Planting Party

Published on January 24, 2018April 14, 2021 by weedingwildsuburbia

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., students from Occidental College and other local volunteers will be planting native plants in the South Pasadena – Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park (South Pas Nature Park, for short) on January 27, 2018. Volunteers are welcome to come anytime during the day. We plan to start at

Labyrinth Garden

Published on December 14, 2017April 14, 2021 by weedingwildsuburbia

I know that I have not written about my wild suburbia home garden in a long time. This is not because nothing is happening; to the contrary, the last piece of lawn has met its end! The small bit of turf grass – woefully out of place – on the east side of the front

South Pas nature park

Published on November 30, 2017April 14, 2021 by weedingwildsuburbia

Have you been down to the South Pasadena nature park recently? Although we are at the end of nearly 10 months with almost no rain at all, the park is looking great. With the cooler temperatures and a sprinkle of rain, quite a few plants – such as penstemons, sagebrush, and bush sunflowers, and others

Volunteers Work at Nature Park

Published on January 23, 2017June 11, 2017 by weedingwildsuburbia

Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out in the park last Saturday. High school students and parents, and Bank of America volunteers accomplished so much. This rainy weather is great for our native plants but unfortunately the weeds are getting a real boost too.

Monarch Butterfly Waystation Opening

Published on April 21, 2016April 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

Join us this Saturday, April 23, from 10 – noon to celebrate the opening of the Monarch Butterfly Waystation at the South Pasadena nature park (South Pasadena – Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park). Volunteers have been hard at work in the park and there are lots of beautiful flowers, birds, lizards, insects, and of

Visit your nature park

Published on September 28, 2015March 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

It was a beautiful day at the nature park. There were lots of butterflies, plants are greening up, and the weeds are making a big come back. In fact, there were more castor bean seedlings than we have seen in years and years. Check out the following pictures for butterfly, plant and weed id.

Wildflower headshots

Published on June 18, 2015June 19, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

It is almost the summer solstice but there are still lots of flowers blooming in the nature park. There is a mighty fine display of California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum). Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is also blooming, a harbinger of lovely red berries in winter. Wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are just getting started, standing tall with several blooms per stem.

Arroyo Seco Restoration

Published on May 22, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

I am having nature park withdrawal. I have not been there since last Saturday. Nevertheless, it is very much on my mind. Last week I spent two days talking to environmental science students at South Pas High School about the park. Five different classes of students heard and discussed the history and possible future of

Happy Earth Day from the Nature Park

Published on April 19, 2015July 3, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

Although Earth Day 2015 does not officially occur until Wednesday, we had a great celebration at the nature park last week. We had a great group of volunteers for these regularly scheduled cleanups on Wednesday and Saturday. I hope you can see what we accomplished from the following pictures. Thanks to Katherine, Michael, David, Rick, Candy,

It rained – time to plant

Published on December 2, 2014May 30, 2017 by weedingwildsuburbia

Trying to catch the moment between the all day drizzle yesterday and the forecasted heavy rain tomorrow, I went to the nature park with the following ten new plants: 1 – 1g white sage (Salvia apiana) 1 – 1g buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliosum), collected from Verdugo Mts. 1 – 1g monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus var.