California Color Garden

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 4 WINTER 2017 CALIFORNIA COLOR in your GARDEN Also inside Winter Garden Maintenance Pritchett Trail Reopens Garden Calendar DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE 1212 Mission Canyon Road The Garden Offers Plants, Instruction, and Inspiration Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Tel (805) 682-4726 sbbg.org Thank you to everyone who purchased volunteers. And that continuing avail- GARDEN HOURS plants during our Fall Native Plant Sale. ability is a good thing as for most of our Mar – Oct: Daily 9AM – 6PM Nov – Feb: Daily 9AM – 5PM This was a very successful plant sale! I state, late fall and winter are the best REGISTRATION Ext. 102 want to extend a special thank you to times to plant California natives. We Registrar is available: M – F / 9AM – 4PM our major co-sponsors for the Fall Native can help find the perfect plants to add GARDEN SHOP Ext. 112 Plant Sale – S&S Seeds and the City of to your garden. The resources we offer Hours: Mar – Oct, Daily 9AM – 5:30PM Santa Barbara’s Water Wise Program. include: advice from our staff and volun- Nov – Feb, Daily 9AM – 4:30PM teers, books in the Garden Shop, a range You probably already know that there are GARDEN GROWERS NURSERY Ext. 127 of gardening classes, and more informa- Selling California native plants to the great reasons to incorporate California tion like Water Wise Native Plants for public with no admission fee. native plants into your Garden: Hours: Mar – Oct, Daily 9AM – 5:30PM Santa Barbara County (sbbg.org/water- Nov – Feb, Daily 9AM – 4:30PM • many are drought tolerant, saving wisebooklet) on our website. For those DEVELOPMENT Ext. 133 water and money who would prefer a hard copy, you can EDUCATION Ext. 160 pick up a free copy at the Garden or from • they are adapted to regional climate FACILITY RENTAL Ext. 133 our partners, the City of Santa Barbara’s and local soils MEMBERSHIP Ext. 110 Water Conservation program. VOLUNTEER OFFICE Ext. 119 • they are easy to grow and require less maintenance once established IRONWOOD | Volume 25, Number 4 | Winter 2017 The Garden has California ISSN 1068-4026 • they attract bees and other polli- native plants available EDITOR Flannery Hill nators, including ones native to the DESIGNER Paula Schaefer area, creating critical habitat for purchase seven days a Ironwood is published quarterly by the Santa week year-round, thanks Barbara Botanic Garden, a private nonprofit • they evoke a sense of place, and institution founded in 1926. to our dedicated team • they are beautiful! The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden fosters the of staff and volunteers. conservation of California native plants through our gardens, education, and research, and serves as a role model of sustainable practices. The Garden is a member of the American Public Gardens Association, the American Alliance of If you need design ideas or any more Museums, the California Association of Museums, and the American Horticultural Society. information, visit our nursery and tour our Water Wise Home Garden surround- ©2017 Santa Barbara Botanic Garden All rights reserved. ing the Volunteer Cottage, as well as other Garden displays. I hope you will find the Garden as inspiring as I do. It was BOARD OF TRUSTEES from one of our displays that I discovered CHAIR Peter Schuyler the 'Dana Point' selection of California VICE-CHAIR Tom Craveiro SECRETARY Sue Adams buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) that TREASURER Edward Roach makes a beautiful, drought tolerant, and Sarah Berkus Gower generally tough as nails groundcover that Samantha L. Davis spills over walls and down hillsides. I hope Lou Greer Frost you discover your new favorite plant on John Gabbert Elaine Gibson your next walk in the Garden! Valerie Hoffman See you in the Garden, John Parke Jesse Smith Susan Spector Steve Windhager at the Garden to Susan Van Atta Table Dinner in the Redwoods FOLLOW THE GARDEN! While the October sale is over, there FACEBOOK.COM/SBGARDEN is still time to get more native plants Steve Windhager, Ph.D. for your own garden. The Garden has Executive Director YOUTUBE.COM/SBBGORG California native plants available for purchase seven days a week year-round, @SANTABARBARABOTANICGARDEN thanks to our dedicated team of staff and 2 Ironwood WINTER 2017 Water Wise Natives FOR SANTA BARBARA COUNTY Imagine a beautiful garden, full of life, which saves you water, time, and money: a garden full of California native plants! The plants recom- mended in the Water Wise Natives for Santa Barbara County booklet are the most beautiful and reliable natives available for our local gardens. Perfectly Suited Natives are perfectly suited to our summer-dry, winter-wet climate and are better than plants from other parts of the world at provid- ing habitat for our pollinators and wildlife. And, unlike many exotic plants, natives will not become invasive in our wildlands. Available for Free Pick up your FREE COPY in the Garden Shop today, or view online: sbbg.org/waterwisebooklet Sixth Annual Santa Barbara Botanic Garden By Flannery Hill, Marketing CONSERVATION SYMPOSIUM & Membership Manager ore than 130 conservationists gathered at Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Botanic Garden; and Mary Ellen Hannibal, M City College’s Fé Bland Forum on Friday, October 13, award-winning author of Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes 2017 for the Sixth Annual Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Hope in an Age of Extinction. Conservation Symposium. The day ended with an engaging panel discussion moderated Established in 2012, the Garden’s Conservation Symposium by the Garden’s Director of Conservation and Research, Dr. addresses topics that are critical to environmental conservation Denise Knapp. in our region, as well as nationally and internationally. This year, six expert speakers delivered talks on the theme, “Innovative Ways of Exploring Biodiversity: Embracing Big Data, Technology, and Citizen Science.” At the event, Dr. Susan Mazer, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) was presented with the 2017 Pritzlaff Conservation Award, which the Garden awards every year to a trailblazer in conservation. In her keynote talk, S.O.S. – the Power of Seeds, Observations, and Specimens to Predict Ecological and Evolutionary Responses of Plants to Climatic Variation, Dr. Mazer stated that in order to combat “plant blindness,” the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment, we need to engage the public in genuine scientific research. “If we don’t learn to observe, we won’t place a high priority on conservation,” said Dr. Mazer. The event’s talks focused on how we can use modern technology to help solve the biodiversity crisis we have today. Additional speakers included: Ken-Ichi Ueda, co-founder and co-director of iNaturalist; Dr. Katja Seltmann, Director of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, University of Symposium speakers from left: Dr. Susan Mazer, Mary California, Santa Barbara; Dr. Jon Rebman, Mary and Dallas Clark Ellen Hannibal, Dr. Jon Rebman, Dr. Matt Guilliams, Dr. Katja Endowed Chair/Curator of Botany, San Diego Natural History Seltmann, Ken-ichi Ueda, and Dr. Denise Knapp Museum; Dr. Matt Guilliams, Ken & Shirley Tucker Systematist, WINTER 2017 Ironwood 3 A California Winter in the Garden By Nick Resler, Staff Gardener Many of us are guilty of overlooking the subtle beauty of a native winter garden, instead focus- ing on the colorful explosion of spring. But winter is not dull and lifeless here in coastal California. It is a time of growth and renewal and it offers its own elegant display of color. In Santa Barbara we are blessed with a wide array of native plants that bloom not just in spring, but year round, so why not add some winter vibrancy to your home garden? We’ve got the expertise to help you maintain and prepare for spring and we’ve got the plants you need to bring native life and color in winter! WINTER GARDEN TIP After you are done planting be sure sowing wildflower seeds, be sure to to thoroughly water the new ones in so loosen the soil before throwing down MAINTENANCE that the roots are completely wet. Do not the seed. After tilling and sowing, you Planting let new plantings dry out completely for need to rake the seed in, but try to their first winter, but do let them partially avoid burying them more than half Both fall and winter are excellent times dry out in between waterings to avoid an inch. Newly germinated wildflow- of year to plant shrubs, trees and all rot. Watering is often the hardest step in ers need to be kept constantly moist perennials. Now is also the ideal time to gardening and the trick to getting it right for about the first month, so be sure sow your wildflower seeds. A few tips to relies on checking the soil moisture and the soil never dries out completely. keep in mind when planting at this time checking it often. Remember that you TIP Use Scare Tape (reflective of year: try to avoid planting right after a must check the moisture level not just ribbon available at most garden storm when the soil is exceptionally wet at the surface, but a few inches down. and heavy. If you walk around your garden centers) to discourage birds, and trying to get your plants in the ground and Sluggo (safe, nontoxic snail bait) to deter snails, from eating seedlings. the soil is too heavy, it will quickly lead to Sowing compaction and your baby plantings will Winter is the time of year to sow your When it comes to native wildflowers there struggle to put out new roots. Soft, loamy wildflower seeds if you want a beauti- are an overwhelming amount of choices; soil is key to excellent plant growth.

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