Spring is almost here. Celebrate in the garden with us at our first Plant Sale of the year. Saturday, April 12th, 2025, 10:00am – 2:00pm. Join us to purchase organically grown habitats plants, hear expert…
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Hands-on classes are back this summer, with a new October Workshop*! *It is highly recommended that you have attended the…
The only seed I’m still collecting now that the rainy season has begun, is from Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia); I’m picking handfuls of bright red, mature berries, and contained within each berry will be one or…
Linum lewisii A beautiful Western perennial, perfect for the border or in a meadow blended with bunchgrasses, poppies, clarkia and flowering bulbs. Summer blooming, flowers open over a long time; full sun, low water, 12-18”…
All of these native annual wildflowers are great for pollinators and other beneficial insects! Clarkia unguiculata / Mountain Garland The blooms of this native clarkia range from white, pale pink, salmon, and bright pink to…
Milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies Asclepias fascicularis Milkweeds provide important resources for many beneficial creatures, including Monarch butterflies. The fine leaves of this native milkweed gives it’s a soft, wispy look. The plant isn’t long-lived,…
At the end of the dry season my garden is just that; at a glance many of the native plants look dry and dead but once you look more closely, there’s always a bit of…
Some of my favorite annual wildflowers are the gilias, and the whole genus is pretty much deer-proof. I like globe gilia (Gilia capitata) with its round heads of small blue flowers; these grow wild on…
If you are working with old seed you can do a simple viability test before sowing. Use a damp paper towel, lay ten seeds onto one-half of the towel, fold the other half over, and keep moist.…
The days are still warm and we’re all hoping, once again, that this will be an El Niño year with ample rainfall and a good snow pack in the Sierras. The days are noticeably shorter,…
The flowers of a plant are designed for the purpose of making seeds. If a flower is pollinated, then fertilization can take place, and a seed develops in the ovary of the plant. This is…
Some seeds have built-in mechanisms that prevent germination until ideal conditions are met. Even when perfect conditions are met, some of the ‘seed bank’ of a species will not germinate. They will wait, often camouflaged…
This year my Nevin’s Barberry (Berberis nevinii) truly made that leap and ‘came into its own’! Lovely, fragrant yellow flowers smothered the plant in early spring, right about the same time as many Ceanothus start…
All through the rainy season many birds rely on fruits as a major part of their diet. These birds often travel in flocks, like the Cedar Waxwings and American Robins. Sometimes the flocks are mixed;…
Whenever I’m out collecting I always keep it foremost in my mind that seeds are food for all sorts of insects and other invertebrates, for birds, rodents and other mammals, and food for humans! When…