Tag: native plants
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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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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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Jennifer Mabley Receives Native Perennial Award
Guest article by Dan Songster Jennifer Mabley was presented with the “Native Perennial Award” at the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) June 21, 2023 general meeting. The following heartfelt words were on the Native Perennial Award presented by Dan Songster: “Presented in honor of 15 years of giving selflessly of…
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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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Climate Change & Habitat Disruptions: Connected by Carbon Dioxide
A guest blog by Michael Aucott. Mike is a retired research scientist of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. He has also taught chemistry at the College of New Jersey. He is currently a member of the NJDEP Science Advisory Board Standing Committee on Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, and on the board of directors of…
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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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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…
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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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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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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,…
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Summer Buckwheat Blooms Bright
It is July, the height of summer in Southern California, and buckwheats are blooming with thousands of showy white flowers. I took a walk this morning at my favorite local park, O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon. Many of the spring-blooming plants are hunkering down in the 90-degree heat, but California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) is…