Innovative System Measures Fog That Beloved Plants Need to Thrive
Fog is a critical but mysterious water source for native plants during hot, dry summers at Cabrillo National Monument. Researchers used new technology to uncover the park’s fog patterns, showing the best places to restore damaged habitat.
As the Eaton Fire Still Burns, Locals Gather Seeds to Regrow
In Altadena, a network of home gardeners answer the call to build a free “library” of plant seeds.
Pollinator gardens rise in the Rogue Valley from the ashes of the Almeda Fire
From Fires to Flowers, a program run by the non-profit Pollinator Project Rogue Valley, creates vibrant gardens in the scorched footprint of the 2020 wildfire, helping create a landscape that heals both people and pollinators.
New Ohio law makes it easier to collect and share native plant seeds
A new Ohio law allows individuals and conservation organizations to collect and share native plant seeds.
Plants gone wild: what’s the deal with native plants?
Let your garden go wild in the new year! Learn about the benefits of native plants and how a simple flower can help save the bees.
Native plant walk Saturday hopes to seed interest in bolstering ‘earth skills’
Many Orange County denizens know the region’s geography, its rugged coastlines, hills and canyons, like the backs of their hands, but it’s unclear how many could survive its wilderness if left to their own devices.
Voices of the West; New Science on Life in the Garden: Native Plants
By popular convention, we often use biologically arbitrary boundaries for native plants. For example, gardeners in California see plants labeled as “California native” and may assume these are well-suited for their landscape. However, consider the breadth of botanical and biome or ecosystem diversity in that state, which further spills over the borders. Using geographic areas defined by flora species, like the California Floristic Province (CFP), to help define native plants is an improved alternative approach but still not the silver bullet.
The Wall Street Journal – Birding Goes Extreme
Birding has long been a hobby for nature lovers, but the pursuit has recently gone more mainstream—boosted by the rise of ecotourism and the surging interest in a safe and relaxing pastime during the pandemic, along with user-friendly apps that bird lovers can use to record and track different species. Now, the Gottliebs’ garden is a local landmark with close to 20 bird boxes, three seed feeders, four mealworm feeders and around 15 hummingbird feeders. Ms. Gottlieb said she goes through about 70 pounds of sugar a month making hummingbird nectar.
Voices of the West; New Science on Life in the Garden: Biodiversity
Exploring biodiversity in gardens seems simple at first glance. Many of us define it in relatively simple terms—how many species of plants? Birds? Insects? Our gardens are relatively small ecosystems, but if we consider the possible number of interactions in even a small urban garden, it is immediately evident that biodiversity is almost unimaginably complex. Why does biodiversity matter, and how is it measured? Here I connect with three scientists in our region to talk about their work on biodiversity.
National Geographic Magazine – Scott Logan’s work in the garden
Conservation works. In the past century or so, efforts to save American species like the peregrine falcon, the American bison, and the Pacific gray whale have succeeded.
A naturalist studying the Gottlieb Native Garden, a single acre in Beverly Hills, California, documented over 1,400 species in the past five years, from cougars and ospreys to varieties of bark lice previously unknown to science.