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

This newsletter feature was compiled by Dan Songster – it offers OCCNPS chapter members and local experts a chance to briefly share information on many things related to gardening with natives. 

The request for this edition of the OCCNPS Newsletter was “A new year with its own particular challenges awaits. What challenges do you see arising in your native garden’s near future and do you have any New Year Gardening Resolutions?”

Susan Krzywicki– “The challenge for 2026 is optimism and bravery. My garden is going to be on the San Diego CNPS chapter garden tour and I’ll need both to make it happen. My garden is not perfect nor well-organized, so I do turn into a worrywart about things. Bloom times, mixing and matching, growth spurts, surprising plant demises, maintenance (how “weed-free” is weed-free?) and yet the one thing I don’t fuss over is invasions by what we call unwanted insects and animals.” 

Bart O’Brien-“Wishing you all very happy holidays and a spectacular native plant filled new year! I agree that 2025 seems have gone by especially fast!! For 2026, not resolutions per se, but more like unobtainable goals… 

I want to be sure to either repot (perhaps most likely) or plant in the ground all my new plants and the MANY plants that been living in containers for far too long. 

And new weeds keep arriving in my neighborhood and then into my property (I still can’t call it a garden) – I need to deal with the new ones as soon as possible to not let them get a foothold. So, I plan to try once again, and with more diligence, to eliminate Oxalis pes-caprae from significant parts of my garden. This is probably a pipe dream, but it would be amazing if it could actually happen.”

Rama Nayeri-“The challenge I see as a professional designer is… where am I going to get my natives from locally, now that Tree of Life Nursery is closing?”

Lori Whalen-“For the New Year, I’m realizing that one of the biggest challenges in my own native garden is me. For much of my native plant gardening career, I’ve been overly cautious about making drastic changes to individual plants. I was afraid of harming them — of cutting too much or making an irreversible mistake. While that hesitation may not have hurt any one plant outright, I’ve come to see that it didn’t truly serve the plants or the garden as a whole. 

Over time, that caution allowed some plants to grow into awkward, scraggly forms, become overcrowded, or even begin to hinder their neighbors. In wild systems, there are natural forces that keep growth in check — herbivores, fire, drought, competition. In our gardens, those forces don’t exist unless we step into that role ourselves.

So, my new year gardening resolution is to be braver and more intentional. I plan to make some changes this year that may feel drastic and may not look beautiful right away. But I’m trusting that thoughtful pruning, thinning, and even removal will ultimately create a healthier, more balanced garden. It’s a shift from protecting individual plants at all costs to stewarding the ecosystem as a whole — and I think, in the long run, the garden will thank me for it.”

Laura Camp-“At this time of year, I’m always fighting a few special weeds that never seem to be eradicated, although getting them early certainly helps. In 2026, I’m not looking forward to sourcing native plants without Tree of Life Nursery’s presence, and I hope other growers and retail outlets magically appear. As for resolutions, I’m happy with renovations to my garden over the last couple years, and I want to relax and enjoy and share.”

Greg Rubin-“Merry Christmas! So, this last year was quite a roller-coaster. After the 2024 election our sales bottomed out, but people started thinking about their landscapes again after the November 2025 election. Unfortunately, many of my workers, all of whom have legitimate papers, are nevertheless terrified to leave San Diego County, which has prevented us from doing some nice projects north of us. So, my hope for 2026 is for a return to a somewhat stable “situation.” There is still a very strong interest in native plants, and my hope is to get back to spreading the word and do what I can to ensure best practices so that failures don’t discourage people.” (Note: Greg is the owner of the award-winning company, California’s Own Native Landscape Design and an innovator using native plants in landscape throughout mostly San Diego County.) 

Ron Vanderhoff-“My challenge is how I can better manage and use my own garden to influence others in my neighborhood. As with many native plant gardeners, we have to sometimes walk a fine line between having a somewhat sterile and lifeless, but socially acceptable garden of non-natives and a very biodiverse, habitat garden that might look a bit “weedy” at times to others.

I suspect that we native plant advocates can sometimes go a little too far and even alienate others – when we really want to encourage them. So that’s my objective – have a native garden that is biodiverse and thriving with life and respectful to its local environment BUT is also something that others can aspire to and accomplish and not too far out of the “norm” to alienate them. We’ll see.”

Mark Sugars-” Do you remember when you were studying biology in middle
school, or thereabouts, and they showed you all a film or video of an amoeba
gradually surrounding and engulfing a food particle, as is their wont?
Well, that’s what the Lemonadeberries and Vitis girdiana are fixin’ to do to
my front and back yards; it seems I have gotten a little behind in the
pruning department.  I foresee a great deal of cutting and clipping in my
future.”

Dan Songster-“One big challenge is that as I get older, I notice it takes me longer to do almost any project. Whether planting, weeding, pruning, or general cleanup, I find I often must plan ahead and take things in stages to get it all done. So, my resolution (if you want to call it that) is to stay involved with my two gardens, here at home and at the Golden West College Native Garden. Each teaches its own lessons, and each provides its own rewards. 

The one here at my home involves my solo work on its various layers/tiers of natives, fruit bearing trees, cut flowers, and container plants. The garden at Golden West College in Huntington Beach is a playground of native plants arranged mostly by plant communities. The bones of shrubs and trees stay fairly steadfast, while the perennials and annuals seem to always be changing positions. In the GWCNG’s heavy soils I can test what grows (or at least survives) in clay, follow their seasons, enjoy the pollinators, “redo” failed plantings, study the birds and butterflies, and attempt to grow more native plants than weeds.

While at home I am mainly alone in my efforts, though encouraged by my wife’s appreciation of our garden’s bounty. My favorite part at GWC Native Garden is enjoying the society and company of an outstanding group of volunteers that enjoy and help take care of that lovely landscape.”

Question for our March/April 2026 Newsletter is: “Spring has Sprung! Your garden may be bursting with growth and blooms (and likely weeds). What Tip do you wish you had known when you were starting out with native plants?”