GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Eat Your Native Garden, the Kumeyaay Way
By Susan Lewitt, for Let’s Talk Plants! June 2023. Eat Your Native Garden, the Kumeyaay Way California native plants are functional as...
top of page
June 2023
Going Wild with Natives
2017 - Oct 2021
- Sep 1, 2022
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: CNPS San Diego Native Plant Sale Oct 15 - Get Ready!
By Susan Lewitt, for Let’s Talk Plants! September 2022. CNPS San Diego Native Plant Sale Oct 15 - Get Ready! To help San Diego reach the...
- Oct 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Celebrate Native Plants w/CNPS & Leave The Wild Ones Be
By Susan Lewitt for Let's Talk Plants! October 2021. Red Bush Monkey Flower, Diplacus puniceus aka Mimulus aurantiacus var. puniceus, has...
- Aug 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Monarch Larval & Nectar Plants Invite More Than Just Monarchs!
By Susan Lewitt. Monarchs love milkweed, and happily for San Diego, there are several indigenous species. Narrow Leaf Milkweed, Asclepias...
- Jun 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Elderberries And Currants, Ribes Species, Plants With Benefits!
By Susan Lewitt. Here are some sweet native plants to consider that give you edible treats: Blue Elderberry, Sambucus nigra ssp....
- Mar 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Native Groundcovers Are Best!
Have you noticed ice plant all around San Diego? The mats of dry woody material that it forms? Problems with this invasive plant lie in its
- Feb 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Fremontodendron
If you are thinking about landscaping your front or back yard, try not to overlook this showstopper! There are many things to love about the
- Jan 1, 2021
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Native Bulbs in Your Garden
Spring in a non-native plant garden can be a wondrous time of colorful blooms from bulbs; tulips, ranunculus, daffodils, etc. But what about
- Dec 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Avoid Invasive Plants, Use Natives Instead!
Imagine a natural, low-water garden blooming with the beautiful and unique flora of California native plants, attracting a large diversity
- Oct 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Going Native & Getting Buggy with California Buckwheat
Can I get your attention by suggesting that you grow some wooly knees? Eriogonum (erion meaning “wool” and gonu meaning “knee” or “joint” in
- Sep 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Palms NO, Native Trees YES!
Pick up a postcard of San Diego. What do you see besides iconic landmarks? Mexican Fan Palms, Washingtonia robusta, Canary Island Date Palms
- Aug 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Native Lawn Time
Summer is the time. Time to get out and get some gardening done. Time to stay active in the yard during COVID-19. Time to kill your invasive
- Jul 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Lemonade Berry & Sugar Bush - Garden Workhorses
The Sumac family, Anacardiaceae, contains a rather odd variety of plants: the yummy, familiar mango, pistachio and cashew but also poison oa
- Jun 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Urban Gardens as Wildlife Refuges
Elton John sang eloquently about the "Circle of Life" but I think it was a limited circle focused on generations. To an ecologist, the circl
- Jun 1, 2020
MORE GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: How to Support Biodiversity? Plant More Natives & Fewer Exotics!
Biodiversity impacts us in endless ways. It affects our health, our food, the natural beauty seen around us, air, water, soil, and environme
- May 2, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: May Wildflowers in San Diego
If you are looking to dive into plants not just native to California, but native to San Diego to give your garden a truly local character, t
- Mar 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: "The Artful California Native Gardens of East County" CNPS-SD Tour
When you think about planting your garden, consider California native plants; they can be a perfect fit! Native plants need minimal water,
- Feb 1, 2020
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Bush Rue
The Mediterranean climate of San Diego carries the reputation of year-round garden blooms, the forever spring of a warm temperate environmen
- Dec 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Parasitic, or not so Parasitic, Plants.
The Broomrape family are parasites with specialized structures on the roots for taking food, water and nutrients from the host plants.
- Oct 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: The Extraordinary World of California Wildflowers
One of the plant strategies for surviving in dry climates is the occurrence of annual flowers with long-lasting seeds that will survive seve
- Aug 28, 2019
GOING WILD WITH THE NATIVES: Make Mine Manzanita.
By Linda Jones. As I was driving through a newer development recently, I was struck by the similarity of all of the gardens: each had a...
- Aug 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Sky Islands
By Bobbie Stephenson. Other than Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve near the coast, San Diego only has coniferous forests on its highest...
- Jul 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Red-blooming Natives for San Diego
By Clayton Tschudy. Native flowers come in all colors, but yellows, blues, and purples are most common. When red does occur, the plant is...
- Jun 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Those Yellow Hills are Alive with…..?
By Linda Jones. I drove up Interstate 5 at the end of March to central California and everything was so alive with color and greenery....
- Apr 30, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: California Native Wildflower Seeds and Bulbs
By Bobbie Stephenson. Although most people think of the desert when they hear about a super bloom, this year the flowers in our coastal...
- Apr 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Native Hedges for San Diego Gardens
By Clayton Tschudy. The amazing diversity of California native plants provides a treasure chest of incredible horticultural opportunities...
- Mar 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Native Grasses
By Linda Jones. My neighbors recently replanted their front garden using several species of California native grasses, along with...
- Feb 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Enjoying Desert Wildflowers
By Bobbie Stephenson. This is February and the spring bloom in the desert is gearing up! March is probably the best time to visit the...
- Jan 1, 2019
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Late-Blooming Coastal Shrubs
By Clayton Tschudy. In coastal San Diego, we are blessed with several shrubs from the daisy family (Asteraceae) that bloom late in the...
- Dec 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Beautiful (and Poisonous) Sacred Datura
By Linda Jones. The family Solanaceae is an oddity. Some of our most important vegetables and fruits are in this family: tomatoes,...
- Nov 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: California Fuchsia: Native Fall Bloomer
By Bobbie Stephenson. California fuchsia (Epilobium canum), also called hummingbird flower and hummingbird trumpet, is the best species...
- Oct 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Dudleya Poaching
By Susan Krzywicki. Native Plants: Good News, Bad News Popularity is always a double-edged sword. While it is nice to see California...
- Sep 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Hooker’s Evening Primrose: Food for Wildlife
By Linda Jones. One reason I garden with native plants is to recover a little of the lost habitat for wildlife. One fun plant that...
- Aug 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Discovering Bladderpod: The Nose Knows
By Bobbie Stephenson. The evergreen bladderpod (Peritoma arborea; previously Cleome isomeris and Isomeris arborea), with its silvery-gray...
- Jul 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Explore Our Local Canyons
By Susan Krzywicki. Canyons are an important element in the rich, biodiverse natural landscape of San Diego. The La Jolla Historical...
- Jun 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Bringing Native San Diego Sages Into the Garden
By Linda Jones. Sages are the workhorses of the native garden. Salvia, or sages, can provide attractive habitat, colorful blooms most of...
- May 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Singin’ the Blues
By Bobbie Stephenson. During the recent native garden tour put on by the San Diego chapter of the California Native Plant Society, a...
- Apr 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Why I Love Tecate Cypress
By Susan Krzywicki. Editor's Note: The Tecate cypress is an endangered species, and it's one of the many plants that the San Diego Zoo...
- Mar 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Annual Wildflowers
By Linda Jones: This time of year is usually the time to plan a walk—through your garden or to a natural area—to enjoy the colorful...
- Feb 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: A Rose is a Rose…
By Bobbie Stephenson. San Diego County is home to three species of wild roses: California wild rose (Rosa californica), bald-hip rose...
- Jan 1, 2018
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: How to Grow Woolly Blue Curls
By Lee Gordon. Trichostema lanatum, or woolly blue curls, may be San Diego’s most beautiful native shrub, but it has a reputation for...
- Dec 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
By Linda Jones. When Spanish galleons sailed up the coast in the 1700s, the explorers called Alta California “la tierra del fuego,” not...
- Nov 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Natives for Your Hummers
By Bobbie Stephenson. Anna’s hummingbirds are our most common species and reside year-round in many different native habitats and also in...
- Oct 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Root Zone Irrigation for Oaks
By Susan Krzywicki. Root zone irrigation for trees has been a staple of conventional gardening, and this technique is being used to mimic...
- Sep 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Mexican Elderberry: A Berry Good Plant
By Pat Pawlowski. Sorry. You know I mean that Mexican Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) is a VERY good plant. How good? Let me count the...
- Aug 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Our Native Penstemons
By Bobbie Stephenson. During these hot summer days, you might want to spend some time thinking about the native species you would like to...
- Jul 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: Easy to Grow Natives
By: Susan Krzywicki. Starting on the adventure of using California Natives can be daunting at times. So many plants…so many new names…but...
- Jun 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: The Nose Knows
By Pat Pawlowski. And just in case your nose doesn’t know, it’s about to get educated. Some California native plants will cause your nose...
- Apr 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES
By Bobbie Stephenson. Adaptations to Aridity We are having a glorious spring because the rains have been spaced to allow the germination...
- Mar 1, 2017
GOING WILD WITH NATIVES: How Green is My Valley
By Pat Pawlowski. Well, I do not actually live in a valley, but it is green (at least part of it). Of course, out here in Southern...
bottom of page