Category: Native plant gardens
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Why Native Plants Matter
California native plants can be a little tricky for the inexperienced gardener, and if you live in central and north Orange County, they can be hard to find. So why bother planting native plants in your garden? Because wildlife, butterflies, and native bumblebees are absolutely dependent upon local native plants for food and shelter, and […]
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Spring to Life
We have had less rainfall than normal in Southern California, so what is a plant to do? Bloom anyway.
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Water for Wildlife
Rainfall has been scarce in Southern California in 2022. After a rainy December, we’ve had warm weather and windy conditions for most of January and February.
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Planting a Seasonal Meadow
Last December 2021, we created a seasonal meadow of local grasses and wildflowers that would provide beauty, color, and life after winter rains in a 12,000 square-foot park space at Vera’s Gardens.
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Creating an Avian Garden
In September, we began work on the east side of Vera’s Sanctuary in Trabuco Canyon, where we created an Avian Garden, a 10,000-square-foot project that is interconnected with two large front lawns.
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Helping a Canyon Landscape
For the past two and a half years, a group of gardeners and I have volunteered to rehabilitate the landscape of a five-home cul de sac in Trabuco Canyon. The site totals 12 acres and is owned by the nonprofit, The Teen Project…
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Garden While Spring is Here
Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano and Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach are open and have free buckwheat plants available for pick-up (while supplies last). When you go to pick up your free buckwheat, consider buying a few extra native plants to install in your garden this spring. Tree of Life Nursery is […]
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Befriending the Bumble Bee
Did you know that honey bees were imported from Europe and are not native to the United States? In California, we have about 1,600 species of native bees, and 26 of these are bumble bees. The bumble bee is the largest and gentlest of all the known species of bees. The queen bumble bee hibernates in the winter, […]