Now Is the Time to Plant Natives in Your Garden!
With the start of the rains in the Bay Area (thank goodness), this is a good time to incorporate native plants into your garden. Here are some easy-to-grow annuals and perennials you might try from among the many possibilities.
Exploring the Oak Diversity of Shell Ridge
In 1974, voters in Walnut Creek decided to save Shell Ridge as public open space rather than proceed with residential development. In her post-Thanksgiving travels, our Field Trips Committee Chair Janet Gawthrop has traveled east and paid several visits to as many as five oak species on Shell Ridge.
Our Adopt-a-Spot’s Challenging Past (and Help from Bay View Tree Service)
Revegetating urban public spaces is often challenging but also rewarding. Volunteer group Greens at Work’s stewardship adventures with their “Adopt-a-Spot” near the Bay Trail in Richmond offer inspiration and make for great storytelling.
Improving the Way We Assess Rarity in the Unusual Plants Project
To recognize the importance of taxa that are rare or threatened locally but not statewide, East Bay CNPS designates them as “unusual plants,” and Unusual Plants Committee volunteers record observations of these plants in an online database. Recently, Unusual Plants Committee Chair Dianne Lake and her colleagues have made some significant improvements in the way rarity of unusual plants is assessed and have incorporated these changes into the database.
