Selling plants on Saturday helps others create their own home
Anyone who thinks a balcony, patio, or yard is too small for a garden should contact Betty Young.
When an ardent plant lover from Santa Rosa moves into a mobile home with a small yard filled with only red and white rocks and a single rhododendron, she refuses to say no.
The young man stands out a little in the garden. She refused to follow the crowd and instead set up a garden full of native plants and insects even in October.
Her garden is still decorated in California fuchsia, California gold and white star, and is proof that even the smallest space can be a haven for native plants and a haven for valuable wildlife.
crawling? Young is one of the experts on hand to help and answer questions at the California Native Plant Society's annual Miley Baker Chapter Plant Sale on Saturday. Young runs the original plant nursery at the Laguna Foundation in Santa Rosa, where the sale will be made.
The young man with a Bachelor's degree in Botany brings years of professional experience to his volunteer work, which includes running six nurseries in Golden Gate National Park for 17 years, dedicated to outreach and development for restoration projects. In retirement, she remains committed to promoting native plants through the Native Plants Association.
But she knows that other gardeners looking to switch to native plants may face difficult questions. What should I plant? where to put it? How can I support it? What is the amount of water required?
So Young teamed up with his department colleague April Owens to write a guide on trampling (putting plants with similar water needs together) and what not (not planting too close to each other or overwatering plants). ). Sonoma County's Native Plant Gardener: Getting Started is available for sale and through the association for $20.
“The approach to local gardening is really different,” says Young, who started her career from UC Davis working in traditional gardens at Viola, a historic property in Woodside.
"Some people are worried," she said. "They don't know if they should drink something or not. I (water) when I plant, (and) after that I never water."
This is the beauty of the native plants. Since they are adapted to the climate they grew up in, they can adapt to rain, soil, and other growing conditions that are normal for that climate.
The new direction of the young man made clear. It inspires not only native Californians, but also Sonoma County native gardeners. All plants and species listed in the book were grown in Sonoma County. By growing them, gardeners here can provide food, nectar, and shelter for local wildlife, including many of the Golden State's 1,600 species of bees.
Young favorites include California fuchsia, Douglas iris and etorial spear, all of which are gardens that don't require much additional water.
For her garden, she initially chose a blue-and-yellow palette with blue eyes and Douglas irises. But when the flowers fade in summer, they turn orange with California fuchsias. It also made room for a tubular vine, or holander's tube, which is a hovercraft host plant.
