Native CA Plants in a Hidden Garden - Pierce College Botanical Garden

Pierce College Botanical Garden

I had heard there was a native plant garden on the campus at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley, but I had not been there. I'm doing a series on Hidden Gardens of Los Angeles on TheEarthMinute.com, so I went scouting for the garden at Pierce.

At first I was hesitant because of the temporary fencing put up around campus construction, but I kept following the directional signage and soon found myself in a transformed landscape.

red mountain sage (Salvia darcyi)

What once was a grassy quad is now a garden of California natives with specifically sectioned areas of drought tolerant plants from the other Mediterranean-climate zones around the world. 

Despite the drought, this is a place of green and flowering vegetation. It also is an amazing example of how native plants create habitat.

In the middle of the campus there are not only Anna's hummingbirds, but scrub-jays and even California quail. Butterfly and dragonfly species are numerous and the pond habitat had a variety of wildlife. 

Valley carpenter bee

Native plants are more suited to drought conditions and surviving occasional frost. They provide important nectar and pollen food for native birds and insects (like the Valley carpenter bee, video). The insects become food for lizards and other birds. Native plants are the foundation of habitat. 

This Hidden Garden at Pierce College is a perfect place to find inspiration in how to arrange native plant species and to find the specific names of flowers or foliage that you find attractive.

See a video of the Pierce College Botanical Garden and information on visiting this Free oasis in the San Fernando Valley.

Painted Lady Butterfly

The milkweed and the butterfly bush are blooming and providing nectar for butterflies.

This beautiful painted lady butterfly stopped to rest and eat before continuing on its travels.  Some springs we have seen mass migrations of these butterflies.

In the past week I've also seen a mourning cloak, monarch and a checkered white in the yard. I'm hoping that the drift of nectar producing native plants we've added to the front hillside will attract and nourish a growing number of our native butterflies. Creating habitat for wildlife begins with providing natural food, shelter and water.

Planting CA Natives in Fall

I love the autumn weather in California. The hot dry summer has come to an end and the promise of rain means it is time to plant native vegetation.

This past weekend we traveled north to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden to take advantage of their Fall Plant Sale (going on through Nov. 3). It is a wonderful place to see the enchantment of native plants and the habitat they create for animals; We saw a variety of birds, butterflies, lizards, a gray squirrel and two deer. We strolled through areas of the garden most like our yard and looked for plants that would thrive in a few of our problem areas: dry, sunny slope and dry partial shade under oaks.

We've discovered that native plants from the Channel Islands, especially San Nicolas Island and Santa Cruz Island, seem to do well on our dry, sunny slope. This beautiful pink yarrow is from San Nicolas Island. We planted yarrows between the Mexican mountain marigold and the San Nicolas buckwheat that we planted two years ago.

This native aster is a low-growing ground cover that we hope will thrive on our front slope.

With the buckwheat, sage, yarrow and milkweed, the front slope is becoming a nectar garden for butterflies.

In the spring, I always have itchy fingers to put plants in the ground, but too often, the summer heat pounds those plants and they do not survive. Autumn is California's season of renewal. Plant now and tender new plants will have nurturing winter rains to help them establish.

A monarch butterfly has been visiting our newly planted milkweed!