Gina dancing with a Western Redbud...Coyote Bush in fore...WRB on it's side (???)...non native but happy...rockrose with lavender in fore...(mediterranean)
Guy by the name of Thomas Payne was way, way ahead of his time...early 20th century landscape architect with an interest in native plants of California...while everyone else was planting english ivy, palm trees and pansies, T.P. was interested in the natives..
The socal nursery trade is saturated with an abundance of great non thirsty plants from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, southern Europe, etc...all of them are great and a lot are actually much more striking than our own natives and they do great in the low humidity and high heat of inland socal...but...there's something more subtle about the native salvias, manzinitas, fremontodendron, ceonothus, mallows, etc...
So here, goes...I'll talk about california native plants for a bit...see where it goes...Here in Orange County, Tree of Life Nursery off Ortega Highway is the holy grail for natives...the nursery at Living Desert in Palm Springs is cool too but it's about an hour and a half drive from OC...
I started tinkering with natives a few years ago...there's a plant called the Flannel Bush...Fremontodendron...it is absolutely spectacular with broad vaguely oak shaped leaves and deep warm yellow flowers...but this sucker is absolutely furry with protective fibers of some sort (hence the name I guess)...I dont know if it's the same for everyone, but even the slightest contact with this plant makes my skin crawl for weeks! I wore a favorite t shirt once while trimming this plant, got some of the fine hairs on my shirt and after five washes, the shirt still is like a hair shirt!
Water Fremontodendron in summer and it dies...guess the best way to think of it is that summer is winter for natives...by June when there's sustained heat, 85+F for 5 plus days and most natives go dormant...without getting scientific (which I couldn't do if I wanted to), natives shut down non-essential activity (like growing) in order to survive the heat and low water.
Hi there, I've been looking for a female German Blue Ram...any tips? Would rather not shop online because I've heard a lot come out of SE Asia and are treated with hormones, etc...
Thanks
Just seeing what's out there. Looking to share a cab...somewhere. Common destination.
