Ethnobotany Blog

Flannelbush(Fremontodendron californica) from Deborah Small's Ethnobotany Blog

"We want to encourage everyone
to fall deeply and intimately in love with our oak woodlands
and riparian streams, chaparral and sage scrub, to
embrace their sometimes harsh but always extraordinary
beauty, and finally, to speak for the community in the widest
sense possible, on behalf of all species.
There’s no place like home."

This blog about indigenous peoples in San Diego County includes gorgeous photos, recipes, gathering stories - all kinds of depth. Worth a look from anyone interested in California Natives (Plant and Indian).

http://deborahsmall.files.wordpress.com

Why You Want Insects

Bringing Nature Home,
How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants


Gardening For Life
"Chances are, you have never thought of your garden - - indeed, of all of the space on your property - - as a wildlife preserve that represents the last chance we have for sustaining plants and animals that were once common throughout the U.S. But that is exactly the role our suburban landscapes are now playing and will play even more in the near future."

So says Douglas W. Tallamy, a professor of entomology at The University of Deleware. His Bringing Nature Home is an excellent book that explains as well as any source why we need to plant and preserve native plants.

He and other researchers have conclusive proof that insects prefer native plants. He has analyzed several species growing in his area with their area of origin. A eucalyptus might have over 175 insects that feed on it in Australia but few to none that feed on it in the United States and that's after being introduced more than 300 years ago.

Nurseries over the decades have encouraged homeowners to choose plants with are "insect free", but Tallamy explains how this is misguided.

Many might say, "But why do I want insects in my garden? Of course I deliberately purchase plants that insects don't like." This has been the view of many gardeners over the years and has resulted in a loss of bird life in our world. Birds need insects to survive, even if not normally insect eaters, they feed them to their young.

Tallamy and other researchers have examined plants for insect biomass on natives, and non-natives to an area. It is clear that insects are much more attracted to native plants - the leaf chemistry is very different from species to species even within the same genus. The plants have evolved this defense to protect themselves, and insects have co-evolved to be able to eat particular plant species because most insects are specialists. This may take hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years however. Many plants have been analyzed for the number of insects that feed on them in their area of origin as opposed to the area of introduction. It is clear in analyzing plants introduced into this country,that it takes more than 300 years for the insects to evolve to the point of being able to eat the new species.¹

At least two studies have been undertaken to determine if in fact the bird populations in native and non-native areas are different. One study showed a lack of bird populations where non-native grasses have been introduced, another showed that nestlings in an area with non-native plants were smaller and grew slower.

Do you worry that insects that might eat your natives, until there are none? If so, consider that all was in balance before we began introducing exotics (too many of which escaped into the wild and became invasives). Insects and plant diseases that go wild sometimes killing valuable plants seem to be always those in introduced (on purpose or accidentally by hitch-hiking on exotics) from other climes.

If you love wildlife, the introduction of native plants, or their preservation, seems very important. As Dr. Tallamy says, "A plant that has fed nothing, hasn't really done its job."

¹Douglas W. Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home, How You can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, (China:Timber Press, 2009).

Urban Bee Gardens

Today's Presentation by Marissa Ponder of UC Berkeley at the SLO Botanical Garden was enjoyed by many native bees enthusiasts. The following is the summary of her presentation.

Native bees are 70% ground nesters, and 30% cavity nesters. There are 1600 different native bees species in California, out of 4000 in the U.S. Bumble bees do live in colonies but the others are solitary bees.

Various species are active at different times of the year, they have shorter life cycles (weeks to months) than European (imported) bees which have more honey than other bees because they store it up for overwintering.

Only female bees have stingers, because they use the same tube to either lay eggs or to sting. The males do little else but wait around to mate with the female bees. The females build the nests for laying their eggs. One type of bees, the leaf cutter bees, cut leaves to surround a cell for each egg.

European (honey) bees are generalists more than the native bees. The research on native bees at UCB began ten years ago. Dr. Gordon Frankie began researching native bees in Berkeley and now has gardens that he and his researchers check periodically to determine how many species are active there.

Two sites in the SLO area are being monitored: The Cal Poly Arborteum and the Emerson Community Gardens at the corner of Nipomo and Pismo
n SLO. They have found 87 species of native bees in our city. At the Emerson Community Gardens, there were orginally hardly any flowers, mostly only vegetables. In the last three years, Franke has supplied 300 California native plants to that garden to encourage native bees. Barb Smith, who has been volunteering as the contact point for him, spoke about how this has been working, and how improved the garden is in both beauty and productivity. It has been written up in the Sunset Magazine blog and other places on-line. She called it "A Pollination Explosion". She noted that the bees are shy, not aggressive. She called Frankie the Johny Appleseed of native bees.

Ms. Ponder, explained many more facts about native bees including how to encourage them in a garden. It is important not to use pesticides, and to leave areas without mulch so the bees have a place to build their nests in the ground. She did explain how to build wooden cavities of differing sizes for cavity nesters also.

She said that native bees may be better pollinators, and they are early risers. Male bees, because their main object is to mate with the females, often sleep in flowers to catch the females. Some males however, are territorial and seem to be offering to protect the territory of female bees.

A good way to encourage bees to come to your yard is to plant natives flowers in patches, with many different flowers together (20 different species). They need both pollen and nectar so flowers should be planned to provide both. At their garden they use non-natives to extend the blooming season in the fall.

Other techniques that are useful in encouraging bee activity is to dead head flowers, and even leave hollow stems for a whole year and some may use these as nests.

One person asked how far native bees can fly, the answer was that larger bees can fly further some as far as 5 km. She showed photos and listed several plants that are especially sought out by native bees:

ceanothus, black sage, seaside daisy, chinese houses, blue headed gilia, gumplant, tuckseed (coreopsis grandiflora), california poppy, tansy leaf phacelia, sunflowers (non-native), and cosmos (non-native).

A person who provides habitat for wildlife can apply to have their garden
certified as Wildlife Habitat by The National Wildlife Federation.

coreopsis grandiflora

In Praise of Local

A Deeper Knowledge of the Place One Calls Home


In SLO, I really discovered my love for local, for delving into local history; buying local vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese, and hormone and antibiotic free meat at farmer's markets; meeting local Native Americans - I discovered a couple with an herb and honey (home grown business); shopping local businesses; volunteering in local non-profits; working to keep the local environment clean and healthy for all; and getting involved in local issues.

My love of local native plants and wildlife are very much a part of my love of my locale and my desire to become as much as possible a part of the local ecosystem.

Discovered recently a website which says very well the part about living in the locale in which you reside. The author, Arvind Kumar, titles many of his articles A Sense of Place.

" On the East Coast, in winter, plants are dormant, leafless, or dead. In California’s winter, plants get plenty of rain, and their root systems grow like crazy.

"In summer on the East Coast, plants grow lush green, helped along by periodic showers, high humidity, and sunshine. In California’s desert-like summer, there is sun all right, but not a drop of rain. Plants that do best in California know how to survive six months or more without water.

"This simple but subtle fact is lost on many gardeners, especially those accustomed to the East Coast climate. They go nuts trying to make sense of California’s seasons, wondering why a California garden needs so much water in summer. Gardening books are of little help, most having been written by and for East Coast gardeners.

"Happy are those who grasp the essential facts about California’s unique climate, and who learn to adapt to California instead of forcing California to adapt to their ideas.

“ 'Being from New York I always used to say that I missed the seasons back East,” recalls Barbara Springer of San Jose. 'What I didn't realize was that I was overlooking the seasons of California and trying to make them fit into the East Coast model. I now have a new perspective where I look forward to each new ‘season’ of rains, germination and growth, blooms, seed collecting, and dormancy.'

"Gardening with nature brings great rewards, not the least of which is a deeper knowledge of the place one calls home. Anyone can create a lush summer garden by watering, watering, watering.The real challenge lies in creating a garden that is appropriate to its environment, to its soil and its climate. Such a garden thrives without consuming large quantities of scarce natural resources.

"The secret to keeping a California garden looking beautiful through summer lies in picking plants appropriate to the site. You can’t go wrong by choosing locally native plants, which are naturally adapted to your soil and climate. California is blessed with a great diversity of native plants, which have unique evolutionary mechanisms for staying alive during the long dry summer. "

Source: www.gardeningwithnatives.com

Lupines @ Shell Creek

Lupinus bicolor (Minature Lupine)
with a Lupinus nanus (Sky Lupine)
to the right

The SLO Chapter of the California Native Plant Society drove in caravan to Shell Creek for a wonderful display of wildflowers. Not one of the experts along on this trip, I mostly photographed, besides enjoying the flowers and the company. Here are three of the four lupines we found.

Do keep clicking on the images to see them up close.

Lupinus nanus (Sky Lupine)


Lupinus albifrons (Bush Lupine)