Category: Gardening with Native Plants
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Native Gardener’s Corner
Member’s Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Guest Author Dan Songster offers chapter members and local experts a chance to share information related to gardening with natives. The question for the June/July 2023 edition of the OCCNPS Newsletter was: Our native gardens are often inspired by nature. What is your favorite place/destination to experience and be inspired…
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OCCNPS Past, Present & Future: Insights from Board Members
Guest Article by Thea Gavin The Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) presents a Q and A that will highlight our Board Members’ experiences and knowledge. We begin this monthly series with an interview arranged by Thea Gavin that features Dan Songster, member-at-large and past president of OCCNPS. Dan Songster has…
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Bumping into Bumblebees
This year’s So Cal rainy season has been tremendous for plants and wildlife. The oak trees are covered with flowers and the hillsides are experiencing a super bloom. Before the rains, the Carrizo Plain looked like this: One year later, the Carrizo Plain looks like this: Even my little front garden is filled with flowers…
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2,000 New Sages in SoCal
We did it! The Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society distributed 2,000 four-inch white sage (Salvia apiana) plants free to Southern California residents during our A Sage in Every Garden (SIEG) campaign. Our SIEG team began planning for the giveaway campaign last July. We decided to focus entirely on white sage. We…
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1,904 Sages and Counting
Your last chance to get a free four-inch White Sage (Salvia apiana) happens tomorrow morning (Saturday), at Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach. OCCNPS will give away the final group of 96 sages to Orange County residents starting at 10 a.m. After the last 96 sages are gone, the A Sage in Every Garden (SIEG)…
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Final Sage Giveaway Re-Scheduled
With rain forecast this weekend, OCCNPS has re-scheduled the final February 25th white sage giveaway at Shipley Nature Center to Saturday, March 4 at 10 a.m. The March 4th A Sage in Every Garden event is your last chance to get a free, four-inch white sage. If you live near Huntington Beach, stop by Shipley…
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Free Sage February
February is the final month to get a free four-inch White Sage plant from The California Native Plant Society Orange County Chapter’s (OCCNPS) A Sage in Every Garden (SIEG) giveaway. Volunteers from OCCNPS have been bringing White Sage (Salvia apiana) to events across Orange County since last November and have almost completed their goal of…
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White Sage in the Sunshine
The rain has stopped and the sun is shining in Southern California once again. A Sage in Every Garden (SIEG) volunteers are ready to give away 200 four-inch White Sage (Salvia apiana) plants at two events in Orange County this weekend. A month of rainy weather caused some SIEG dates and venues to change. We…
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Rainfall and Fallen Leaves
Here in California, we have been experiencing rain so abundant that the ground is saturated, causing flooding. In the image below, rain is shunted off of homes and hardscape toward the street, which then channels the rainwater into a storm drain that sends it to the ocean. Thankfully, some of the rain falls on natural…
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Climate Change & Habitat Disruptions: Connected by Carbon Dioxide
A guest blog by Michael Aucott. Mike is a retired research scientist of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. He has also taught chemistry at the College of New Jersey. He is currently a member of the NJDEP Science Advisory Board Standing Committee on Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, and on the board of directors of…
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Winsome White Sage
White Sage (Salvia apiana) blooms in the spring with showy flower stalks that are covered with lavender/white flowers. This gorgeous accent plant can grow four-feet wide with six-foot tall flower stalks. White sage has an aromatic fragrance that clings to your clothing when you lightly brush past the plant. If you live in Southern California,…
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White Sage is Weird
White sage is an aromatic plant in the mint family that grows in Southern California and Northern Baja California and nowhere else in the world. In addition to its rarity, not just any bee or insect can pollinate this plant. The white sage flower needs a heavy bee like a California bumblebee or a Carpenter…
A Buckwheat in Every Garden 