Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

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Family Event

California fan palm

EVENING AT THE OASIS
May 17, 2008
3:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Pack a picnic supper and join us for an early evening “safari” through RSABG’s Desert Garden. Where are California’s deserts? What is an oasis? Are deserts deserted? How do desert plants and animals (including fish!) survive? Answers to these questions will be revealed as you journey through the Garden and visit activity and information stations. Have your event passport stamped at each station and redeem it for a prize. Children’s stories read aloud. Desert plants for sale. The Sycamore Café will be open.

Special event fees in effect. Members admitted free.

Native Plant Gardening Tip of the Week

Collect Wildflower Seeds For Next Year

Wind Poppy (J. Macdonald)

Collect seeds from your annual wildflowers as the season draws to an end. Leave some for the birds, save some for next year, and share some with your gardening friends. In general, it is best to collect seeds when they are ready to disperse - the seeds and fruits change from green to a darker color (tan to brown) and the seeds are loose in the pod. Some seeds like those of the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) spontaneously split open (dehisce) when they are ripe, so you must watch them carefully to get them before they are gone. You can place these nearly ripe pods in a paper bag to contain the seeds as the pods ripen, dry and dehisce. For tidy tips (Layia platyglossa) and other composites gently remove the “dandelion” puffs taking the seeds that separate easily; sterile seeds tend to cling to the receptacle. Keep the seeds dry and clean for next year. Sow your annual seeds in the fall through the winter. You can extend the blooming period by sowing some seeds, such as poppies and clarkias, in the early spring.

For more information attend our class on “Collecting, Processing, and Storing Native Plant Seed .” Also, consult the website of RSABG volunteer, John Macdonald, for additional information and outstanding images.

Springtime at RSABG

Matilija poppy

Irises, Flannelbush, Matilija Poppies, California Lilacs, and More Bloom at the Garden
Visit the Garden to see these interesting and unusual plants while they are flowering. Irises (Iris douglasiana and Pacific Coast Hybrids), California lilacs (Ceanothus species), bush sunflowers (Encelia californica), chuparosa (Justicia californica), woolly blue curls (Trichostema lanatum), monkeyflowers (Mimulus species) and bladderpods (Isomeris arboreus) - to name just a few - are all in bloom right now. Lupines, tidytips, poppies, phacelias, and clarkias abound in Fay's Wildflower Meadow. Make it a habit to walk the Garden each week during its most spectacular season. (Check "In Bloom At the Garden" for a more complete listing of what's in bloom and what's in fruit at the Garden.)

A Partial List of Flowering Plants:
Arctostaphylos spp. (manznaita)
Berberis haematocarpa (desert barberry)
Ceanothus spp. (California lilac)
Cercis occidentalis (western redbud)
x Chiranthofremontia lenzii (flannelbush hybrid)
Encelia californica (bush sunflower)

Trish Monkeyflower

Fremontodendron spp. (flannelbush)
Heuchera spp. (coralbells)
Iris spp. (Pacific Coast hybrids and others irises)
Lasthenia glabrata (goldfields)
Limnanthes douglasii (meadow foam)
Mimulus spp. (monkeyflowers)
Penstemon spp. (wild penstemons)
Ranunculus occidentalis (western buttercup)
Romneya coulteri (Matilija poppy)
Sambucus mexicana (Mexican elderberry)
Sisyrinchium bellum (blue-eyed grass)
Salvia spp. (wild sages)
Salvia spathacea (hummingbird sage)
Trichostema lanatum (woolly bluecurls)

Fay's Wildflower Meadow:
Clarkia spp. (farewell to spring)
Cryptantha spp. (popcorn flower)
Eschscholzia californica (CA poppy)
Eschscholzia lobbii (frying pans)
Layia platyglossa (tidytips)
Lupinus succulentus (Arroyo lupine)

Flannelbush Hybrid

Lupinus truncatus (collar lupine)
Lupinus excubitus (grapesoda lupine)
Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorus (whitewhorl lupine)
Lupinus nanus (sky lupine)
Lupinus bicolor (miniture lupine)
Mimulus spp. (monkeyflower)
Nemophila menziesii (baby blue-eyes)
Phacelia minor (Canterbury bells)
Salvia carduacea (thistle sage)
Salvia columbariae (chia)