Tag: Nature
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More Buckwheat, More Butterflies
When you plant California buckwheat in your home landscape, you bring immediate relief to butterflies and other pollinators searching for nectar and shelter. California buckwheats flower for months, enrich the soil with their tiny leaves, are easy to grow, and are evergreen. Buckwheat is a foundation plant for any garden. The California Native Plant Society…
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Buckwheat with a Side of Natives
The Shipley Nature Center of Huntington Beach is partnering with STEMscopes students to host the final Buckwheat in Every Garden giveaway of 2019. The December 7th Shipley Nature Center buckwheat giveaway is especially exciting because along with the 200 buckwheat plants being distributed for free, Shipley will offer 70 additional California native plants for sale.…
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Buckwheat in the Headlands
Last Friday I visited the 60-acre Dana Point Headlands for the first time. I was interested in seeing the place of origin of the ‘Dana Point’ California buckwheat that is being given to Orange County homeowners in A Buckwheat in Every Garden campaign. We started at the Dana Point Nature Interpretive Center and walked along a sandy…
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Buckwheat Giveaway in Dana Point
The city of Dana Point is partnering with the Orange County chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) on an ambitious 200-plant Buckwheat in Every Garden giveaway this Friday, November 15 at the Dana Point Community Center. OCCNPS and the city of Dana Point will give away 200 four-inch ‘Dana Point’ buckwheat plants from 9 a.m. to…
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Buckwheats Buzz
Most people recognize the common honey bee as a social creature that lives in hives and makes honey. However many people don’t know that honey bees are non-native insects, introduced from Europe. There are 1,600 species of native bees in California, ranging in size from one-inch long to less than one-quarter inch long. California native…
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Buckwheat Builds Soil
California buckwheat is an evergreen plant with small leaves that occasionally drop to the ground, forming a natural mulch. The fallen leaves enrich the soil around the plant and allow the plant to grow and spread in its own loamy mulch. If you are an Orange County homeowner who hasn’t picked up your free ‘Dana…
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Birds, Bees and Buckwheat
The California Native Plant Society Orange County (OCCNPS) chapter created A Buckwheat in Every Garden to encourage homeowners to plant California native plants in their home landscape– which in turn supports and increases bird populations. My neighbor recently sent this photo of a swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on the leaves of her kumquat tree. She had…
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Buckwheat Brings a Party
One hundred and fifty ‘Dana Point’ California buckwheats found new homes in Orange County. The first outreach event at Acorn Day at O’Neill Regional Park and the second outreach at Smartscape were very popular, attracting many gardeners eager to install a native California buckwheat in their home landscapes. The Orange County chapter of the California…
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Buckwheat Brings Buckeyes
Autumn has arrived and the creamy white buckwheat flowers are beginning to take on their rich, russet brown color. Can you see the common Buckeye butterfly visiting the buckwheat in the image above? Several native plant gardeners have shared photos of the common Buckeye butterfly visiting buckwheat plants in their home landscapes recently. Doug Tallamy,…
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Buckwheat Builds Habitat
The Orange County chapter of the California Native Plant Society (OCCNPS) has begun to distribute free, four-inch California buckwheat plants to homeowners living in Orange County. OCCNPS hopes to improve habitat for wildlife and butterflies throughout Orange County with this first-ever campaign to distribute 1,500 buckwheats to homeowners who pledge to plant them in their…
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More Butterflies in Your Garden
Southern California is home to people and plants from around the world. Plants from far away lands have been introduced in California and have become so common that many people believe that most ornamental plants are native. Examples of introduced species include Eucalyptus trees from Australia, ice plant from Africa, and bougainvillea from Brazil. These…