A Sage and A Buckwheat in Every Garden

A Sage and A Buckwheat in Every Garden

Buckwheat Brings Butterflies

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  • More Fab Front-Yard Natives

    More Fab Front-Yard Natives

    Let’s explore a few more “front-yard” California natives that are HOA-approved, evergreen, and are pleasing to the eye no matter what the season. The California lilac (Ceanothus sp.) is a must-have native plant for every front landscape. This gorgeous shrub blooms in the spring with soft, fragrant flowers. When not in bloom, the shrub has […]

    E. Wallace

    June 14, 2022
    Buckwheat, Gardening with Native Plants
    birds, butterflies, gardening, native plants, Nature
  • Elegant Shrubs for the Garden

    Elegant Shrubs for the Garden

    Today’s post features California native shrubs that are “front-yard natives” because they look good year-round, are easy to care for, HOA’s love them, and they are evergreen. Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos species) are great in front-garden landscapes because they are leafy evergreen plants with bell-shaped blossoms that support native bumblebees and other wildlife. ‘Sunset’ manzanitas are medium-sized […]

    E. Wallace

    June 3, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, White Sage
    birds, california native plants, gardening, Nature, pollinators
  • Designing a California Native Garden

    Designing a California Native Garden

    Today I am highlighting a few California native plants that provide a formal foundation for a home landscape. Planting a California native garden is a beautiful solution for the state’s water challenges because native plants reduce water consumption while also supporting nature. If you have space in your home landscape, a Coast Live Oak (Quercus […]

    E. Wallace

    May 31, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, Monarchs and Milkweed
    butterflies, hummingbirds, oak trees, toyon
  • Why Native Plants Matter

    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 […]

    E. Wallace

    May 4, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, Monarchs and Milkweed
    butterflies, hummingbirds, insects, native plants
  • Spring to Life

    Spring to Life

    We have had less rainfall than normal in Southern California, so what is a plant to do? Bloom anyway.

    E. Wallace

    April 5, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, Vera’s Gardens in Trabuco Canyon
    butterflies, gardening, native plants, pollinators
  • Water for Wildlife

    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.

    E. Wallace

    February 15, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, Vera’s Gardens in Trabuco Canyon
    Brandegee sage, california native plants, rain
  • Planting a Seasonal Meadow

    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.

    E. Wallace

    January 4, 2022
    Gardening with Native Plants, Vera’s Gardens in Trabuco Canyon
    California poppies, native plants, pollinators, wildflowers
  • Creating an Avian Garden

    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.

    E. Wallace

    November 19, 2021
    Gardening with Native Plants, Vera’s Gardens in Trabuco Canyon
    birds, california native plants, pollinators
  • Helping a Canyon Landscape

    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…

    E. Wallace

    August 30, 2021
    Gardening with Native Plants, Vera’s Gardens in Trabuco Canyon
    butterfly garden, landscape
  • Flowers in Bloom as Summer Wanes

    Flowers in Bloom as Summer Wanes

    Spring in southern California is the biggest and showiest blooming season for native plants. Poppies, verbenas, and penstemons are strutting their stuff after a cool, rainy winter. But by late summer, the plants are pulling back, waiting out the long dry season and protecting themselves from the 90 degree days. How do our pollinators, birds, […]

    E. Wallace

    August 24, 2021
    Gardening with Native Plants
    butterflies, gardening, native plants, pollinators
  • Summer Blooms for Butterflies

    Summer Blooms for Butterflies

    You may be aware that milkweed is the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. Monarch butterflies, however, need more than just milkweed to sustain them. Monarchs and other butterflies need gardens that have different species of summer-flowering plants to provide nectar. Today’s post features five terrific summer-blooming California native plants for butterflies that are great […]

    E. Wallace

    August 10, 2021
    Gardening with Native Plants, Monarchs and Milkweed
    milkweed, Nature
  • Late July and the Woolly-Pod Milkweed

    Late July and the Woolly-Pod Milkweed

    Every year in late July, I hike along Vista Trail in O’Neill Regional Park to observe two healthy populations of wild milkweed growing along the trail. Last year at this time, the woolly-pod milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa) plants were in full flower and bustling with bumblebee activity and hungry caterpillars.

    E. Wallace

    August 3, 2021
    Gardening with Native Plants, Monarchs and Milkweed
    bumblebees, milkweed, western monarchs
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