Native Garden Committee Potluck Meeting
Tuesday, March 12th, 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Presentation: “Biodiverse Community Green Spaces”
With Biologist Dr. Reinhard Witt and Architect Katrin Kaltofen, Germany
Photo credit: Die Naturgartenplaner
Our March potluck meeting will be hosted by Lee and Debbie Gordon at their lovely home in Scripps Ranch. Special guests, biologist Dr. Reinhard Witt, founder of the German Naturgarten e.V., and Architect Katrin Kaltofen, known as “Die Naturgartenplaner” from Regensburg, Germany will be presenting their talk, “Biodiverse Community Green Spaces”.
Join us for an engaging presentation showcasing a multi-award-winning garden project in the heart of Munich. Discover how natural garden design in a bustling city like Munich can create biodiverse outdoor spaces for all users, contributing significantly to the preservation of biodiversity. Planned, built, and maintained collaboratively with users, this concept fosters broad acceptance, support, and sustainability in this urban greenspace. Photo credit: Die Naturgartenplaner
Bring a potluck dish to share and meet up with old and new friends. This meeting is open to everyone interested in gardening with native plants and carpooling is encouraged. Everyone is welcome as early as 3:30 pm for a native garden hillside tour.
Please RSVP at this Link: March Meeting Sign Up
February Bird Park Meadow Design Workshop
(photos by Christine Hoey)
The dry stream beds at Bird Park are no longer dry with the recent rains! They have worked beautifully collecting rainwater and preventing runoff. More importantly, the rainwater will recharge the soil which nearby native plants and trees can tap into during the dry summer months.
A neglected native meadow plot at Bird Park needed a make-over. In January, our Bird Park Workgroup weeded and set out California native wildflower seeds sprouting now.
Our February Meadow Design Workshop to redesign this native meadow was led by Greg Rubin. Over 45 people attended to give input but also learn about the different characteristics that make up California native meadows.
Adding to the existing De La Mina Verbena (Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina'), Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens), Canyon Prince Wild Rye (Elymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince') and Purple Haze Coast Aster (Symphyotrichum chilense 'Purple Haze'), Greg created a draft landscape drawing. Additional plants added to the list include:
● Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
● Purple Three Awn (Aristida purpurea)
● California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum)
● Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
● California Goldenrod (Solidago velutina ssp. californica)
● Purple needle grass (Stipa pulchra)
● California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
Once irrigation is installed by the city, let the planting begin! Please join us If you would like to be part of expanding our native plant garden! Sign up at this link: Balboa Park Workgroup
The garden committee welcomes all novice and experienced native gardeners. A separate monthly email is sent out to committee members with meeting announcements, volunteer activities, workshops and early bird sign-ups that don’t always make it into the Chapter newsletter. If you love gardening with California native plants and would like to join the Garden Committee (GC), click on this link: https://forms.gle/L356FhDbvrWCWzmd8 We would love to see you!
Christine Hoey & Silke Gathmann
Garden Committee Co-chair