Educational resources

It’s SHOWTIME!

April 19, 2013

This is where I’ll be spending my weekend.

This weekend is the Coronado Flower Show – April 20 and 21. The show hours are Saturday from 1:00pm-5:00pm and Sunday from 10:00am-4:00pm. There is something for everyone including: Floral Design, Horticulture, our great Youth section, plus music on the bandstand throughout the show, a plant sale, food and a beer tent, and interesting, educational displays. This is Coronado’s longest running tradition so, come to the show and enjoy a great community event. It’s a great show!

If you are entering plants, you need to bring them this afternoon (Friday) from 4:00pm-6:00pm or tomorrow morning (Sat) from 7:00am-9:15am. It’s going to be a beautiful weekend!!!

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Miscellaneous Monday 9-3-12

September 3, 2012

It’s September 3rd already?!!! It’s been a fun summer and I’m loving my garden now, but fall is just around the corner and I’m feeling ready to start clearing out and cleaning up. Check out the September list of garden jobs if you haven’t already.

This is pretty cool: Avant garde-ning in San Francisco

I’m not having problems with ants – yet – but I’m hearing from a lot of people who are so here’s some info from Grangetto’s that might help: Ants Be Gone!

I just found a bunch of pots at a garage sale that don’t have holes in them, but that is easily tackled. Here’s a great demo video for you if you want to know about Drilling Holes in Pots.

You can never have enough of these: 14 Simple Garden Tips and Tricks

This is probably the most complete Companion Planting Guide I’ve seen.

Great, now I’m going to have to remodel! The Nano Garden

A hazard of walking the garden in the morning with my mug in hand. I put my coffee down to do a quick garden project (but, of course, there is no such thing!) and next thing I know I’m on the hunt for my mug.

Aha! There you are, you little devil. Right where I left you!

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Floral Friday – Elements & Principals of Design

April 20, 2012

The Coronado Flower Show is this Saturday and Sunday at Spreckels Park. The theme of this year’s show is “A FLORAL OLYMPIAD.” I have signed up to do a floral design in Section B. The theme of the section is Olympic Traditions and the class I’ve entered is The Olympic Rings. Having said that, it’s time for a design review!

Elements & Principals of Design are pretty fundamental in art, but I had never had a formal introduction to them until I went to Flower Show Judge School. In the class, especially at the beginning, I was a bit overwhelmed taking it all in, but it’s getting easier. Some people used acronyms they made up to help keep things straight, but it wasn’t sinking in for me until an instructor compared Elements to the ingredients of a recipe and Principals to the recipe. Poof, now I get it!!! Elements are the tangibles and Principles are how you use those tangibles.

Elements of Design

Color – The characteristic of light by which the individual perceives objects or light sources; how the eye sees and interpret wavelengths of light
Form – A three dimensional object
Light – Illumination necessary for vision
Line – One-dimension visual path through design
Pattern – design formed by solids and spaces between them
Size – the perceived or visual dimensions of components rather than actual dimensions
Space – the open area in and around a design
There are 3 kinds of space – total space, space within plant material, space established in design
Texture – Surface quality of a material

The only way I can remember the Elements is to put them in alphabetical order.

Principals of Design

Balance – visual balance or stability
Dominance – the greater impact of one element over the others
Contrast - use of opposite characteristics to emphasize differences
Rhythm – created by a dominant visual path of lines, forms, and/or colors in a design
Proportion – comparative relationship of areas and amounts
Scale – the size relationship of one object in a design compared to another

Some people use BADCROPS as an acronym to remember Principles. Drop the vowels and you have your PRINCIPLES.

I have realized over time that I use Elements and Principles in a lot of creative things I work on. If I had majored in art, I probably would have gotten this training in some form, but better late than never. I love learning something that changes my perspective, and the Elements and Principles were a biggie.

This is what I’m entering in the Coronado Flower Show. I wonder what the judges will think about my design.

Floral Design - Section B Theme: Olympic Traditions Class: The Olympic Rings

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Free Native Plant Class at the Anstine Nature Preserve

January 27, 2012

The San Diego Audubon Society is hosting a Native Gardening Workshop on Saturday, February 4th, 11th and 18th from 10 am – 2 pm.

Learn how to design a water saving, bird friendly garden in your own yard. Work on projects that you can take home. Learn from experts that work with native plants and garden design. Experience hands on activities to develop your skills and knowledge. The workshop is free.

Participants should come in clothes if you don’t mind them getting dirty, sturdy shoes and wear sunscreen, sunglasses, and hats. We will provide work gloves, tools, snacks and water.

Please RSVP to Beckywilbanks@cox.netor 760-295-1548. Volunteers under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian.

Can’t make it Sat.? The Anstine-Audubon nature preserve is looking for tour leaders. We need a volunteer or two to help Public relations and marketing! There are other opportunities as well! Please contact Becky Wilbanks at 760-295-1548

The Anstine-Audubon nature preserve is located at 2437 Hutchison Street in Vista, CA 92084.

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Native Plant Conservation Conference with Free Public Day on Saturday January 14

January 12, 2012

For the first time, the California Native Plant Society’s (CNPS) state-wide Conservation Conference, is being held in San Diego this week: January 10-14, Tuesday through Saturday. This conference is the only event in California to focus exclusively on native plant issues; and without plants, there would not be any animals – including us (except in those weird pitch-dark ecosystems at deep-sea vents!)

The final day, Saturday January 14, from 10 AM to 3 PM, attendance will be FREE for the general public with a special program (see details below) for these visitors. Experts will provide talks on home and school native plant gardens, kids and plant science, hands-on art and journaling and gardening tips, and fun workshops on Native American uses of plants, including basket weaving. The Free Public Day Saturday is a unique opportunity that the local chapter of CNPS has worked hard to provide and especially looks forward to meeting everyone who comes to pick up some plant facts.

The only cost will be $5/day parking. The Conference is at the Town & Country Resort in West Mission Valley, 500 Hotel Circle North.

Details of Conservation Conference Public Day - Saturday January 14
The public is invited to…
• Botanical Art and Photography exhibitions
• Scientific and conservation posters made by researchers and CNPS chapter members
• Over 25 Exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall, exhibitor list
• University Student Presentations -10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Thirteen, 20 minute talks on many subjects, excellent for people of all ages interested in pursuing a career in the natural sciences

The Public can attend the morning professional Conference sessions, space permitting:
• Tribal Conservation and Uses of native plants
• Horticulture: Part of Conservation is Growing
• The Vital Role of Education in Conservation

I. Native Plant Gardening: Native Plant Propagation, Care and Maintenance, Beautiful Flowering Natives for your Garden, Attracting Wildlife to your Native Garden, How to Design a Native Garden,

II. Children and Nature for Adults: Learning in Nature’s Classrooms, San Diego Children and Nature Collaborative, Creating Place-Based Science Projects, Parenting in Nature Workshop, Cuyamaca Outdoor School Nature Education Program for 6th graders.

III. Children and Nature, for Children: Drawing Native Plants, Hands-on Gardening Basics, Drawing and Journaling in Nature.

IV. Native Peoples and Plants: Basketry, Native Plant Lore, and more

V. Local Projects and Hot Topics: Regional Conservation Issues, Buena Creek Restoration, Phenology (Study of Native Plant Life Cycles); Fire Management with Native Plants, Amigos de los Rios.

The first four days of this unique event are a fee-based professional conference with field trips, workshops, and presentations on plant science, policy, and conservation. Costs to attend the full conference for non-CNPS-member adult/student $525/175; or single-day costs $190/75. Members’ costs are less and attendees can join CNPS at time of registration to reduce the registration fee.

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Botanical Color Names

November 15, 2011

I thought this was cool. Botanical names can be descriptive of the plants they are named for. How many of the following botanical words are familiar to you? I knew a few of these, but learned some new ones, too.

albus – white
aurantiaca – orange
aurea – gold
azurea – blue
caerulea – deep blue
coccinea – scarlet
flava – yellow
griseum – gray
lutea – yellow
nigra – black
purpurea – purple
rosea – rose-colored
rubrum – red
sanguinea – blood-red

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Happy Birthday Kate Sessions!

November 8, 2011

Happy 154th Birthday to Kate Olivia Sessions (November 8, 1857 – March 24, 1940). In San Diego, we are surrounded by the work of Kate Sessions in gardens large and small. She was instrumental in the first plantings at the Hotel del Coronado, and was named Mother of Balboa Park for her work in shaping the beautiful treescapes that surround the museums and other historic buildings. She also worked closely with premier architects in San Diego, developing gardens at private homes that were recognized as trailblazing in her use of drought tolerant and native plantings. She is also recognized as having introduced the beautiful Jacaranda tree to San Diego for which I will always be grateful since it’s one of my all-time favorite trees!!!

“Botanically speaking, I would call Miss Sessions a perennial, evergreen and everblooming.” — George Marston

Here’s another tidbit about Kate that was in today’s U-T:

From todays column of Diane Bell, San Diego Union Tribune, 11-8-11:

Today is the birthday of San Diego’s landscape pioneer Kate Sessions, born in 1857 in Northern California. Most regard her as a horticulturalist and city gardener who, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, introduced many trees and plants into Balboa Park and San Diego.

Now a peek into her personal life as a young woman and into her travels in Europe in 1925 exposes another dimension. After a review of uncataloged papers and diaries stored in the archives of the San Diego History Center, researchers call her a complex, well-read and adventurous college student anxious to succeed.

Sessions even wrote about her birthday on Nov. 7, 1877: “Tomorrow I will be twenty years old. It does not seem possible. I do not feel a day older than when I was 16. Altogether I think I have accomplished very little this past year.”

There will be a birthday celebration in honor of Kate Sessions at the Marston House on Saturday, November 12. Details here!!!!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

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Los Jardines del Patrimonio del Presidio de Santa Bárbara

October 26, 2011

The Heritage Gardens at the Presidio of Santa Barbara – I need to visit there next time I’m in the area. I love what they are doing in their garden!

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Master Gardener duties

June 2, 2011

I’ve done a lot of time on the Master Gardener hotline since I graduated last year from my San Diego Master Gardener class. I like doing the hotline because I’m a people-person and I am learning a lot. I spoke to a woman in East County who has been overrun with thistle and mustard plants [...]

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A morning at the Botanical Garden

December 6, 2010

Yesterday morning I spent a few hours doing Master Gardener volunteer time at the Botanical Garden Building in Balboa Park. Sunday mornings are quiet and it was a treat to hang out in this historic building surrounded by beautiful plants. The place was decked out with red and yellow poinsettias for the holidays which only [...]

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Invasive Plants

November 30, 2010

Last week I heard an interesting talk about invasive plants at the Master Gardener meeting. It’s important to understand the difference between “introduced” versus “invasive.” Obviously, we’re surrounded by plants that have been introduced into our landscape but invasive plants take advantage of their new location and spread uncontrollably, changing eco-systems, diluting the gene pool [...]

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