Blazing Star Newsletter
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California Native Plant Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter THE BLAZING STAR May-June 2011 GENERAL MEETINGS & PROGRAMS Hidden Villa, a non-profit wilderness preserve and organic farm. Her educational background includes a bachelor’s We have a BONUS General Meeting to announce in this degree in biology, graduate studies in limnology, and a newsletter: Besides our usual General Meeting on Friday master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Science May 20, Michael Mitchell and Rod Yeager will speak on from Stanford University. the wildflowers of Monterey County on Friday, June 17. Vicki Moore has focused her career in environmental advocacy and education. She was the Policy Director and Friday, May 20, 7:00 PM inote early time i South Bay Field Director for Greenbelt Alliance from Los Altos Library Program Room 1988-2000, focusing on conserving the region's greenbelt 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos of open lands. Later she shifted to environmental education, first volunteering as a docent for the Environmental Volunteers, then founding the Living California Native Plants in School Gardens Classroom Program three years ago. Her motivation for Presentations by Claire Elliott, Vicki Moore founding the Program is to instill a greater appreciation and and other guests, followed by a Panel Discussion understanding of the natural world for students so that they are environmentally literate while also learning science, math and social studies state standards. Are you an educator or parent or volunteer interested in establishing a school garden at your local school? Join us One of our chapter's goals this year is to form a School for a series of short presentations and a panel discussion on Garden committee to develop and share expertise and using native plants in school gardens. The featured materials for educators, parents, and volunteers who wish to speakers include Claire Elliott, Senior Ecologist in start school native plant gardens. So bring your ideas, Acterra's Stewardship Program and Vicki Moore, founder experiences, and questions — we hope to have a lively of the Living Classroom Program. discussion! A school garden serves as a living classroom in which See directions to the Los Altos Library on the next page. students gain an understanding of natural systems through firsthand observation and experience. CNPS promotes the inclusion of native plants in every school garden because native plants help students learn the vital connection Friday, June 17, 7:30 PM between plants and higher life forms such as insects and Los Altos Library Program Room birds. School gardens foster community spirit by bringing 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos students, school staff, families, local businesses, and organizations together. The Wildflowers of Monterey County Claire Elliott is the Senior Ecologist with Acterra’s Speakers: Michael Mitchell & Rod Yeager Stewardship Program. She has 25 years’ experience working as an environmental scientist and educator, and assisting school garden programs in local schools. Her Of the 5,862 species and subspecies of native plants in teaching has included public outreach related to watershed California, more than 2,000 are to be found within protection, and three years as an environmental educator at Monterey County. We will get a glimpse of this incredible 2 www.cnps-scv.org (650) 260-3450 May-June 2011 plant diversity from the authors of the new field guide, CHAPTER ACTIVITIES Wildflowers of Garland Ranch . Garland Ranch offers a microcosm of the plant habitats Native Plant Nursery at Hidden Villa found throughout the county. Located in Carmel Valley, Thanks to our volunteers, our customers, partner this regional park comprises 3,464 acres at the northern end organizations, and the lovely weather, we had another of the Santa Lucia mountain range with the Carmel River fantastic plant sale on April 16. running along part of its northern boundary. Its 50 miles of hiking trails cover a diverse range of habitats, from the To help the nursery recover, and to propagate plants for our riparian and flood plain to lowland oak woodlands and Fall Native Plant Sale on October 15 , consider redwoods, to sage brush and chaparral before reaching the volunteering at one of our nursery work sessions. They ridge lines at 1,500-2,000’, with their exposed grasslands take place every Wednesday, from noon to 3pm . Bring and scrub. Garland Ranch is home to over 350 species of garden gloves, sunhat, clippers, and your lunch if you like. flowering plants. An observant hiker who goes through Other tools will be provided at the nursery. Knowledge of both the woodland areas and chaparral to the ridges may plants is not necessary; your willingness to help is all that's expect to see close to 100 species on a spring day. required. Michael Mitchell moved to Carmel Valley upon his Plants may be purchased during the nursery workdays retirement from a lifetime of legal practice in England and through the end of May. Please plan to pay by check. California. An enthusiastic photographer and nature lover, he has spent many happy hours photographing and then For more information, contact Jean Struthers at (650) 941- struggling to identify the local wildflowers. He is a 2586 or [email protected] (by phone is best); or Ray volunteer naturalist with the Monterey Peninsula Regional Deutsch at (650) 365-6136 or [email protected]. Park District. Directions : Hidden Villa is located on Moody Road west Rod M. Yeager, MD, after retiring from the practice of of Foothill College. From Hwy. 280 in Los Altos Hills, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Shreveport, take the Moody Road exit and head west. Two miles west Louisiana in 2002 has spent many enjoyable hours of Foothill College, look for the Hidden Villa sign and exploring the hiking trails in Pebble Beach, California and driveway on the left. Proceed over the bridge, and park in the surrounding area including Big Sur, Carmel Valley, the visitor center parking lot to your right. The Native Salinas Valley and the rest of Monterey County. It did not Plant Nursery is at the greenhouse just beyond the visitor take long for him to be impressed by the large number and center. variety of wildflowers seen along the hiking trails and a desire to learn their names evolved. He developed an Gardening With Natives, May-June interest in photography which ultimately resulted in seven Gardening with Natives (GWN), a special interest group books of photographs of wildflowers found in Monterey within the Chapter, includes a mix of native landscape County as well as a website ( www.rodyeager.com ). designers and seasoned native plant gardeners, as well as beginners. It offers talks throughout the year which are free Copies of the authors’ field guide will be available for and open to all. purchase and signing. A total of six talks are scheduled during May and June Directions: From Foothill Expy., travel ½ mile on San throughout the Chapter area – from Cupertino, Los Altos, Antonio Rd. towards the Bay, cross Hillview and turn right and Woodside to Milpitas and Fremont to San Carlos, into the driveway; the library is on the left. From El Belmont, and Half Moon Bay! Please spread the word. Camino, travel towards the hills on San Antonio Rd., cross For more info., visit www.GardeningWithNatives.com . Edith and turn left into the unmarked driveway just before Hillview. The sign on San Antonio Rd. reads “Civic Gardening by Plant Community: The focus on Center, Library and History Museum.” Enter through the gardening by plant community continues with one talk each lobby of the main entrance. month followed by a weekend walk through the same plant community. In May we cover redwood forests; the focus in CNPS general meetings are free and open to the public. June is coastal habitats. This combination of a gardening For more information, leave a message on our Chapter talk followed by a plant walk is to inspire gardeners to go phone at (408) 260-3450 and someone will return your call. on plant exploration hikes, and hikers to plant native plants May-June 2011 www.cnps-scv.org (650) 260-3450 3 in their home gardens. See the Field Trips section later in Thursday, June 2, 7:00-8:30 p.m. this newsletter for more information on the scheduled Garden Plants From Coastal Habitats, a lecture by hikes. Dr. Glenn Keator These programs are made possible by volunteers who help The Coastal native plant community is home to a wide with program logistics and by cosponsoring libraries. If variety of native plants suitable for gardens in the greater you would like to help organize similar programming at a Bay Area. This talk will cover the most popular perennials, library near you, contact [email protected]. shrubs, and ground covers in cultivation for Coastal gardens. Dr. Keator has written over a dozen books on Tuesday, May 3, 7:00-8:30 p.m. California native plants and is a teacher at Merritt College, Garden Plants From the Redwood Forest, a talk by a lecturer, and a field guide. (Look under Field Trips for a Matt Teel plant walk on Saturday, June 4). San Carlos Library, 610 Elm Street, San Carlos. (650) 591-0341 x237. The Coast Redwood Forest plant community is home to a wide variety of native plants suitable for gardens in the Tuesday, June 14, 7:00-8:30 p.m. greater Bay Area. This talk will cover the most popular Native Perennials for the Garden, a talk by perennials, shrubs, and ground covers in cultivation, as well Stephanie Curtis as some of the rarer plants, in order to interest both beginners and enthusiasts. Matt Teel is the plant Beautiful and vibrantly colorful California native perennials propagator at Yerba Buena Nursery and has over a decade require little input from the gardener, yet provide of horticultural experience working with California native unmatched habitat value for birds, butterflies, bees, and plants.