Tag: flowers
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April’s Plant of the Month: Saffron Buckwheat
What: Eriogonum crocatum – Saffron Buckwheat Dan Songster shares his native plant expertise with this article featuring a California Native Plant of the Month. April’s featured plant is Saffron Buckwheat (Eriogonum crocatum). Saffron buckwheat is lovely whether in flower or not. A colorful, compact mounding shrub to 1 1/2 feet tall by 2-3 feet wide…
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California in My Garden Tour Coming to Orange County
The California Native Plant Society Orange County Chapter (OCCNPS) is hosting a two-day garden tour featuring 22 gardens that are at least 50 percent California native plants. This is your chance to view public and private gardens that feature California native plants in landscapes in North and South Orange County. When you take the tour,…
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Exploring Native Plant Conservation with Sunny Saroa
Sunny Saroa, a dedicated member of the California Native Plant Society Orange County Chapter, shares his journey in conservation, his current involvement in various projects like vegetation surveys and grant selection, and his aspirations for broader community engagement and multilingual resources. His advice emphasizes the importance of sourcing locally for native plants, encouraging curiosity, and…
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Tending the Native Garden
Dan Songster of the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) contributed this article for the March/April Native Gardener’s Corner-Member’s Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Tips and Tricks offers chapter members and local experts a chance to share information on the many things related to gardening with native plants. This month’s request was: …
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Plant of the Month: the California Poppy
Guest author Dan Songster of the California Native Plant Society Orange County Chapter (OCCNPS), shares his horticultural expertise with a monthly article featuring an excellent native plant for your garden. This month’s featured plant is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). The California Poppy is a perennial wildflower that is often treated as an annual. It…
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Native Plant Roots Grow Deep for This Scientist
This column was compiled by guest author Thea Gavin who interviewed OCCNPS Vice President Rebecca Crowe for this month’s feature article. Rebecca Crowe has been a CNPS member since 2007, and an OCCNPS board member since 2019. With a master’s degree (San Francisco State University) in ecology/evolution/conservation biology, she especially enjoys plant identification and propagation,…
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Butterflies in the Air
Summer is here and the birds and butterflies are abundant among the native trees and shrubs in the garden. As I was writing this post, I noticed a pale swallowtail butterfly settling on a California coffee berry (Frangula californica). I took a break from the blog, stepped outside and captured this photo of an adult…
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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,…