projects like the California Agricultural Pollinator Project–is another way we can make a difference.
 
Take a minute today to celebrate the honeybee… she’s done a lot for us. 

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See more bee photos
 
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The above photo of a honeybee on Prickly Poppy, Argemone munita, was taken at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, spring 2006, on a photo-shoot with my hubby.

Spring in my home garden

What a swirl of colors!  This is our garden’s third spring and it’s gorgeous.  I just uploaded 32 new photos of our garden including Coast sunflower, Western blue flax, Toyon, Lady bugs, Bees, Tidy Tips, Onions, Monkey flowers and more. All with botanical names and information. 

Here’s a tiny preview…

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See the spring bloom
See my Photo-guide to California native plants…

Dawn ~ a garden love story

I’ve never been much of a morning person, but ever since I’ve been in this relationship with my native plant garden I look forward to the occasional sunrise.  I enjoy that moment when the rosy golden rays kiss the leaves, the flowers unfold with the growing warmth, the birds talk among themselves, and the pollinators are often still in bed.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not up every morning at dawn. But there are some days my garden calls to me “Debbie, come see all the new wonderful things that happened since yesterday” and I can’t resist.  I’m up, and in the garden, cup of green tea or warm almond milk in hand.

Tell me about your relationship with your garden.

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This photo is from my home garden. The beautiful flowering plant – which was mislabeled in the nursery – is probably Ribes malvaceum ‘Montara Rose’ and blooms from December to mid-Spring.

 

How will you celebrate California native plant week?

I’m taking a bouquet of native flowers to Foothill College – what are your plans?

Native plant enthusiasts are cheering!  In September 2010, the California State Assembly and Senate approved Resolution ACR 173 establishing California Native Plant Week, beginning this year April 17-23. 

It’s a good sign that sustainability is catching on when the state assembly and the senate agree… California native plants in the wilds, in gardens and in landscapes have a huge positive impact on our watersheds, on curbing catastrophic wildfires, and on creating and restoring wildlife habitat.  They also agree that residential water use can be cut between 60 and 90% simply by replacing conventional landscape plants with California native plants. That’s a huge water savings!

So whether you are currently an enthusiast or just curious about all the excitement, I encourage you to participate in some of the activities planned throughout our beautiful state. 

What am I doing for California native plant week?  I’ll be taking a bouquet of flowers to Foothill College – a simple gesture – I’ll be attending Dee Wong’s talk at the Hidden Villa CNPS Plant Sale, and I’ve already chosen the gardens I’ll visit on the Going Native Garden Tour in Santa Clara Valley.  Although not technically during native plant week, on May 1st I’ll be at the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour in the East Bay. 

I hope to see you there! 

Click “Continue reading” for additional ideas and resources >>  Continue reading

A native plant revolution!

It all started a few weeks ago when I saw a call to action on Twitter “Native Plant Lovers Unite!”  As things happen, on the same day I was reading a very good blog about native plants, Native Plant Wildlife Gardening. The author, Karyl, is in Georgia. Georgia?!?  Suddenly the lights went on! What the heck is happening in the rest of the country in regards to native plants?  Could there a native plant movement? If so, how close is this movement to being mainstream? All kinds of questions started swimming around in my brain. I got so excited that I started looking up native plant societies state by state.

Well the answers to my questions surprised me…
Continue reading

April Preview

For all of you who relish diversity, my blog posts will follow in step.  The following posts are planned for April…

Our Queen

  • Native plant societies in the US ~ POSTED
  • Mainstreaming native plants… what are you doing for California native plant week?
  • The queen of bumblebees… you’ve seen her in your garden!
  • Part 1: Your personal tour of the Going Native Garden Tour
  • Dawn, a garden love story

I can’t wait!  ♥