The Saturday plant sale helps others create their own habitats
Anyone who thinks that their patio, balcony or garden is too small for the garden should talk to Betty Young.
The determined plant lover from Santa Rosa refused to say “can’t” as she moved into a mobile home with a tiny front yard filled with just red and white rocks and a single rhododendron.
Young is a bit of a runaway at her park. She refused to follow the crowds, instead planting a garden that, even in October, is still blooming with native plants and teeming with insects.
Her garden, still colorful with California fuchsias, goldenrod, and white California asters, proves that even the smallest spaces can become sanctuaries for native plants and staging posts for beneficial wildlife.
Fascinated? Young is just one of the experts who will be helping and answering questions at the annual plant sale of the Milo Baker Chapter of the California Native Plant Society on Saturday. Young directs the company’s native plant nursery at the Laguna Foundation in Santa Rosa, where the sale will take place.
Young, who holds a bachelor’s degree in plant sciences, brings years of professional experience to the volunteer work, including 17 years managing six nurseries in Golden Gate National Park dedicated to propagating and growing native plants for restoration projects. Even in retirement, she is committed to growing native plants through the Native Plant Society.
But she knows other gardeners who want to switch to local may face difficult questions. What should I plant? Where should I plant it? How should I care for it? How much watering will it need?
So Young, in collaboration with another chapter member, April Owens, wrote an introduction to what to do (group plants with similar water needs together) and what not to do (don’t plant too close together and don’t overwater plants). ). Sonoma County Native Plant Gardener: How to Get Started will be available on sale and through the Society for $20.
“The approach to native gardening is really different,” said Young, who started straight at UC Davis by working in traditional, formal gardens at Filoli, the historic Woodside estate.
“Some are nervous,” she says. “They don’t know whether to water or not. I water (water) when I plant (and) never water afterwards.”
That’s the beauty of native plants. Because they are adapted to the climate in which they evolved, they can get along with rainfall, soil, and other growing conditions normal for that climate.
Young’s new guide is even more specific. It not only focuses on Native Americans, but also on native plant nursery in Sonoma County. The plants and varieties featured in the book are all from Sonoma County. And by planting them, gardeners here can provide food, nectar, and shelter for local wildlife, including many of the Golden State’s 1,600 native bee species.
Some of Young’s favorites are the California fuchsia, Douglas iris and Ithuriel spear, all garden showstoppers that don’t need much, if any, extra watering.
For her own garden, she initially chose, among other things, a blue and yellow palette with baby blue eyes and Douglas irises. But as the blooms faded in summer, she switched to orange with Californian fuchsia. It also gave way to pipevine, or dutch pipe, which is the host plant for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly.
