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.
weeds
Late rains bring flowers and weeds
Although my own garden is not short on weeds – and being on the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour this Sunday, it really should be – I spent much of the day bashing, scything, pruning, pulling, wrestling, and cursing the weeds at the nature park. The late rains have brought more wildflowers, lovely clouds, […]
Why we weed in the park
The green arrow points to a sagebrush seedling, the progeny of native sagebrush that was planted in the nature park to re-create coastal sage scrub habitat. The rest of the seedlings (red arrows) are non-native weeds that would outgrow this and other native seedlings if left to their own devices. This is why we spend […]
On the other side of the globe
As my attention turns from the New World to the very old world (India), I reluctantly shift my eyes from deergrass, monkeyflower, and coast live oak to the native plants of India. This, however, begs the question: What are the native plants of India? In fact, in an area with evidence of ancient cities, thousands […]
Nature Park Weeds, Part I
In preparation for my absence I have been putting together booklets with identification information for plants in the nature park. The first, Non-native Weeds in the South Pasadena Nature Park, Part 1 (33 MB), has ten aggressive weeds that are common in the park. I will be adding to this list, and will also post similar […]
Summer in the nature park
This month, in response to a friendly request, I started going to the nature park on Wednesday mornings for park clean-ups. Since it has gotten hot, we meet at around 8:30 and work until 10 or 10:30. For the past three weeks we focused on weeding, and lining a path with rocks that will allow […]