Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
I’m excited to share the start of a new company that I believe will have far reaching and applicable impacts to the plant markets in the USA for years to come (cutting edge ideals that effectively lean towards the bleeding edge). Native Roots LLC. is a company built on licensed technology from the University of [...]
When we use native plants in our gardens and landscapes, does it matter whether or not we use plants with local provenance, i.e. with genetic similarities to those that were in our areas originally? Does local provenance really make a difference in how effectively a plant adapts to its ecosystem, its usefulness to pollinators and [...]
“How can I attract wildlife to my yard?” asked an attendee after one of my recent talks. My answer: “Cultivate untidyness.” Untidiness does not mean littering your yard with old tires or trash, or letting invasive weeds take over; it means letting at least some of it remain natural– “messy” to some eyes. The compunction [...]
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Sometimes it’s as important to know what ‘not to do’ as it is what ‘to do’ in the wildlife garden. With that thought in mind, here’s some simple tips wildlife, if they could speak, would pass along to people: Do not surround your properties with fences.We have a hard enough time moving around and finding food. Plus, we get [...]
A grand old sugar maple stood beside the road at the edge of the hayfield across from my house. By the time I moved to the neighborhood, this tree was no beauty: it had already lost its leader, and several branches jutted out as jagged stubs. Foliage up top was so sparse, the local redtail [...]
Most Californians understand that swelling populations in the southwest are and will continue to outpace water supply both from the California State Water Project sources and the Colorado River. Additionally, Golden state residents are learning that water-wise habits in our landscape and gardens can save up to 60 percent of this precious resource. But something [...]
As a native plant garden designer or home gardener, understanding how plants are naturally arranged in their environment is critical. Understanding what species occur together in their plant community takes this understanding a step further. Several plant communities exist within the boundaries of Chino Hills State Park in Orange County, California. The lower elevations in [...]
Don’t you get tired when you hear words like: “nativistic mania”, “simplistic assumptions”, “nostalgic”, and “sentimental notions”? Not to mention the stronger ones: “native-plant fundamentalist”, “xenophobia”, “native plant Nazi”? Most of us at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens and many of our readers have read Doug Tallamy’s book “Bringing Nature Home” and find it inspirational. [...]
A couple of years ago I gave a presentation to a hall full of Master Gardeners on my favorite topic: saving energy in our landscapes. I pointed out that if we gardened with more native plants, this would support regional pollinators, thereby potentially reducing the energy costs associated with replacing a vital ecological service. Compared [...]
In my prior post I wrote about the importance of familiarizing ourselves with the flora and fauna of our local native ecosystems. With regard to our native flora, trees make up one of the most important components of any ecosystem. They literally form the foundation of most plant communities and contribute greatly to local animal [...]
