San Juan Elementary Native Plant Garden in the Fall

This school garden was planted last December & January, and it has filled in nicely!

The yarrow has turned a chocolate brown in time for Fall!



This is my favorite view - a row of aster chilensis, followed by a row of California Sagebrush, followed by a row of buckwheat. Once the coyote brush behind these plants fills in it should look marvelous! Especialy NEXT fall when the coyote brush goes to seed and it looks like snow! Deergrass is in the foreground.



A blue butterfly stops for nectar on one of the last remaining buckwheat flowers.


The milkweed was successfully pollinated and has gone to seed - there will be lots more next year!

Can you believe this was the same spot just last year?

Harvesting Seed in Mason Regional Park

How appropriate that on the day after the August Full Moon - the Grain Moon - we took a few hours to collect seed at Mason Regional Park in preparation for our Service Learning restoration project that will begin in September.

Harvesting buckwheat seed, just as the Tongva and Acjachemen did for throusands of years before the Europeans arrived. I wonder if they had any better luck finding the seeds?
Encelia seeds

harvesting deerweed
Prickly Pear Cactus

California Fuchsia

August Full Moon Walk in Crystal Cove State Park - the Grain Moon

The August Full Moon was called the Corn Moon, Barley Moon or Grain Moon by ancient peoples. August is a time for harvesting. Each culture had its staple grain, so that grain was celebrated as a symbol of life. As we hike through CCSP on the evening of the Grain Moon, we took a look at some of the plants the native people would have harvested at this time of year, and tasted cherries, currants, poppy seed and chia seed.

Midsummer Morning in Mason Park

Habitat Gardening Workshop at the Road Less Traveled

Delilah at the Road Less Traveled in Santa Ana was kind enough to host a Habitat Gardening Workshop at her store!

After a brief presentation inside, participants joined us under the canopy outside to see, touch and smell some of the native plants we would be planting in the garden.

Director of Restoration, Reginald Durant, demonstrated his special way of planting a native plant.


Later that week - on a MUCH cooler day - Reginald returned to assist Delilah and friends with planting the plants.

The result! Check out the demonstration garden for yourslef, AND be sure to do some shopping in the Road Less traveled store. Directions and hours can be found on their website: http://www.roadlesstraveledstore.com/

A Wild, Wild, Wildflower Day!

Yucca in bloom at Caspers Wilderness Park.

Toad scat and tracks.
Toad flax at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

Wild allium at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
Wishbone plant.

Plantain
Red rocks at Caspers.
Reggie takes a shot.
Sanicle
Soap Root nestled between rocks covered with lichen

Johnny Jump Ups
Lace pod
Lupine
Mariposa Lilly
Owl's Clover

Clover
Deerweed
Dudleya
Fiddleneck
Indian Paintbrush

Bob Allen shows off the new plant species named after him this morning at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Chris Barnhill gets a shot of the new species.

An impressive cholla