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December 2025
Monthly Meeting
NEXT MEETING: Celebrating The Horticulturist Of The Year 2026, Nancy Carol Carter, On January 17, From 1:30p - 3:30p At Oasis Rancho Bernardo (Upstairs In The Grand Assembly Hall)
Nancy Carol Carter Celebrating the Horticulturist of the Year for 2026 Nancy Carol Carter. Reminder, there is no meeting in December. Join us on January 17, from 1:30p - 3:30p, at Oasis Rancho Bernardo (Note: this meeting will be held upstairs in the Grand Assembly Hall and not in our regular room downstairs.) Click here to register to attend. About Nancy - After a long and rewarding career in legal education, Nancy Carol Carter retired as a Professor of Law and Director o
Dec 1
Articles
NEXT MEETING: Celebrating The Horticulturist Of The Year 2026, Nancy Carol Carter, On January 17, From 1:30p - 3:30p At Oasis Rancho Bernardo (Upstairs In The Grand Assembly Hall)
Nancy Carol Carter Celebrating the Horticulturist of the Year for 2026 Nancy Carol Carter. Reminder, there is no meeting in December. Join us on January 17, from 1:30p - 3:30p, at Oasis Rancho Bernardo (Note: this meeting will be held upstairs in the Grand Assembly Hall and not in our regular room downstairs.) Click here to register to attend. About Nancy - After a long and rewarding career in legal education, Nancy Carol Carter retired as a Professor of Law and Director o
Dec 1
NEXT SHARING GARDENS: December 20, 2025 - Conclude The Year And Celebrate The Winter Solstice In Mission Hills
Conclude the year and celebrate the winter solstice with a self-guided tour of Jim Bishop and Scott Borden's hillside garden in Mission Hills. Many of the large aloes and drought-tolerant plants are currently in full bloom. Their 1930s Spanish-revival style house and garden in Mission Hills offer views of Mission Valley. Scott and Jim have been cultivating the steep hillside for 24 years. In 2003, they transformed an old, cold swimming pool into a walled garden featuring a st
Dec 1
NEXT SD HORT BOOK CLUB: Truffle Hound By Rowan Jacobsen, January 5, 2026, 4:30/5p On Zoom
By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! December 2025. Join us on Zoom for discussion of Truffle Hound by Rowan Jacobsen at 4:30/5p pacific time on Zoom on January 5, 2026. Truffles attract dreamers, schemers, and sensualists. People spend years training dogs to find them underground (or pay absurd amounts for a ringer). They plant entire forests of oaks and wait a decade for truffles to appear. They pay $3,000 a pound to possess them. They turn into quivering puddles in th
Dec 1
BOTANICAL ENCOUNTERS: The Atacama Blooms - Copiapoa Cactuses
Words and pictures by Ida K. Rigby, for Let’s Talk Plants! December 2025. The Atacama Blooms - Copiapoa Cactuses Let’s continue our quest for the marvels of El Desierto Florido, the Atacama super bloom of September 2011. Along this foggy Pacific coast, ... ... as is often the case in areas that outsiders might consider gloomy, everything is colorfully painted. Fishing ... ... and mining are the two main industries. We of course enjoyed delicious fresh fish. Nature’s fishermen
Dec 1
TREES, PLEASE! Urban Tree Observations: Conks, Stains, Saps And Bugs
By Robin Y. Rivet, for Let’s Talk Plants! December 2025. Turkey Tails - Trametes versicolor - fruiting body on rotting tree log. Bernard Spragg – Flickr Pro: https://www.flickr.com/photos/volvob12b/41856600312 . Urban Tree Observations: Conks, Stains, Saps and Bugs In October, I wrote about abiotic tree mishaps – especially those inflicted on urban trees by well-meaning humans. Many were preventable, so please re-read that essay if you’re a DIYer, as many of those failures
Dec 1
IN SEASON: Camellias - Queens Of The Winter Gardens
By Jason Chen, for Let’s Talk Plants! December 2025. Photo credit: Excerpted from Let's Talk Plants! March 2018. " Camellia japonica , COMMON CAMELLIA (Theaceae), East Asia. Sharon Lee's dazzling display of large and small pink, white, red, and variegated Camellia blooms [at a meeting]. They were fragrant and simply beautiful to share. Some arrived in individual plastic containers, and each was displayed in its own tiny water dish. 'Nuccio’s Pink Lace', 'Frank Houser', 'Nu
Dec 1
FROM THE MASTER GARDENERS: Evergreens Can Be Part Of A Sustainable Holiday Celebration
By Skye Resendes, UC Master Gardener of San Diego County. First published by the Union Tribune on December 10, 2022. Reprinted with permission, in Let’s Talk Plants! December 2025. Wix stock photo. Evergreens Can Be Part of a Sustainable Holiday Celebration Here’s how to incorporate fragrant trees and boughs, long a symbol of life and hope, and still be a green consumer. Traditionally decorated Christmas Nobel fir Christmas tree. Photo Credit: larsmarkusson. The history of de
Dec 1
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