Insects: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Class

Insects: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

May 9, 10-11 am

Gretchen Renshaw-Zwissler, UCLA Instructor

Are you a little squeamish about bugs in your garden, squishing or spraying everything in sight? You may be eliminating insects that turn into beautiful butterflies, or food that could attract colorful birds to your garden. Learn how to identify the good ones and what can be done about the bad ones in an eco-friendly manner. Find out what those ugly ones have to offer and what their purpose is in nature. To have a specific insect identified, bring it to class in a sealed plastic bag.

Meet at the Garden amphitheater, located in Polliwog Park on Peck Ave. just north of Manhattan Beach Blvd.

Photo of Digger Wasp by Julie Gonella

The Garden Goes Viral

Thanks to the folks at DailyMotion.com we have our own promo. video hosted by our our very own Gretchen Renshaw.

Earth-Friendly Garden: Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
Uploaded by zenevolutiontv. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Poppies Appear in the Sage Meadow

Without a care, this month the annual orange California Poppies marched right through the purple perennial Bees Bliss Sages. With a color combo so stunning one can forgive the arrogance of the poppies and the reticent nature of the sages. The ever-silver Canyon Prince Giant Rye Grass agrees.

The Formula:

7 ea - Bee's Bliss Sage (Salvia 'Bee's Bliss) planted 4-5' apart

1-2 ea - Seed Packet of California Poppies sprinkled starting in Nov. or w/ the rains

3 ea - Canyon Prince Giant Rye Grass (Leymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince') planted 4-5' apart

Photo by Julie Gonella

Volunteers are Gold

With over 12 volunteers this past Friday, the garden was bustling like a Sonoran bumble bee in a California Poppy. They planted new grasses by the stream. They laid down tons of mulch. They weeded the wildflower area. We love our volunteers!

Volunteers Juan, Lee and Celeste pictured planting grasses. Photo by Julie Gonella.

Hunting for Native Plants

We know you. You are a South Bay plant geek on the lookout for the best local places to buy California native plants. That is why you are reading this post. Where are they you ask? You already know that Armstrong's used to carry some but the search there this month was fruitless. You know that Annie's in MB used to have some but they are gone. You know unless you are a landscaper you can't get them at Kobata's in Gardena anymore. You know that International Gardens in El Segundo sometimes has some - but will they have a Catalina Ironwood Tree or that Manzanita you read about in Sunset Magazine? You missed the native plant sales at Theodore Payne and The South Coast Botanic Garden. You are tempted to go to Home Depot but you know the only thing there is Red Fountain Grass - and you know it's invasive and not a native. Bite the bullet. You have to drive out of town. Get your list together, fill up the tank and make an adventure of it. What could be better?

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Tree of Life Nursery
33201 Ortega Highway
P.O. Box 635
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693

949-728-0685 call for retail hours

www.treeoflifenursery.com

Las Pilitas Nursery

8331 Nelson Way,

Escondido, CA 92026

760-749-5930 call for retail hours

www.laspilitas.com

El Nativo Growers

626-969-8449

Plants may be ordered via e-mail @

retailsales@elnativogrowers.com and then picked up in Azusa, CA

www.elnativogrowers.com

LOS ANGELES

Theodore Payne Foundation
10459 Tuxford Street

Sun Valley, CA 91352

www.theodorepayne.org

818-768-1802 call for days & hours

Gardeners, Gooseberries and Goldfinches

A typical Spring Friday at the garden brings out new volunteers, new plants and new birds. As Julie writes in a recent email:

"Another FAB day! No trash left behind or vandalism of any kind, and the water feature looked terrific. Gretchen and I had talked about planting yet another variety of manzanita (recommended as easiest to grow by Tree Of Life Nursery) up near the west entrance, so those are now in. Among the about 10 volunteers, Marilyn helped plant a new kind of Gooseberry in Kathy C's area. There were oodles of birds...shown are some Lesser Goldfinches at one of the feeders."

Thanks Julie!

Photo by Julie Gonella

The Saga of the Path

This February brought much needed rain to the garden. We are all pretty happy about that. As many of you know, along with showers we once again lost alot of our decomposed granite path. We are not so happy about that. This has been an issue for a number of years now with much lively discussion and debate ongoing on the board and amongst the volunteers about what a final solution might be. We have researched a number of ideas, and seen a few of the newer permeable paving surfaces but have yet to find something we like that has a natural feel, is permeable and is cost-effective. The old-timers here say that the consensus always ends up with most of us liking the DG during most of the year until it rains - and then we discuss it all over again. Well we have to have something to debate!