Native Gardener’s Corner-Member’s Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

This article, compiled by guest author Dan Songster, offers OCCNPS chapter members and local experts a chance to share information related to gardening with native plants. This month’s query asked:

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions for your native garden or plans for changing your landscape in some way this season?

Tina Cremer-“As a designer, I am unhappy with myself when, during this time of year, my mostly native garden is looking drab. My new year’s resolution is to find a plant that has bright yellow green leaves during this season to accent my natives. It would be nice if I could find something native, but I’m drawing a blank. This is my mission and I need a trip to Tree of Life Nursery. On the bright side, it’s raining in winter, my natives are recovering from summer, the John Dourley manzanita is blooming, buds are developing on my Ceanothus Concha, and I’m HAPPY!”

Rama Nayeri-“My resolution for this new year is to keep all my plants alive. My garden is a mixture of 75% California native and 25% edible herbs. But my garden is set on a 100 ft. pad of concrete, so all I can do is garden in containers and hope that this year I don’t kill anything.”

Alan Lindsay-“I should to do something in 2024 about what were once cute 1 gallon manzanitas, island ironwoods, and island scrub oaks. They have now matured and are blocking the sun from lower growing Dudleya and Salvia. Or else, just ignore the situation for another year and let nature figure it out.” 

Mark Sugars-“I resolve to prune my Lemonadeberry now-before its growth goes into overdrive.”

Brad Jenkins-“Looking through windows and seeing the garden alive with insect and bird life makes me smile, so I plan on increasing the number of super-host native plants in the garden for more bees, butterflies, and moths. Oh, and to make more of the backyard garden-friendly for bulbs and corms-Those flowers from bulbs in late winter and into spring always make me smile too.  Oh-Oh, also to expand the variety of items going to the compost bins that will eventually enrich the garden soil. Every concerned nature lover can smile with this one. So, I have given some thought (and even a bit of action) to these already, and my new year resolution is the very important action of following through to success.” 

Laura Camp-“I’m in the midst of a backyard re-do. So far, it’s been all demo. I’m hoping to have a beautiful outdoor living space, featuring local native plants before summer, without breaking the bank.”

Ron Vanderhoff-“My main resolution this year is to begin keeping track of the variety of insects, pollinators, and other visitors to my home garden. I do a lot of that in our wild areas but seem to overlook my own garden. I’m hopeful that keeping my own “garden list” and sharing it once in a while might inspire others. (Of course, I’ve sadly had this same resolution for probably ten years).”

Stephanie Pacheco-“My resolution is to continue providing a wildlife habitat in my garden while finding ways to spend a little less time working in the garden–Leaving more time for hiking.”

Sarah Jayne-“Thirty years ago  my 30 x 30 backyard was converted from grass to California native plants. In 2002, I made a map of the garden, numbering and labeling on the map all the plants then alive: 121 species. That map resurfaced recently. At least 65 of those species no longer exist! What brought about such a dramatic change in the population? The beloved Western Sycamore! As the tree grew it enveloped the garden in shade and plants simply disappeared! When the tree was removed three years ago, many of the missing plants came back with a vengeance. So, my goal this year is to update that map and fill in a few remaining gaps with sun loving species!”

Leon Baginski-“I always resolve to make my yard more ‘wild’ yet more refined. It’s always a work in progress and each year brings its challenges. This year I am going to try to incorporate some fruit trees into the garden and utilize space that natives seem to struggle and maybe I can use this space for something productive.” 

Amy Litton-“I resolve to provide a more hospitable garden for pollinators and lizards! More plants blooming throughout the year, especially in the front. Hopefully the wildflower seed I put out before the rains will help kick it off!”

Dan Songster-“I plan on not procrastinating on the many weeds popping up in the garden-I simply must get a jump on weeds this late winter and early spring. Also at the Native Garden at Golden West College, I am planning on doing some midseason plantings of Manzanitas, Ceanothus and a few other plants to fill in, especially where we removed a large willow. Oh, and we plan on getting another layer of decomposed granite spread on the pathways. Whew!”

Our question for the coming March/April Newsletter: “How much time (on average) do you estimate you spend maintaining your native garden? What chores always seem to take the most time and energy?”

Email your responses to Dan Songster at songster@cox.net. Please attempt to keep replies brief so we can include most of the responses. Note: If you have a question for this column, please send it to me and I will see if we can fit it in.