Tag: butterflies
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Native Plant Goals for the New Year

Native Gardener’s Corner-Member’s Tips, Tricks, and Techniques This article, compiled by guest author Dan Songster, offers OCCNPS chapter members and local experts a chance to share information related to gardening with native plants. This month’s query asked: Do you have any New Year’s resolutions for your native garden or plans for changing your landscape in…
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Lesley Bindloss: Champion of California Native Plants

Board Member Lesley Bindloss is featured this month in an article compiled by Thea Gavin. Lesley Bindloss is a fairly new CNPS-OC board member with an “unsung hero” role on the board: Recording Secretary. This is the person who must take accurate notes during board meetings to make sure all discussions and decisions have proper…
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Find Native Plants that Best Support Butterflies and Moths

Guest author, Chris Cosma, Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at the University of California, Riverside, shared this October 23, 2023 article about his web application called The Butterfly Net that helps gardeners know which native plants are most supportive of butterflies and moths. Which native plants are the best for insects?…
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Keep Your Eyes Open Even on the Busiest Trails

The Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) presents our monthly article featuring OCCNPS Board Member Jonathan Frank, team lead of the field trip committee. Past: Can you share a formative native plant memory from your childhood? Present: What native-plant related ideas/projects are you working on right now? Future: What are your…
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Native Gardener’s Corner–Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

August/September, 2023 Guest Article compiled by Dan Songster. This column is a newsletter feature offering 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: “Which native tree would be your favorite to plant in…
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Interview with OCCNPS President Elizabeth Wallace

Elizabeth Wallace, president of the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, shares her journey in native plant gardening and community organizing. Inspired by her love for the environment, she initiated projects like Vera’s Gardens, a native plant garden for women in rehabilitation. She aims to boost awareness of native plants and engage…
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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, long-time volunteer and past president of OCCNPS. Dan Songster…
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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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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 Saging

I’ve met several people recently who believe that burning white sage smudge sticks will remove evil spirits from their house. Yesterday, someone told me that she burned white sage for cleansing her house, but it didn’t work. I suggested that she might consider planting a white sage and caring for it as a more healing…
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White Sage is Wild

When I first began gardening with California native plants thirty years ago, I was often unsuccessful. I planted my new native plants in flat planters next to my grass lawn. I overwatered and wondered why the plants weren’t surviving. Even poppy seeds didn’t grow. But one of the plants that survived my beginning native plant…
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A Sage in Every Garden Coming Soon

The Orange County chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) is partnering with Roger’s Gardens this fall to distribute 2,000 four-inch White Sage (Salvia apiana) plants to Orange County homeowners. The campaign begins November 2022 and extends through February 2023. A Sage in Every Garden is modeled after the 2019 buckwheat giveaway campaign. OCCNPS…
