California Native Plants...San Diego Style!!

Greg Rubin teaching Native Landscape Class at Mira Costa!

2011-04-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

Greg Rubin of California's Own Native Landscape Design will be teaching a non-credit course at Mira Costa college over 3 Monday nights in May. He will be substituting for Julie Schneider, who is taking a leave of absence. The class will cover design fundamentals, native ecology and its application to the home landscape, plant selection, irrigation, maintenance, installation and include a Saturday field trip to a large scale native landscape and a local native nursery. Each class will run 2.5 hours.

Course name: "Gardening and Landscaping with California Native Plants"

Course number: 370003

When: 5/9, 5/16, and 5/23 6pm - 8:30 pm

Where: Oceanside Campus, Mira Costa College, Room 7001

Fee: $57

Supplies: A $5 materials fee will be collected in class. Please bring paper and pencil with eraser.

How to sign up: You can call 760-795-6820 to register or sign up on line at http://miracosta.augusoft.net. Go to "Arts" then "Gardening and Floral"

"Save the Majestic Eucalyptus" ..... ??

2011-04-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

Another example of how a little information can be a dangerous thing. Comparing environmentalists to Minutemen and the hunt for invasives to the anti-immigration movement, anthropologist Hugh Raffles' recent New York Times' op-ed piece glorifies eucalyptus and encourages pity for the poor beleaguered iceplant that is only trying to hold up our hillsides:

"Today, a species’s immigration status often makes it a target for eradication, no matter its effect on the environment. Eucalyptus trees, charged with everything from suffocating birds with their resin to elevating fire risk with their peeling bark, are the targets of large-scale felling.
Yet eucalyptuses are not only majestic trees popular with picnickers, they are one of the few sources of nectar available to northern Californian bees in winter and a vital destination for migrating monarch butterflies.
Or take ice plant, a much-vilified Old World succulent that spreads its thick, candy-colored carpet along the California coast. Concerned that it is crowding out native wildflowers, legions of environmental volunteers rip it from the sandy soil and pile it in slowly moldering heaps along the cliffs.
Yet ice plant, introduced to the West Coast at the beginning of the 20th century to stabilize railroad tracks, is an attractive plant that can also deter erosion of the sandstone bluffs on which it grows."

Note the abundance of Iceplant on this failed bluff in Leucadia.

Comparing racism with invasive species may seem like a catchy article subject but in actuality it is insulting and misinformed. Invasive plants pose a very real threat to both our native flora and fauna, countless acres of freshwater nesting habitat have been destroyed by the steady spread of Pampas Grass, Fairbanks Ranch may as well be located in Australia, and anyone who still thinks Iceplant is good for slopes needs to take a closer look at our coastal bluffs. To compare the hard work of people trying to preserve what little remaining habitat we have in Southern California with xenophobic anti-immigration groups shows how very little Mr. Raffles knows about the subject he is apparently so passionate about.

Read his full article here. and please comment or contact Mr. Raffles directly to share with him our first hand experiences of how invasive plants are actually quite a threat to our remaining native areas.

California Native Zen

2011-03-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Who says native gardens have to be southwest style? This Carlsbad bird enthusiast wanted to create native habitat but loves Asian style gardens and wanted to incorporate some great sculpture pieces she found on a recent trip to China. Dilemma? Nope! Native Strawberries, Pacific Coast Iris, Coral Bells and Red Bud are perfect for creating the clean yet natural forms common in Japanese and Chinese style gardens.

Design by Argia Designs

Native Plants at the Spring Home and Garden Show

2011-03-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

At least two gardens at this year's Spring Home and Garden Show featured native plants!

Argia Designs' garden (shown here) featured Western Cottonwood, Ceanothus, Toyon, Howard McMinn Manzanita, Giant Coreopsis, Blue Eyed Grass, and Chalk Dudleya. The garden next door, designed by Brian Best, featured gorgeous 24" box Manzanitas, Oaks, and blooming Ceanothus among other drought tolerant plantings! Both gardens had a slight Asian flair showing that native plants are perfect for not only Southwest style gardens but any garden style!!

Greg Rubin also gave a talk on using California native plants in the garden!

Great to see natives right up there along with the rest!!

New Design from School Garden Program

2011-02-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

Check out this fantastic garden designed by California's Own Greg Rubin (little play on words there! ;) for Park Village Elementary. Greg volunteered with our school gardens program to design a native teaching garden for the school and came up with this great design that was based on not only the plant communities but the soil tyoe as well! What a great teaching tool, can't wait to see how it looks installed!

Visit the chapter website for more information about our school gardens program!

Native Plant Garden Tour April 30 and May 1

2011-01-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to be announcing the upcoming Native Plant Garden Tour here in San Diego County. The event is scheduled for April 30 and May 1 and we will have over 20 gardens scattered all over the county. They will vary from large rural settings to commercial spaces to suburban streets.

If you would like to show your garden or be a docent, please let us know. Post a reply and we will give you a call!

2010-12-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

Thank you Carrie for sharing this on the listserve, another great example of why iceplant is horrible:"Here's an area previously covered with iceplant. During rainstorms, iceplant notoriously inflates like a water balloon, the extra weight pulls the loosened soil down the hill with it, causing a mudslide. This mudslide traveled more than 100 feet down the hill. A few more of these, and the city will be replacing the guardrail, sidewalk, and street. West-facing slope of 30th Street, north of Laurel. BTW, no mudslides were noted on the same slope in the area renovated with native plants, directly north of here......"

For (extremely) detailed information about what to do (and what not to do) with your slope and a list of appropriate plants check out the following article by Bert Wilson of Las Pilitas Nursery: Slopes or visit Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido for a printed list of appropriate slope plantings for San Diego County.

While the rainy season is usually a great time to plant it may be wise to wait until the current torrential downpours have ended before disturbing the soil on your slopes, and remember, mulching your slope is crucial to preventing erosion and keeping moisture in the soil while your baby plants are growing! The ideal mulch is shredded redwood bark or similar because of it's ability to knit together and stay in place on even steep slopes.

Native Totes!

2010-11-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Reducing our dependence on plastics and saving space in our landfills is now even more fun with the new native plant totes from Where's My Bag?

Our own Mary Alice Kessler (website author and technical guru for the chapter) is turning used banners, dogfood bags, and other materials into whimsical and fun tota bags that are great for groceries, a trip to the yoga studio, or even for toting native plants themselves back from the nursery!!

Check out her website by clicking here and see all of her fun designs and help out a local artist and CNPS volunteer!!

The Designer is IN

2010-11-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Landscape Architect, Jeremy Sison of Artemisia Landscape Architecture will be at Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido on November 6th and November 20th from 9AM to 3PM.
He will be providing design consultations for $20 per 1/2 hour (more than half the normal consultation price!!)
To reserve a time slot call Jeremy at 760-936-6534 or send him an email at jeremy@artemisia-la.com .

Post Plant Sale Sale!!

2010-10-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

As if you needed another reason to be sure not to miss this month's chapter meeting here's another one!!!

There are lots of leftovers from this year's plant sale and they are all available for HALF PRICE from 5pm until dark this Tuesday in the grassy area in front of the Casa del Prado patio (where the plant sale was).

Bring your checkbook (checks only will be accepted) and come early to load up on Manzanitas, Bush Poppies, native grasses, and lots of other great landscape plants!!

Visit the chapter website for more info!

Kill Your Lawn!

2010-10-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

For any of you who still have one or who haven't yet convinced family or friends to get rid of theirs now is the perfect time! The Olivenhain MWD is offering a $1/sq ft rebate for all clients who remove turf and install drought tolerant gardens!!

The rebate is only available until December 1st though so don't delay!!

For more information and to fill out the application click here or visit the Olivenhain MWD website and scroll down to their Lawn Removal Rebate link under "Headlines".

Applicable Service Areas:
Olivenhain Municipal Water District (OMWD) includes portions of the cities of Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Diego, Solana Beach and San Marcos, as well as the communities of Olivenhain, Leucadia, Elfin Forest, Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, Santa Fe Valley and 4S Ranch.

Nursery Profile: Tree of Life Nursery, San Juan Capistrano

2010-10-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

Nothing is worse than planning your native garden only to find that your local nursery doesn't carry the plants you need (or worse doesn't carry natives at all!!). With our Nursery Profile series we hope to introduce you to some of Southern California's greatest native plant specialty nurseries so that you can not only find the plants you are looking for but hopefully become inspired to plant even more natives (that parking strip would sure look nice with some native grasses in it!)

Our first nursery is one of Southern California's landmark native nurseries, nestled in the foothills of San Juan Capistrano, Tree of Life.

A wholesale as well as retail nursery Tree of Life not only has a great supply and variety of native and drought tolerant plants but they also have a great bookstore located in Casa 'La Paz' and display gardens throughout the nursery.

Check out their website for more information!

Welcome!!

2010-09-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the CNPS San Diego Chapter's new Garden Blog!!!

This blog will be dedicated to the concepts and design of native gardens in and around San Diego.

From garden style to plant selection, irrigation to maintenance we will cover every aspect of native gardening, introduce new nurseries and suppliers, and expand the horizons of native garden design and style.