A recent addition to the OCCNPS Board, Irina Ensminger stepped right into a leadership role with the Garden Tour Team, whose members all worked together to create a very successful event this past May 4-5.

Here are some of Irina’s insights into her past, present, and future with California native plants:

Past

My family are many generations farmers in a small region of the Ural Mountains called Udmurtia. As I child, I enjoyed walking through the forests there with my grandparents or my aunt, foraging for berries and mushrooms. Every summer we would gather wild oregano flowers that grew on sunny hills between junipers and birch trees and make tea with them. 

My grandmother was a known herbalist and spiritual healer. I had a skin condition that western medicine, with all its ointments and pills, couldn’t help, but my grandmother healed me one summer using her own recipe. My grandfather was a beekeeper who planted bird cherry and lemon balm with clover around the beehives. He would take me on nature walks and I would catch him talking to plants. Spending time on a farm taught me some valuable lessons about the cycle of life, food chain, and zero waste. 

Although I grew up in cities, I always spent most of my summers in the village, and to this day I have the warmest memories associated with wild flowers, honeybees, the smell of farm animals, and fire-cooked meals.

Present

Having moved to the U.S. in my 20’s, I slowly learned to love the California coastal scrub, which initially felt and looked austere compared to the conifers and lush green hardwood forests I was used to. 

Soon, I was happy to discover how diverse California is, even finding forest-like hikes near or right in Laguna Beach that I would go on when I felt homesick. It didn’t take me long to recognize the subtle beauty of the changing seasons in the hills right behind my home. I grew fond of the delicate clusters of buckwheat, which changed colors from green buds to pink and white flowers in the spring and turned rust-colored in the fall. Watching the large sycamore leaves turn yellow, and the trees go bare in the winter, brought a sense of home to me.

A few years ago, when we decided to get rid of our grass lawn, I began exploring water-wise gardens featuring Mediterranean plants. The idea of creating a native garden was unfamiliar to me until I attended a local water district event where one of the booths was hosted by CNPS. I got my first California plant, a bush sunflower, and that’s how my adventure with California native plants began.

Soon, COVID hit, and I had plenty of time for my new botanical research. With a degree and experience in the interior design field, and a strong aesthetic point of view, I wanted to create a space where colors and textures harmoniously balanced with each other. My husband had doubts at first, as he didn’t think a native garden could look anything but untended. Wasn’t he surprised!

After the plans were created, we started pulling, digging, and prepping. It took a few months before I planted my original bush sunflower, which had more than tripled in size by then. The whole family was involved in the process, and everyone takes pride in the final result.

Around that time, I joined CNPS and attended my first chapter meeting, where I was warmly greeted by Ron Vanderhoff; charismatic and entertaining Bob Allen was the speaker, and my journey as a native plants advocate began. 

About a year later, I was invited to join the OCCNPS Board and took on the role of Garden Tour leader. This role opened a window into an even bigger world of California natives, filled with amazing gardeners, professionals, and volunteers.

I am honored to have met Sarah Jayne, an inspiration as both a gardener and activist [and the 2015 CNPS Fellow, a rare state-wide honor for lifetime achievement], and Elizabeth Wallace, current OCCNPS president, whom I have come to know well over the past few months. The committee and board members were always just a call or email away.

Although the Garden Tour preparation required many hours of work over the course of many months, I ended up feeling inspired, energized, and full of ideas for my own garden and future garden tours.

Future

Right now, we are in the process of remodeling our back yard, a project that will combine both native plants and edibles. Maybe in a few years, you will be able to see a new portion of my garden on a future CNPS tour. In the meantime, I continue to enjoy sharing plants and seeds with neighbors and visitors.

I believe that my degrees in education and interior design, combined with years of experience in both fields, provide me with valuable tools for community outreach as an OCCNPS Board member.

Last fall, I hosted a California Native Flora table with plants from TOLN at my nephew’s school for their Harvest Festival, which I really enjoyed. I also volunteered at the Family Event in Santa Ana with Brad Jenkins where we talked about plants and our gardens. I look forward to volunteering for more public events, reaching out to people of all ages to spread awareness and knowledge about native plants and their importance to our ecosystem.