MUSTKEEP | SDHS Newsletter

Monthly Meeting

NEXT GENERAL MEETING: April 18, 2026 - Walker Wilson - Conservation Through Cultivation - Growing A Local Ecotype Nursery. In-Person, Oasis, Rancho Bernardo, 1:30p -3:30p

Viguiera laciniata - San Diego Bush Sunflower. Photo Credit: Walkers Wildlands – California Native Plant Nursery Viguiera laciniata - San Diego Bush Sunflower, a San Diego endemic species that happens to be excellent for garden conditions. Evergreen, tough and made for full sun conditions, it will still stay green with

Mar 1

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SPRING GARDEN TOUR: Point Loma And Coronado, Sunday, March 29, 9am - 4pm

San Diego Horticultural Society - 2026 Spring Garden Tour 2026 Spring Garden Tour When: Sunday, March 29, 2026 From: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Location: Private gardens in Point Loma and Coronado Tickets on Sale Now! San Diego Horticultural Society - 2026 Spring Garden Tour Want to be a Spring Garden Tour volunteer? In exchange for working a morning or afternoon shift at a garden, volunteers receive free entry to the gardens. Send an email to Volunteer@sdhort.org The Art of Coasta

Mar 1

VOLUNTEERING FOR THE SPRING GARDEN TOUR: A Volunteer’s Perspective

By Cathy Tylka, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. A Spring Garden Tour Volunteer’s Perspective I am so very glad to have been, and to be again, a volunteer for the Spring Garden Tour. Last year, I initially visited two Escondido gardens, that were a wonder to behold, both were visually and aromatically delightful. I just want you to know how lovely all of the gardens were. My volunteer assignment was at a relatively new garden, and I felt so fortunate to sit in the beautiful

Mar 1

NEXT SD HORT BOOK CLUB: Ten Tomatoes That Changed The World - A History By William Alexander, March 2, 2026, 4:30/5p On Zoom

By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! March 2026. Join us on Zoom for a discussion of Ten Tomatoes That Changed The World - A History by William Alexander on March 2, 2026. Note: The Zoom SDHBC meeting link is not published, instead it is emailed to discussion participants. If you would like to receive the link, please email info@sdhort.org with “book club” in the subject line. L ooking Ahead: March 2, 2026 - Ten Tomatoes That Changed The World - A History by William

Mar 1

NEXT GENERAL MEETING: April 18, 2026 - Walker Wilson - Conservation Through Cultivation - Growing A Local Ecotype Nursery. In-Person, Oasis, Rancho Bernardo, 1:30p -3:30p

Mar 1

MY LIFE WITH PLANTS: Things Go Boom

Words and pictures by Jim Bishop, for Let's Talk Plants! March 2026. Well, at least I think they went boom. I was asleep when all of the action took place. Following a very long, hot, and dry summer, we experienced an unusually wet fall and early winter. It seems we're experiencing a bit of a weather yo-yo pattern. 2023 was among the wettest winters on record, featuring a rainstorm that delivered more than 6 inches in just 24 hours. This is the most rain I've ever seen here

Mar 1

TREES, PLEASE! Don’t Park Your Baby Buggy Under City Of Encinitas 6281ETREE

By Tim Clancy, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. City of Encinitas 6281ETREE p re-construction, notice sidewalk and bench. Photo courtesy of the “Chartreuse Appreciation Society”. Don’t Park Your Baby Buggy Under City of Encinitas 6281ETREE Like many human relationships, with trees the relationship between a tree’s above ground parts (A) and below ground parts (B) is complicat

Mar 1

PLANT FORUM: At The February 2026 Meeting

By Susi Torre-Bueno, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. In July 2025, Anne Murphy brought in a delightful bouquet of nine species of flowering California native plants for the plant forum. Anne hopes that seeing these lovely specimens will encourage members to plant more natives in their gardens. Photo credit and Canva graphics: Karen England. For over two decades a meeting highlight was the Plant Forum, where a horticultural expert spoke about plants brought in by members. T

Mar 1

SHARING SECRETS: Early Bloomers

Edited by Cathy Tylka, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. This month’s question: With all the rain and sunshine that we’ve had, blooms are out early. Do you have anything blooming that has not done so in the past? This includes all, as in bulbs, trees, shrubs, flowers or anything else, in your garden or somewhere else. Vincent McGrath of 91941, shares… … My yard is like a nursery with different plants blooming 365 days a year!!! Grevillia Ned Kelly B

Mar 1

SHARING GARDENS REPORT: A Valentine's Day Members-Only Treat In Olivenhain

By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! March 2026. SD Hort Member-only Sharing Gardens events like this one in Olivenhain, California on February 14, 2026, have returned to rave reviews. Photo credit: Karen England. On February 14, 2026, SD Hort members were treated to a lovely two-acre open garden in Olivenhain, California. The day was perfect in every way; the garden was gorgeous, the gardener artist was out and about both the garden and the art

Mar 1

GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: The CNPS Garden Tour April 11 & 12 And More Pollinator Friendly Native Plants!

By Susan Lewitt, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. “Where Native Plants Thrive, We Thrive.” Graphics by Artefact Design. Please join the California Native Plant Society’s Native Garden Tour which will include many exciting and beautiful gardens for you to visit. Where Native Plants Thrive, We Thrive: When native plants flourish, they create gardens full of life where everything is connected. The CNPS Garden Tour April 11 & 12 And More Pollinator Friendly Native Plants! Son

Mar 1

GARDEN SURROUNDINGS: Enjoying Our Pets In The Garden

By Francesca Filanc, for Let’s Talk Plants! March 2026. Prince, a standard poodle, on the patio by a potted pink jasmine. Photo credit: Francesca Filanc. Enjoying Our Pets in the Garden “March comes in like a lion and moves out like a lamb” This is an old expression about the weather for the month of March. March, starting out blustery, windy and stormy and ending calm, birds chirping, with flowers beginning to bloom. But with climate change and also living in Southern Califo

Mar 1

NEXT HYBRID MEETING: Riley Black, When The Earth Was Green, February 21, Oasis, RB And Zoom

Riley Black is the bestselling and award-winning author of When the Earth Was Green , The Last Days of the Dinosaurs , and more. A regular contributor to National Geographic , Smithsonian , and Slate , as well as a repeat guest on NOVA and Science Friday , Riley has spent more than fifteen years bringing the public the latest about the deep past. When not enthusing over fossils in articles and books, Riley regularly volunteers with museum field teams to uncover new

Feb 1

NEXT SHARING GARDENS: Saturday, February 14, 2026, Stroll A Fabulous 2-Acre Open Garden In Olivenhain

Registration Opens Jan 31, 2026. Members bring your Valentine to a fabulous garden! On Saturday, February 14, 2026, a sumptuous garden will be open to members of the San Diego Horticultural Society (SDHS). Stroll this 2-acre garden in Olivenhain and see the paradise created over the last 30 years. The garden is a mixture of plants ranging from drought tolerant to tropical. Some special features are the lath house, tool shed, koi ponds, and numerous pieces of art. As a bonus

Feb 1

NEXT SD HORT BOOK CLUB: In Kiltumper by Niall Williams With Christine Breen, February 2, 2026, 4:30/5p On Zoom

By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! February 2026. Join us on Zoom for a discussion of In Kiltumper - A Year in an Irish Garden by Niall Williams with Christine Breen (Pacific Time) at 4:30p for social half hour and 5p for book discussion on January 12, 2026. Kiltumper in Co. Clare is where Niall Williams and Christine Breen have been living and writing for 40 years. This is a warm-hearted and uplifting memoir of their life in rural Ireland. "Its byways are as meande

Feb 1

BOTANICAL ENCOUNTERS: The Atacama Superbloom, Chile 2011

Words and pictures by Ida K. Rigby, for Let’s Talk Plants! February 2026. The Atacama Superbloom, Chile 2011 Let’s return to the fog shrouded Atacama Desert coast in Chile… …and immerse ourselves in the abundance of tough desert flora that were exuberantly flowering in the aftermath of a rare phenomenon in the Atacama, rain. As we know, the plants survive on whatever moisture the perpetual fog offers. Each plant has strategies for waiting until the next time there is rain whe

Feb 1

TREES, PLEASE! Are Your Trees Climate Ready?

By Robin Y. Rivet, for Let’s Talk Plants! February 2026. Photo credit: LadyCamera, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Are Your Trees Climate Ready? Valentine’s Day is looming, but February 2nd is Groundhog Day . Although we have ample sunshine for groundhogs to see their shadow, where are all the woodchucks? Duh. There aren’t any marmots in San Diego ( unless you count the one that hitch-hiked from NorCal in 2009 ). So how do

Feb 1