I can never believe it when another year passes! In the Garden and Nature Center, it is easy to see that time is going by - as we plant and harvest different fruits and vegetables at different times of the year. The melons and tomatoes of summer have given way to radishes, lettuce and carrots, and the peaches gave way to tangelos. Leaves fall, and the rains bring mushrooms in our mulch. Even though the Southern California weather is so mild, it is easy to see the change in the seasons. However, it is still a little shocking to see how much larger our fruit trees have grown, when I review photos from a year ago. They will be full grown in another couple of years, and producing more fruit than my students can possibly eat. I laugh at myself for cheering on the tiny oak trees (begun as little 6" twigs) for their 2" growth. I will probably never see them grow to maturity - they are planted for future students to enjoy.
It is this tending nature for posterity that is foremost in my mind as the year begins. What new things will I plant, what is missing from our plant palette in the Nature Center, what do we have room for? I like to choose things that I think will be interesting to my students, or were useful to our Native Americans that lived here before. To combat the view of California Native Plants as brown and dry, or boring, I like to focus on the ones that bloom the most.
Thanks to a Kaiser Grant, with the addition of a NectaPlum, Bearss Lime, Gold Nugget Mandarin, and Oro Blanco Grapefruit, our orchard will be at it's max, with no room to squeeze in one more tree. I don't think....maybe a tiny one?! But I AM perusing the seed catalogues - what can I plant new this year that will fascinate my students?! Will it be purple cauliflower? A different shape or color pumpkin? A weirdly long squash? I think that diversity in vegetables leads to an open mind!
This year we have been fortunate to have plenty of rain. It will be a beautiful and bountiful year for our wildflowers, citrus and stone fruits. The California Native Plants that have been in the ground now for about two years, should be able to survive the coming hot months with ease.
I hope that you will be able to come and enjoy our Nature Center and Garden, especially as it begins to bloom. You too can marvel over the amazing miracle that is Nature - the cycle of life that carries on with minimal care from us, providing us with food for our soul, as well as our bellies.
It is this tending nature for posterity that is foremost in my mind as the year begins. What new things will I plant, what is missing from our plant palette in the Nature Center, what do we have room for? I like to choose things that I think will be interesting to my students, or were useful to our Native Americans that lived here before. To combat the view of California Native Plants as brown and dry, or boring, I like to focus on the ones that bloom the most.
Thanks to a Kaiser Grant, with the addition of a NectaPlum, Bearss Lime, Gold Nugget Mandarin, and Oro Blanco Grapefruit, our orchard will be at it's max, with no room to squeeze in one more tree. I don't think....maybe a tiny one?! But I AM perusing the seed catalogues - what can I plant new this year that will fascinate my students?! Will it be purple cauliflower? A different shape or color pumpkin? A weirdly long squash? I think that diversity in vegetables leads to an open mind!
This year we have been fortunate to have plenty of rain. It will be a beautiful and bountiful year for our wildflowers, citrus and stone fruits. The California Native Plants that have been in the ground now for about two years, should be able to survive the coming hot months with ease.
I hope that you will be able to come and enjoy our Nature Center and Garden, especially as it begins to bloom. You too can marvel over the amazing miracle that is Nature - the cycle of life that carries on with minimal care from us, providing us with food for our soul, as well as our bellies.