Garden While Spring is Here

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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 open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, closed on Sundays. Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday.

New native plants. (E. Wallace)

I visited Tree of Life Nursery last week to purchase a dozen native plants to replace non-native ferns that grew in a small planter. I removed the ferns and installed monkey flowers, yarrows, coral bells, and dudleyas before the rain poured another 3 inches on my garden. The finished installation is shown below…the hummingbirds and bumblebees now have more plants to provide nectar.

New natives. (E. Wallace)

Featured below are a few recent photos that illustrate what happens when you install native plants. Birds, bumblebees, and other pollinators flourish and multiply.

Bushtits. (K. Ethington)

Rufous hummingbird.  (K. Ethington)

Swallowtail. (K. Ethington)

Hoverfly. (E. Wallace)

Gray Hairstreak visits buckwheat. (K. Ethington)

Stop by Roger’s Gardens or Tree of Life Nursery and pick up your free buckwheat plant while supplies last. Enjoy your time in the garden. It is one of the safest places we can be right now. Stay safe and be well!

Befriending the Bumble Bee

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Did you know that honey bees were imported from Europe and are not native to the United States?

Honey bee collects pollen. (K. Ethington)

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, then emerges in the spring to collect nectar, rebuild her strength, and find a suitable nest location. Click on this link to learn more fascinating details about a year in the life of a bumble bee from the Xerces Society.

If you look closely at the vegetation in your garden or park space now, you might spot a bumble bee collecting pollen from the flowers. Bumble bees are particularly good at pollination. Their wings beat 130 times or more per second, according to the National Wildlife Federation, and the beating combined with their large bodies vibrates flowers until they release pollen, which is called buzz pollination. Buzz pollination helps plants produce more fruit.

Crotch’s Bumble Bee. (E. Wallace)

When you see a bumble bee, snap a photo and share it with scientists. One of the best places to record your bumble bee sighting is iNaturalist. iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. With iNaturalist “every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed.”

The Crotch’s bumble bee pictured above was verified by scientists after I imported the photo to iNaturalist. It is classified as endangered due to the impacts of pesticides, climate change, and human development.

Black-tailed bumble bee. (E. Wallace)

Bumble bees need three things to thrive:

  1. Flowers on which to forage.
  2. A place to build their nest (abandoned rodent holes in the soil, leaf litter, and cavities in rock piles).
  3. A pesticide-free environment.

Yellow-faced bumble bee. (E. Wallace)

Let’s help our bumble bees so we can enjoy their fuzzy buzzing every spring. Now that we have been forced to slow down, we can spend some of our free time watching the secret lives of animals, and then upload our observations on iNaturalist. Maybe we can plant a native plant or two in our gardens, and see if we can help these creatures while we help ourselves.

Buckwheat blossom. (E. Wallace)

Speaking of native plants, the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) is offering free California ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat plants (while supplies last) at Tree of Life Nursery and  Roger’s Gardens. These two nurseries are operating carefully and have made some changes in light of COVID-19. Tree of Life Nursery has reduced their operating hours — check the web site before picking up your free buckwheat. Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar is also operating with protective measures in place.

Digger bee. (K. Ethington)

After you pick up your buckwheat, send us an email at buckwheat@occnps.org. Let us know where you planted your new buckwheat and we can input the location on our Buckwheat iNaturalist map. Wishing you the best in these uncertain times. I hope you spot a bumble bee, and take some solace in your garden or local park space. Be well.

Buckwheat Buddies

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Some folks who planted their free California ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat are searching for plants to keep their buckwheat company. This is a great idea because California native plants help each other thrive as they share micorrhizal fungi through their roots. When California native plants share space, it makes life easier because they don’t need much water once established: just a deep soak once a month will do.

Photo of a ‘Dana Point’ California buckwheat along with native plants sharing the space in a home landscape. (Kris Ethington)

It can be tempting to crowd new plants close together for an instant landscape, but this will cause problems in the future. Give your California native plants plenty of space to grow into their full size in a year or two. Use a light layer of mulch between the plants to keep weeds out and soil moisture in.

Brand new native plant installation with a swale to harvest water. Plants wisely spaced. (E. Wallace)

Buckwheats begin their super bloom in late spring. To maximize your garden’s flower time, consider pairing your buckwheat with early spring bloomers like mallows and

Buckwheat paired with a mallow (Abutilon Palmeri). (Kris Ethington)

sages such as white sage (Salvia apiana), ‘Bees Bliss’ sage and

Close-up of a Bee’s Bliss sage blossom and a hover fly. (Kris Ethington)

Bush sunflower (Encelia californica) and

Encelia californica paired with buckwheat in early spring. (E. Wallace)

Yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei) or a Dudleya species for structure.

Hesperoyucca whipplei (yucca) just about to bloom. (Dan Songster)

One of the most important things to consider when adding native plants to your garden is their eventual size. Bees bliss sage grows low but it spreads eight feet wide! Dudleyas are small succulents that can be tucked into small spaces in your garden.

Flowering chalk dudleya in a home landscape. (E. Wallace)

If you have room for taller plants, consider adding a manzanita, California lilac, and a Western Redbud to the mix.

Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) and California lilac (Ceanothus ‘concha’) in full bloom. (E. Wallace)

You can find many of these plants at Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Before you make the drive, check to see if the plants you are hoping to install are available. Local nurseries and Home Depot garden centers are beginning to stock a small selection of California native plants. The popularity of native plants is increasing as the public gains an understanding of their beauty and importance to wildlife.

Butterfly visits a mallow. (Kris Ethington)

With the COVID 19 virus on everyone’s mind, why not spend some time in the garden? The garden is a safe space, and you will see some amazing sights in your own backyard especially when native plants are providing nectar and food for the butterflies and birds.

American Kestral perched in a backyard garden. (Kris Ethington)

Upcoming A Buckwheat in Every Garden giveaway events have been impacted by protective measures for the COVID-19 health crisis. We are discussing safe ways we can distribute free buckwheat plants to people who want to install them in their garden. We will announce plans for future buckwheat giveaways soon.

California peony growing with buckwheat in the background. (E. Wallace)

Best wishes for your safety and good health.

 

My Interview with the LA Times

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Jeanette Marantos, garden reporter for the LA Times, called me in mid-February as I was returning home from a landscape restoration project I work on in Trabuco Canyon.

(L to R) Brad Jenkins, president of OCCNPS, volunteer Vern Jones, Jeff Wallace and myself, after planting four Coast Live Oak trees and two toyons at a landscaping project in Trabuco Canyon. (E. Wallace)

Marantos asked me to provide a short list of the best native plants Southern Californians can plant in their home landscapes, and also why it is important to plant natives in the home garden.

We spoke on the phone for an hour and I suggested California native plants that are beautiful and easy-to-grow. We researched the plants together on the Calscape database. We also discussed Doug Tallamy’s research that shows when non-native ornamental plants are installed in the landscape, insect populations plummet because insects are co-evolved to feed from native plant species, not from introduced plant species.

Marantos’ article appeared in the LA Times on February 28 and is titled “Want to help bees and butterflies? Add these plants to your garden.”

Want to help bees and butterflies? Illustration by Julie Yellow for The Times.

Marantos wrote: “Once upon a time in Southern California, landscaping was primarily about decoration — the greenest lawn, easy-care sculptural shrubs and a few showstopper flowers, almost none native to the region or welcoming to butterflies or bees. In truth, we did everything we could to keep bugs out of our yards, and it worked — far too well.”

She spoke with Ron Vanderhoff, vice president of the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) and general manager of Roger’s Gardens nursery, who said, “Bees, butterflies and other native insects are dwindling because they’re running out of the habitat and food provided by native plants. If we want to save them — and the birds and other animals that need those insects to survive — we need to change how we think about landscaping.”

“There’s been a mind change where gardening is not just decorating, it’s doing something to help the world,” Vanderhoff said. “It’s gardening with a purpose to it.”

Hummingbird visits native manzanita. (Kris Ethington)

Kris Ethington, board member of OCCNPS, and winner of Orange County’s 2018 California Friendly Garden contest for re-landscaping her entire yard with only native plants, discussed her favorite plants for the garden including oaks, lemonadeberry, toyon, and verbena de la mina.

Here is a list of California native plants that Ron, Kris and I consider must-haves in every garden as reported in the LA Times:

Buckwheat growing under fruit trees

Buckwheat blossoms in late summer home garden. (E. Wallace)

If you are going to add just one native plant to your yard, make it a California buckwheat. At OCCNPS, we believe this is such an important plant for the landscape that we gave away 1,500 starter buckwheat plants to Orange County homeowners in our A Buckwheat in Every Garden program.

Hummingbird finding nectar from a Cleveland sage. (Kris Ethington)

Salvias and sages are pollinators’ favorite flowers. White sage is a sacred plant to Native Americans; it has silvery foliage and thrives in hot, dry locations. For shady locations, hummingbird sage spreads abundantly, blossoming with magenta-colored flowers in spring and summer. Vanderhoff also recommends the fragrant Cleveland sage which thrives in most parts of Southern California.

Monarch caterpillar munching on a narrow-leaf milkweed. (Cynthia Grilli)

Narrow-leaf milkweed has white flowers and is the best milkweed for monarch butterflies in Southern California. Many nurseries sell the orange tropical milkweed, but tropical milkweed is not native to Southern California, and researchers have discovered that tropical milkweed hosts a protozoa that makes adult monarchs sickly and weak, according to Vanderhoff. For that reason, Vanderhoff’s nursery, Roger’s Gardens, only sells narrow-leaf milkweed.

Maritime ceanothus. (Kris Ethington)

Ceanothus, commonly known as the California lilac, is a gardener’s favorite. With its honey sweet scent and profuse violet blossoms, this is a must have for every garden. The ceanothus variety ‘Yankee Point’ spills down hillsides in shady inland gardens. ‘Ray Hartman‘ ceanothus is a small-tree-sized California lilac covered with deep violet blossoms in springtime.

Native bumble with pollen on its legs and a lupine. (Kris Ethington)

California poppies and lupine wildflowers are easy-to-grow annuals with spectacular spring and summer flowers. Gardeners can sow the seeds of these flowers just before winter rains and provide abundant support for pollinators. You can purchase these seeds from Tree of Life Nursery and Theodore Payne Foundation.

Black-tailed bumblebee visits manzanita. (Kris Ethington)

Manzanitas are the superstars of California natives. If anything will turn people toward natives, it’s manzanitas. Manzanitas’ bell-shaped blossoms, structural characteristics, and rich red bark make this a garden standout. Two varieties of manzanitas are excellent choices for the first-time native gardener: Arctostaphylos ‘Sunset’ and ‘Howard McMinn.’

Join me at and other members of OCCNPS at The Dana Point Headlands Earth Day Celebration on April 25, and pick up a free California ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat plant. We care about your garden and the pollinators your garden can support with the right native plants. Join us and bring your questions. We are here to help.

How Many Trees on the Planet?

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For many years, scientists could only guess at the number of trees on earth. But in 2015, Thomas Crowther and colleagues at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies used a combination of satellite imagery, forest inventories, and supercomputer technologies to produce a global map of tree density at the square-kilometer pixel scale.

Coast Live Oak trees growing in Trabuco Canyon. (Elizabeth Wallace)

The study published in Nature on September 2, 2015, concluded that 3.04 trillion trees are growing on earth.

California sycamore (Platanus racemosa) growing at Tree of Life Nursery. (Elizabeth Wallace)

Studies also estimate that the number of trees worldwide have declined 46 percent since the onset of agriculture thousands of years ago.

California Sycamore at O’Neill Park in Trabuco Canyon. (Elizabeth Wallace)

In an effort to increase biodiversity and combat climate change, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) launched a Billion Tree Campaign in 2006. By November 2007, they had achieved the goal, and one billion trees had been planted worldwide.

In December 2011, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program over to the youth-led not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation (an organization that has been participating in the Billion Tree Campaign since 2007).

More recently, in the World Economic Forum 2020 at Davos, the Forum launched an initiative to bring support to plant a trillion trees by 2030.

Native California Sycamore tree leafing out in springtime. (Elizabeth Wallace)

If you want to join the tree-planting momentum, the Audubon Society recommends careful research in Plant Trees that Turn Your Yard into a Bird Oasis. Planting a native tree that contributes to life where you live is important, and the Audubon Society is a great resource that will help you select the best tree for your outdoor living space.

Coast Live Oak trees and deer browsing. (Elizabeth Wallace)

If you have a small yard or patio, and you live in California, a great tree for wildlife is the Scrub Oak (Quercus berberidifolia). The Scrub Oak grows 15 feet tall, is evergreen, and supports more than 100 species of butterflies and moths.

Scrub oak tree. Photo by Valley News.

A versatile California native shrub for pollinators is the California buckwheat. The California Native Plant Society Orange County (OCCNPS) chapter will be giving away four-inch California buckwheat plants during the April 4 weekend at the Fullerton Arboretum’s Green Scene.

California buckwheat in the Dana Point Headlands. Photo by Debra Kettler.

OCCNPS will also be offering a variety of California native plants and trees for sale at  Green Scene. Native plant experts will answer your questions and offer support to help make planting with natives successful and fun. Join us at Green Scene on April 4.

 

Bring More Hummingbirds, Orioles, and Warblers to Your Home

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How can you get more birds visiting your garden?

Hummingbird gathering nectar from Cleveland Sage. Photo by Kris Ethington.

Go to Audubon’s guide for plants that attract birds.

Orange-Crowned Warbler foraging on Showy Penstemon. Photo by Kris Ethington.

When you click on this link, you will be directed to the Audubon Society database that recommends plants that help birds thrive where you live. Enter your 5-digit zip code and explore the best plants for birds in your area, as well as local resources and links to more information.

Hooded Oriole feeding chick. Photo by Kris Ethington.

Click the Audubon link and learn which native plants will bring more birds to your garden this spring.

Hummingbird fledgling perched on a Cleveland Sage with parent in the background. Photo by Kris Ethington.

If you live in Southern California, you can find bird-friendly native plants for sale at Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano.

Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano. (Elizabeth Wallace)

And on Saturday, March 12 from 3 to 5 p.m., you can pick up a free California buckwheat plant at the Arbor Day celebration at Lang Park in Laguna Beach while supplies last.

Where Do Western Monarchs Spend the Spring?

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Despite the fact that Western Monarch butterflies are universally loved, their numbers have plummeted in recent years.

Two monarch butterflies cruise together under a Coast Live Oak tree. (Elizabeth Wallace)

What can you do to help? Join the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge–a campaign created to increase awareness of locations where Western Monarchs spend the spring in California after leaving their coastal California overwintering sites.

Male and female Western Monarchs together. Photo by Jeff Wallace.

If you see a monarch from February 18 through April 22, take a photo (it can be far away and blurry). Then report the siting to iNaturalist, the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper, or email it to MonarchMystery@wsu.edu.

Far away and blurry photo of Western Monarch on baccharis pilularis cultivar and coffee berry. (Elizabeth Wallace)

Your photo will help scientists better understand Western Monarchs’ locations and activities in February, March, and April. When you share your springtime Monarch observations, you help conservation efforts for the butterfly.

In between reporting your spring Western Monarch sitings, plant more native plants in your garden, especially California buckwheat, salvias, manzanitas, narrow-leaf milkweed, and maybe a scrub oak tree!

Join the Great Backyard Bird Count

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is partnering with National Audubon Society to encourage all of us to go outside this weekend and count the birds we see in our backyard or favorite place.

Sandpipers at Laguna Beach, CA. (Elizabeth Wallace)

I spent about 30 minutes this morning with a pair of binoculars and my Birds of California Field Guide by Stan Tekiela. I counted five American Robins, one Yellow-Rumped Warbler, a Cooper’s Hawk, and three White-Crowned Sparrows.

Cooper’s Hawk in search of breakfast. Photo by Kris Ethington.

The count continues through the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday, February 17. Audubon encourages people from around the world to count wild birds and then submit the data online for scientists to use in their research. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an easy-to-use phone app to help you record and identify the birds you see. It’s called Merlin.

The Merlin app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology helps you record the birds you saw during the Great Backyard Bird Count.

You can add this app to your phone for free and quickly identify and record the birds you observed this weekend. It’s easy and fun and will help scientists better understand trends in bird populations worldwide.

Pelicans at sunset in Irvine, California. Photo by Yana Bridle.

After you’ve finished counting birds, join us in April at the Fullerton Arboretum Green Scene. We will be giving away free buckwheat and also offering other California native plants for sale.

California buckwheat plants are flowering machines that attract hundreds of pollinators. These pollinators are an important food source for birds. I look forward to seeing you this Thursday.

Tiny masked bee visits California buckwheat. Photo by Kris Ethington.

Saying Good Bye to a Billion Birds

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Did you know that in 2016, North America had more than a billion fewer breeding birds than 40 years ago?

Blue birds eating insects. Photo by the Louis Gintner Botanical Garden.

What is contributing to the decline in bird populations? Scientist Doug Tallamy has discovered that when non-native ornamental plants are installed in the landscape, insect populations plummet because insects are co-evolved to feed from native plant species, not from introduced plant species.

Insects make up 96 percent of terrestrial birds’ food source.

Carolina chickadee prepares to feed young. Photo by Douglas Tallamy.

 

Thousands of lady beetles hibernating in a canyon area in a southern California woodland in the winter of 2020. Photo by Ron Vanderhoff.

We have 3,300 species of ornamental plants (from other areas of the world) introduced in the United States. These plants are cultivated and promoted by nurseries and home improvement centers because they are unusual, pretty, and easy to grow.

Ornamental Pampas Grass (from Argentina and Brazil) invades a creek in Southern California. (Elizabeth Wallace)

Introduced ornamental plants do not support abundant insect life, and without insects–humans, birds, and animals cannot survive. Other factors contributing to the reduction in bird populations include pesticide use, bird strikes on windows and plexiglass fencing, and feral cats. To learn more, you can read Tallamy’s research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS).

Ornamental fountain grass (from Africa) planted in a residential landscape in Southern California.

What can you do to help? Start by learning about native plants from your region. If you live in California, you can go to CalScape.org and type in your zip code. You will find a list of plants that are native to your area, and the insects and pollinators the native plant supports.

California Native Plant Society

Returning birdsong to the outdoors is one of the reasons why the Orange County California Native Plant Society is giving away one free ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat to Orange County homeowners. Buckwheat supports 15 species of butterflies and moths, not to mention all of the native bees and other insects that thrive with this plant in the landscape. Plant a California buckwheat today and help birds find enough to eat.

Lady Beetle Visits Buckwheat. Photo by Kris Ethington.

Caring for Buckwheat During a Dry January

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If you picked up a four-inch California buckwheat at A Buckwheat in Every Garden event last fall, hopefully you planted it and watered it deeply, then spread a light layer of mulch to keep the soil moist.

Thea Gavin and Connie Bowen plant a two-gallon California buckwheat ‘Dana Point’ at an October Buckwheat in Every Garden event in Orange, California.

We received plentiful rain in November and December. However, except for a fraction of an inch of rain in mid-January, most Orange County gardens have been cool and dry in the new year.

Sunny January day in the California garden. (Elizabeth Wallace)

It is time to check your newly-installed buckwheat to see if it needs water. If the plant is dry a few inches down, give it a deep drink using a watering can or hose with a rain nozzle to simulate rainfall.

Watering a newly-installed buckwheat. (Elizabeth Wallace)

Native plants enjoy water during the winter rainy season, and sometimes when we have a dry month like this, we may need to add supplemental water to ensure the root ball doesn’t dry out while the plant is in its establishment period.

California buckwheat. Photo by Laura Camp.

It takes about a year, sometimes more, for a California native plant to become established in the garden. Once the plant is established, it will only need monthly watering at most.  Below are a few photos of established California native plants that are flowering in the January native garden.

Verbena ‘De la mina’ (Verbena lilacina). (Elizabeth Wallace)

Hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea). (Elizabeth Wallace)

Dancing tassels (Ribes malvaceum). (Elizabeth Wallace)

Sunset manzanita (Arctostaphylos ‘Sunset’). (Elizabeth Wallace)

Lester Rowntree manzanita (Arctostaphylos ‘Lester Rowntree’). (Elizabeth Wallace)

Whether it’s wet or dry, keep an eye on your new buckwheat. Send photos and let me know how your buckwheat is growing.

A pair of cactus wrens enjoy the buckwheat at the Dana Point Headlands in January. (Elizabeth Wallace)

First They Sleep

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Have you heard the old adage about growing newly-installed plants in the landscape? The saying goes like this: “First they sleep, then they creep, then they leap!”

IMG_8387

This starter ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat is not sleeping after installation: it has doubled in size a month after being planted. (Elizabeth Wallace)

Is your new ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat sleeping, creeping, or leaping? Some homeowners who planted their free buckwheat report bunnies feasting on the tender new growth. If this has happened to your buckwheat, consider fencing it temporarily until the plant grows larger and less tasty to rabbits.

Most ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat starter plants that were planted last fall are nestled into the soil and becoming established in their new home. The rainfall has nourished the leaves, stems, and roots with pure water.

California rains soak California buckwheat. (Elizabeth Wallace)

As the weather begins to warm, the new four-inch ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat plants will begin to bud and eventually flower.

Budding buckwheat. Photo by Kris Ethington.

The buckwheat flowers will attract native California pollinators such as the Acmon Blue, Gray Hairstreak, Brown Elfin, Blue Copper, and Dotted Blue butterflies, as well as many species of California bees including the tiny Masked bee.

Masked bee visits a buckwheat flower. Photo by Kris Ethington.

If you haven’t had a chance to attend A Buckwheat in Every Garden event to pick up your free buckwheat, consider visiting the San Juan Capistrano Garden Club monthly meeting on January 20. The club will give away 96 ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat plants beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the San Juan Hills Golf Course banquet room.

Buckwheat in flower. (Kris Ethington)

The ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat is a must-have for every Orange County garden, and now is the perfect time to plant it in your home landscape. Get yours while supplies last.

Growing Buckwheat in the Garden

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When cooler winter temperatures arrive in Southern California, residents wear sweaters and scarves to stay cozy. Buckwheat changes in the winter too, as the creamy white flowers turn a reddish brown when the flowers go to seed.

‘Dana Point’ buckwheat graces a garden in winter. (Kris Ethington)

The ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat has a compact nature suitable for the home garden and is fairly easy to grow for first-time native gardeners.

Buckwheat mixes with other natives in the garden. (Kris Ethington)

More than a thousand buckwheats were distributed last fall, and if all went well, the plants that were given away may have doubled in size by now. Thanks to abundant rains over Thanksgiving and Christmas, the new buckwheat plants should be off to a good start.

New ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat planted in late November has doubled in size. (Elizabeth Wallace)

How is your new buckwheat growing? Have you experienced troubles or success? Let me know with a comment on this blog, and share a photo if you have one. I would love to hear from you.

And if you haven’t had a chance to pick up a free buckwheat, you can pick one up at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar on January 14, 15, and 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (while supplies last).

Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar. Photo from Roger’s Gardens.