Just a quick FYI on  upcoming CA Native Plant Sales,  so please plan ahead to get the plants your looking for!

In the San Fernando Valley, check out the LA Chapter of the CA Native Plant Society. Their plant Sale will be on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3rd in Encino.  For more details please visit: www. lasmmcnps.org

Check out the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants in Sun Valley.  The Foundation has it Annual Fall Festival and Plant Sale on  two consecutive weekends: Oct 8-9, and Oct 15-16, 2010 Hours are from 8:30-4:30pm Discounts for both members and non-members! For more info visit: www.theodorepayne.org

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden has their Fall Plant Sale the first weekend in November, details have yet to be announced. To keep up to date please visit: www.rsabg.org

Looking forward to seeing you there!!

Steve Hernandez,

CEO, NativeScape Development Inc.

ps. If you know of any additional plant sales coming up please let me know and I will post them. Thanks!

In addition, we have just set up an initial consult with a couple who visited our warehouse to see some native plants and bulk landscape materials.

Today , we have an appointment with a client to sell an additional 500 lbs of small Sierra Cobbles.  So, if you get a chance please stop by.  We would love to see you at the NativeScape Development Headquarters.

Upcoming Workshops

Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy Workshop

Date: August, 15th, 2010

Time: 9-6pm

Location: NativeScape Development Inc. Headquarters

Address: 10849 Ralston Avenue, Pacoima, CA 91331

After a long hiatus, Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy is back to offer another workshop.

This will be the last one day workshop that we will be offering.

OK, don’t panic. We’re not going away. It’s just that we’re growing. After much deliberation and reconsideration, we are restructuring the workshop in order to offer even more content but with improved pacing. We’re going to keep you in suspense for now.

Now if you haven’t taken a workshop with us, you would not know from direct experience that the day goes fast because it’s jam packed with content. That’s been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the workshop is lively and fast-paced, to say the least. On the other, it’s been really difficult to cover everything that needs to be covered all in a single day.

So, we’re not going to try to stuff everything into one day anymore. We’ll be sending another announcement in a few weeks with more updates on the latest content developments.

In the meantime, please visit our new website for workshop details and to register online:
http://urban-suburban-ecoliteracy.com/?page_id=326

Ecologically Literate Site Analysis

Day and Date: Sunday, August 22, 2010
Time: 9A sharp — 6P
Location and Address: Coming to a neighborhood near you (various locations through the day)
Additional info: There is always a firm deadline for registration. If you want to participate, don’t procrastinate! Early registration deadline is August 8th. Late registration deadline is August 15th.

If you’re a Permaculture newbie or someone who wants to improve your ability to apply Permaculture princi­ples to landscaping, natural building, a solar water heating system, or a photovoltaic system, etc., site analysis skills are an absolute must-have. You can’t learn to work with nature as a partner if you don’t know her rules. (You might be surprised to hear how often this basic tenet of ecologically wise design is ignored or over looked!) It’s one thing to “read” nature’s patterns and to collect information. It’s quite another to interpret that information so that you can use it effec­tively. Interpretation is the other key skill that will be taught in this workshop. Participants will develop and hone site analysis, observational, site assessment, and problem solving skills through exposure to a wide range of site conditions and locations.

There is an enrollment fee differential. If you have taken an Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy I workshop, the cost is less to attend.

For details, more information, and to register, visit http://urban-suburban-ecoliteracy.com/?page_id=91

Right Plants in the Right Places

Right Plants in the Right Places: Create Your Own Garden Design with Edibles, CA Natives, and/or Medicinal Plants
Day and Dates: 2 Sundays, August 29th and Sunday, September 12th
Times: 9A sharp — 6P both days
Location and Address: 10849 Ralston Avenue; Pacoima 91331
Additional info: Free street parking is available. Please bring your own lunch on the first Sun­day workshop meeting.

The key to:

•    Reducing water usage for gardens and landscapes
•    Sharply reducing plant losses
•    Saving time, money, and energy in your garden or landscape

boils down to one very important strategy – work with a plan and match the needs of the plants with what a site proviides.

In this two-part workshop, you’ll learn a system to implement this strategy. You’ll spend less effort and money on guessing, suffer less heartbreak from losing cherished plants, and more time enjoy­ing the fruits of your garden and landscape success. Correct placement is everything in the garden or land scape and often is the dividing line between success and failure. One of the most common mistakes do-it-yourselfers make is putting the wrong plants in the wrong places, including planting too densely and putting large plants too close to buildings and fences. Sustainable garden design is not like interior design. Plants cannot be successfully arranged at-will like furniture or appliances, which unlike plants do not grow and change both form and size.

There is an enrollment fee differential. If you have taken an Urban/Suburban Ecoliteracy I workshop, the cost is less to attend.

The early registration deadline is August 15th. The late registration deadline is August 22nd.

For details and to register, visit http://urban-suburban-ecoliteracy.com/?page_id=20

Just a quick reminder: we have four seasons here in California but sometimes we forget.  In Fall and Winter, we want to not only plant those new CA Native Plants but also  sow bulbs and wildflowers.  Spring is time to enjoy the fruits of your labor especially all of those wildflowers in bloom.

Summer is both a time for rest for us in the garden and a great time to plan for the following autumn.  Lastly, remember that for our beautiful CA Natives, summer is like winter on the East Coast.  The plants will drop their leaves and go to sleep.   They say, “Oh it’s hot now so they go dormant for summer-see you in fall for a new growing season”.

So the savvy native gardener will anticipate this and cut back on watering plants that go dormant because they are not absorbing water like they do in fall.  Failure to take this into consideration will result in early plant deaths because the plants drown and rot away.

This is especially true for the following plants: Fremontia, Manzanita, CA Lilac, Matilija Poppy, Chamise, Wooly Blue Curls and Coast Live Oak.  There are others as well, so check your plant lists.

So,  now that your prepared for the hot summer, go ahead and enjoy your native garden.  You can let your neighbor stuggle to keep their lawn alive while your plants go on vacation during the summer.

Have a great summer of fun, barbecuing, and going to the beach!

-Steve

My personal favorite native plant is CA Bay Laurel  (Umbellularia californica).  To those who may believe it grows only in Northern Cal-Sorry to disappoint you.  Take a walk in the Santa Monica Mountains-ie. Try Solstice Canyon and Corral Canyon- there are some nice stands there.  Or if you’re on the eastside try the “Red Box” turnoff of Hwy 2.  California bay smells wonderful and you can use a leaf to season some tasty dishes. You will use about 1/3 the amount of bay leaf called for in recipes, as our native bay laurel is more potent.

In the garden you can use it as a specimen or as an evergreen hedge.  Replace your poisonous oleander. Your Kids and pets will thank you for keeping them safe.

Remember CA Bay can tolerate shade so its versatile and low maintenance.  It will grow fairly large, about 20-30′h x 20′w, but it will take a while.

That’s one of my favorites, what’s yours?

-Steve

Here there are no dumb questions,  just unasked ones. So jump right in…and restore your garden savvy!

The NativeScape Development Team