California Native Plant Week April 14-21, 2013

"The California State Assembly and Senate have approved Resolution ACR 173 (Evans) establishing California Native Plant Week, beginning April 17-23, 2011."  This measure proclaims the 3rd week of April, each year, as California Native Plant Week and encourages community groups, schools, and citizens to undertake appropriate activities to promote the conservation, restoration, and appreciation of California's native plants.

A Botanist’s Bonanza!

This post is for people who converse in botanical nomenclature or really enjoy Latin.  "Need the new name of a California native? Here’s the secret link! Just enter a name or list of names at this site and it will return the latest and greatest from the new Second Edition of The Jepson Manual!"  http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange/JMtoJMII.html

Looking for Pollinators? Try Mason Bees

"The orchard mason bee, Osmia lignaria, is an effective early pollinator native to the Western US and Canada. It emerges in the spring, before honeybees. As a pollinator, it is far more efficient than the honeybee by transferring more pollen and visiting more types and numbers of flowers.The male mason bee does not sting. A female is considered non-aggressive, stings only when handled ‘roughly’, or when trapped under clothing. Mason bees are solitary. They do not produce honey; adults feed on nectar and collect pollen and nectar to feed their young. In contrast, wasps also feed on nectar but must hunt for meat to feed their carnivorous larvae.A mason bee looks like a small black fly, but flies only have one pair of wings and bees have two pairs. Mason bees are slightly smaller than honeybees. They fly only after air temperatures rise to about 55degrees F."  Oregon Master Gardener™ Association – Clackamas County ChapterIn Cooperation with Oregon State University Extension Service
"Many who raise mason bees turn to paper liners. These treated paper or cardboard tubes fit into holes in wood or other medium, or are sometimes used alone. The bees nest in the tubes (or “straws”), which can be removed when the bees are mature. Fresh liners in the holes provide clean nest spaces for the following season." Home made mason bee paper liners by Randy Person.

Poison Oak Exudes Trouble

Laura Christman for the Record Searchlight explains the good and bad of the native poison oak. "Poison oak is part of nature. It's a California native, after all. Birds like its berries. Bees use its flowers to make honey. Deer eat it (why is that not surprising?) and small creatures take shelter in it... Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) is sly. It takes different forms. In open areas, the plant grows as a shrub. In shady forests, it's a vine. When the lobed leaves first emerge, they are reddish. Then they go into a soft, chartreuse phase. Later they become deeper green and glossy. In mid- to late summer, they turn red." Link to Laura's article and learn more about this fascinating plant.

Reducing Rattlesnake-Human Conflicts

"A decade of research provides important insights into rattlesnake behavior that can be used by national parks and communities to reduce rattlesnake-human conflicts... The initial research effort examined the effects and effectiveness of relocating, or capturing and moving, nuisance snakes to different and sometimes distant locations... Reducing rattlesnake-human conflicts in developed areas can potentially result from making these areas less attractive to the small mammals and birds that rattlesnakes feed on during the summer foraging season... If a snake does need to be removed for safety reasons, then the best solution is to move the snake a short distance, less than 50 m (164 ft), to the nearest cover. A relocated snake should always be moved away from heavily used roads into habitat that is similar to that from which it was moved."

Build a Barn Owl Box, Modeled after an Original Design by Steve Simmons

"Barn Owls have been the subjects of wonder, wisdom, magical accoutrements, and folklore for ages. Their presence adds beauty and enchantment to the environment, and their significant rodent control skills comprise a very practical need for their presence. Habitat reduction has reduced their numbers over the last century, and an active program of owl box construction will help offset this."

Olives: Safe Methods for Home Pickling

"Methods For Curing Olives
Olives picked off the tree contain a very bitter compound called oleuropein. Harvested olives must be "cured" to remove the bitterness in order to make them palatable. The most common curing processes use brine, dry salt, water, or lye treatments. During these curing processes the water-soluble oleuropein compound is leached out of the olive flesh."

For the complete twenty-six page guide, click on the title above.

Climate change and wine: Observations, impacts and future implications

"While the exact spatial changes in the magnitude and rate of climate in the future are speculative at this point, what is clear is that the climates of the future, both over the short term and over the long-term, will be different than those today. Can we remain steadfast in our approaches to growing crops? Likely not. However, this uncertainty should not keep us from knowing the issues and acting accordingly," wrote Gregory V. Jones in the summer of 2006. He is a Professor and research climatologist in the Geography Department at Southern Oregon University who specializes in the study of how climate variability and change impact natural ecosystems and agriculture.

Purple needlegrass (Stipa pulchra, Nassella pulchra) was designated the official state grass of California in 2004.

This article (FREMONTIA A Journal of the California Native Plant Society, 1981) makes the argument that Stipa pulchra (Nassella pulchra) is the best candidate for the restoration of native grasslands. A widespread, native perennial bunchgrass that can live for 150 years, purple needlegrass ranges from the Oregon border into northern Baja California.

The Mystery of Masting in Trees

Some people have observed a bumper crop of acorns this year. This fine article addresses: "Some trees reproduce synchronously over large areas, with widespread
ecological effects, but how and why?"

Growing California Oaks

Collecting, storing and planting acorns

Home Landscaping For Fire

This is a link to a superb publication from the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, that summarizes the lecture given by Wendi Chico, a founder of the Fire Safe Council in northern Shasta County, at the Turtle Bay Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, July 18, 2009.