Prisk Native Garden

Okay, this is for nerds only (and hey, for you professionals out there, as well!): Scientists will "inform landscape designers and architects, builders, nurseries, growers, and homeowners on the significance of biodiversity in the Los Angeles area, which is severely threatened by urban development." This is the kind of symposium that will advance the protection of our precious remaining critters and native vegetation, and it can't come at a more critical time. Bravo.--Mike

I wanted to feel the flow in our new Creek to test the temperature. It felt as cold as a mountain stream almost, the kind that host trout in the San Gabriels. I'm leaving the pump on all the time now, since there are no leaks that I can see, and when the sun hits the solar panels, the little waterfall starts. I love the clarity of the water, don't you? (The chicken wire is to keep out those marauding raccoons who steal into the Garden at night to do their pesky damage.) Hmmm. Now how can I have that trout stream in "my own back yard" that I always visualized?--Mike

The first paragraph of this shared post could apply to Prisk Native Garden perfectly, too! Years ago my wife and I visited SBBG during a trip to Santa Barbara. I was very impressed, especially with the extensive and monumental redwood forest on the property. A few years back SBBG suffered through a disastrous fire at the site. Hope they've at least partially recovered in most of the Garden. And some fans of the site are probably looking forward to more of nature's plans for recovery.--Mike

Pioneertown, a spot in the Morongo Basin near Yucca Valley, is sporting a new white blanket in the high-desert Joshua tree-studded hills. (On the home front, Long Beach got some light rain as measured by the Long Beach Airport. But it was nice to see the ground wet for the first time.)--Mike

Barbara Eisenstein is an old friend and ally of Prisk Native Garden and I'd like to share one of her specific interests connected with South Pasadena: a Zoom native plant garden talk. More learning about natives: we can never get enough!--Mike

Vine maple, Acer circinatum, putting on a vibrant show for our friends up in Arcata, and for us "down here."--Mike

Leave it to hero Jane, a real defender of the natural world and human kindness, both, to bring it all together and keep it positive.--Mike

Now, if I was a younger man and trying to break into the world of environmental restoration, I might jump at this chance to work with those marvelous "desert defenders" out at Joshua Tree who are doing such valuable work for our beloved Mojave Desert.--Mike

In case anybody out there needs a break this weekend (ha!), here's the new Park to Playa Trail, a most welcome new course for hiking from the Baldwin Hills area off of Jefferson Blvd. in Los Angeles (and specifically from that glorious Baldwin Hills Overlook) all the way out to the coast in the Ballona Wetlands. I'll certainly do it one day. We need more hikes like this in urban areas, especially, for the folks who can't always make it out to the wilds.--Mike

Our former Principal, Damon Jespersen, joining the kids for our Creek groundbreaking several years back. Good memory. Damon's at Whittier Elementary now, where he wanted me to "green up" that campus too, but COVID had other plans this year.--Mike

Garden in the sun as seen from the shade under our Island oak (Quercus tomentella). I like that in our schoolyard habitat we can have full, hot afternoon sun in one area (where the plants may appreciate it more) and either dappled shade or full shade by the afternoon or at varying times of the day where other vegetation may appreciate those conditions more. Thankfully, we have a large enough site (7,500 square feet) to accommodate lots of different plant varieties.--Mike

Sunrise and sunset, Joshua Tree National Park.--Mike

Besides providing an educational tool for kids and/or a place to sit and observe a flowing creek just for the therapeutic effects of it, the Creek is also a creation for habitat for various critters. Hey, it's a "multi-purpose wetlands complex" together with the pond. A bunch of finches delighted in hanging out at the waterfall, then darting back and forth to the arrowweed behind the Creek. I wanted to remove the chicken wire protecting the watercourse from raccoon predation at night but I'd have chased the birds away. I'll do that tomorrow so they could actually splash into the stream itself. What did chase the birds away just after I took this video was a big Cooper's hawk that swooped in suddenly and scattered the flock. He didn't appear to nab any, though.--Mike

I love the feel of this photo. Returning with a bundle of "yerba santa," ("sacred herb" in Spanish), Eriodictyon species, a medicinal plant I've long featured in our ethnobotanical--how our native Californians used the native vegetation--tour of the Garden.

I'm renovating most of my front yard on the left side of the yard (as you see the house from the sidewalk) after renovating the right side. I've cleaned up and refreshed the faux creek that receives the roof runoff from the drain pipe with some new rock, rearranged some landscape rock to the left of that, and will plant some new plants. I'm pleased to find a home for the apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) I bought from those good "desert defenders" at the Mojave Desert Land Trust about a year ago. It'll be in full sun for most of the day. This guy is from "wild stock," the pure species, with crinkly gray leaves, and doesn't resemble what we could call the more "domesticated" apricot mallows we see for sale in most native nurseries.--Mike