ashley cruz

Two years after clearing the invasives in my part of the creekbed in my backyard – you know, plants like Arundo and Tamarisk (how did that get there?) and Washingtonia palms (we all know how that got there) – the birds were kind enough to plant 3 Quercus agrifolia and a Toyon that is now about 12′ high. None of these are requiring additional water…[Read more]

Christmas berry!? They can make a landscape designer a hero!

I’m a residential Landscape Designer in San Diego’s East County. Has anyone mentioned Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano? They have a nice newsletter as well you can subscribe to.
I like to incorporate garden-friendly california natives in my designs.

Here are some other resources. las pilitas nursery. 2 locations. North San Diego county (Escondido) & San Luis Obispo. http://www.laspilitas.com. website is deep with info. Another is “California Native Plants for the Garden” by Carol Bornstein, Bart O’brien & David Fross. Cachuma Press. David Fross was my Cal Natives Professor at Cal Poly, SLO. Lots of…[Read more]

Agree with Ken and Blake. There’s also some nurseries that specialize in natives. Yerba Buena Nursery south of SF has a demonstration garden with labeled plants and the owners are VERY knowledgeable. Also, North Coast Nursery and Cal Flora in Sonoma County. Also, it’s good to be mindful of the fact that California has many totaly different native…[Read more]

Katrina, to clarify, UCBG and Tilden are in Berkeley and Merritt College is in Oakland.

The South Lake Tahoe and North Lake Tahoe Demonstration Gardens show a plethora of California Native plants used in the high Sierra. These gardens give great examples of California Native plants at diffrent stages of development.

Agree with Blake — the Merritt program is great. I also volunteered at Tilden’s native nursery on Thursday mornings — propagating, etc. It was a great way to learn about natives. U.C. Botanical Garden and the Tilden Park (native) Botanical Garden are both stunning places to check out CA natives in a park setting.

you may also want to check out the horticulture program at Merritt College for i.d. classes. http://www.merrritt.edu

Has anyone seen a CA native develop over time? I’m interested in how native gardens survive in the real world of residencia. I’m using my own yard as a test, having just planted about 50 various species. They’re all infants right now, but I’m very excited to see how they grow,

hey! i’m beginning to study the native trees of california. i live in NJ now, but come June moving to San Francisco. How is the LA job market out there? I was just laid-off here in Jersey.

Thanks a lot. I will check him out

Catherine,
I attended a seminar given by a Dr. Bob Gerheart a couple of years ago. He is a well respected scientist here in california that specializes in Bi-filtration. Look up his name and see what comes up. Good luck.

Hi everyone.
does anyone knows anything about phytoremediation specifically with california
native plants? All the info I did find was with Canadian plants. Thank you

I just created this page to keep us all in touch!
I am working on a logo- it did not quite fit on the page!
anybody who has a better idea let me know!

Barb

Jeremy–Awesome! Thanks much for the info. Will check those resources.

June Scott,
About Riparian Restoration. Army corp of Engineers are the gov agency that oversees most of these projects. Cal Fish and Game get involved as well. I’d check those 2 agencies. I used to work for Dudek & Associates Habitat Restoration division. check thier website as well. some other restoration offices include Recon, Habitat West &…[Read more]

Does anyone anything about river/riparian habitat restoration in the So. California area? Am starting a thesis project that involves the LA River.

R Fox,

I live in Northern California…We are pretty dry…has not rained since this past Memorial Day and has not really rained since this past February.
It might rain tomorrow and this weekend…fingers crossed. I would be glad to answer any other questions about Northern Cal.

Sean

I love Yucca whipplei, Dudleya obispoensis…. 🙂