Latest posts tagged with #TheNativeGuild on Bluesky
Dense thicket of plants with pink flowers spiking upwards. Image by Dennis Mudd.
🌿Hummingbird sage has deep roots with the Chumash people, the indigenous inhabitants of the Santa Barbara region
They used the leaves to make a medicinal tea for treating lung congestion and sore throats⚕️
#GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #HummingbirdSage
Ceanothus "California Lilac" blossoming in nature
🌿It's Ceanothus season
Indigenous Californians used the flowers and seed pods as a gentle soap for centuries
Pick a small cluster of blossoms
Add a little water and rub your hands together
Result: It creates a natural, fragrant lather!
#GrowNativePlants #Ceanothus #TheNativeGuild
Cleveland Sage close up that has dusty green foliage and purple flowers
A corner yard filled with bushy native plants full of blossoms
🌿Cleveland sage
My favorite💖 native plant.
It smells soooo good and is always teaming with pollinators! 🦋🐝🐞
#PollinatorGarden #ClevelandSage #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
Bumblebee getting intimate with the yellow center of a white flower. Background is blurred. Image by Kristine Zale.
🐝Bumblebees perform "buzz pollination"
They grab onto a flower & vibrate their flight muscles at a high-pitched middle C frequency, shaking the pollen loose
Without it, many of our favorite native plants wouldn't be able to reproduce!
#GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #Bumblebees #PollinatorGarden
Dudleya succulent with new arms raising toward the sun
Dudleya succulent with new arms growing and lots of shadows
🌿Dudleya "Live-Forevers"
They are a perfect example of the Fibonacci sequence in nature
Their leaves grow in a tight spiral pattern that ensures every single leaf gets maximum exposure to sunlight and channeled water without shading out the ones below it
#GrowNativePlants #Dudleya #TheNativeGuild
Smallish toyon tree filled with red berries
Toyon tree filled with red berries
🍒Toyon - Wildlife Magnet
Clusters of bright red berries feed mockingbirds, robins, cedar waxwings, coyotes, and even bears
Its bright red winter berries once covered the hills around Los Angeles so vividly that early settlers called the area the holly woods
#GrowNativePlants #Toyon #TheNativeGuild
Tidy tips growing in the sun. Yellow flower with white edges.
🌿Native CA Tidy Tips
They are:
Easy to grow
Attract pollinators
Their succulent-like stems store water
Require very little maintenance
Bloom reliably in cool spring weather
So beautiful that British gardeners help spread their popularity
#GrowNativePlants #TidyTips #TheNativeGuild #PollinatorGarden
Bumblebee enjoying the sweet sweet nectar from Manzanita blossoms this winter
🐝Bumblebee enjoying the sweet sweet nectar from Manzanita blossoms this winter
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #Invertebrates #Manzanita #Bumblebee #NativePlants
Monarch butterfly on milkweed blossom
💖Help researchers track the health of local pollinator populations with these orgs:
🦋Western Monarch Count: www.inaturalist.org
🐝Bumble Bee Atlas: www.bumblebeeatlas.org
🌿Free Habitat Kits: xerces.org/pollinator-c...
#PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
Black beetle on leaf litter with a blurred background Image by ReakAKP
Frosty leaves on the ground with a blurred background Image by SilviaRita
🌿Practice Lazy Gardening
🍂Leave the Leaves: Many native bees and butterfly larvae overwinter in leaf litter
🐝Save the Stems: many solitary bees nest inside hollow stems
Bare Dirt is Good: About 70% of California’s native bees nest underground
#GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Honeybee bathing in pollen from a yellow flower, with a blurred background. Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay
Sparkler lit up with a blurred background. Image by Alicja from Pixabay
Happy New Year, Bluesky! 🐞🐝🦋🪲
Thank you for the support and everyone's kindness on this platform💖
#HappyNewYear #GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Look who I found in the garden today🥰
A Walking Stick insect - the living "phantom"
If you see one, it’s a sign that your garden's ecosystem is healthy and pesticide-free!
#TheNativeGuild #PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #WalkingStickInsect #StickInsects
🌿Native Plant Curious?
Check out these two extremely helpful resources (especially if you live in California):
Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens
sbbotanicgarden.org
and
Homegrown National Park
homegrownnationalpark.org
#GrowNativePlants #HomegrownNationalPark #SBBotanicGarden #TheNativeGuild
Native garden with ceanothus, sage, and verbena de la mina
White sage in native garden
💥Native plants are California’s quiet superheroes
🌧️When heavy rain hits—like what we just experienced—native plants act as a natural buffer by stabilizing the soil and creating channels for the water to soak into
This reduces runoff pollution💖
#GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Manzanita tree growing in lawn-less garden
🌿Many Californians are actively evaluating lawns for water use, maintenance burden, and ecological impact, and choosing native plantings instead
This shift is happening at both the household level and through community restoration projects💖
#GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Native garden featuring Verbena de la Mina, Ceanothus, Dudleya, et al
🌿California is trending toward healthier land - especially where native plants are being restored
It's a vital strategy to combat soil degradation, conserve water, and bolster biodiversity, and it’s increasingly being adopted across the state
#GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Monarch butterfly on top of native milkweed. Image by Natalia Jones
🌿California is choosing to go native
💦Homeowners across the state are “ripping out their thirsty grass lawns and replacing them with beautiful native plants that need far less water,” driven by drought, water costs, and environmental awareness💖
#GrowNativePlants #PolliinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Toyon tree beginning to develop "Christmas Berries"
Toyon "Christmas Berries" in full display Image by Andie Kolbeck
🍒Christmas Berry
☀️For the Chumash, the winter solstice marks the "Day of the New Sun" - when the "Old Sun" is pulled back from the brink of darkness to ensure the return of longer days
🌿Several native plants, shrubs & trees are involved, including Toyon
#Toyon #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
Matilija poppies in the garden with a blurred background
Matilija Poppy - Garden Benefits:
🐝Pollinator Magnet - full of pollen
💦🦌Drought & Dear Resistance
🌿Erosion Control - with aggressive spreading rhizomes
🌼Dramatic Focal Point - 6' to 8' high & wide with spectacular blooms
#MatilijaPoppy #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild #PollinatorGarden
🌿Good morning, Bluesky! I just published a new Substack article about a real beauty 💖
These flowers always make me happy 😍
🌼 The Magnificent Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri)
open.substack.com/pub/ginaradu...
#MatilijaPoppy #GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Monarch butterfly on an orange flower in the sun with a blurred background. Image by Photo by Suzanne D. Williams
Project Monarch 💖
This isn’t just a research effort
It’s an URGENT, high-tech intervention to save a species currently proposed for protection under the Endangered Species Act
swmonarchs.org/ProjectMonar...
#ProjectMonarch #HelpSaveMonarchs #MonarchButterfly #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
☠️Monarchs are in peril!
We can help them🌿
youtu.be/RbphlOI72yY?...
#ProjectMonarch #GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild #MonarchButterfly #EndangeredMonarchs
California native fescue growing in the wild. Image by Alexander
🌾December - in your native garden:
Cut back perennial ornamental grasses (like Deer Grass or California Fescue) to refresh them, typically to about 4–6 inches above the ground, if you didn't do so in the fall
#NativeGrasses #GrowNativePlants #Bunchgrasses #TheNativeGuild
Green bunchgrass growing near Manzanita trees
🌾 Native Bunchgrasses: Drought Heroes!
Once established, most native bunchgrasses are highly drought-tolerant 💧
If you prefer to keep them greener, a deep soaking once a month in summer is usually enough
#Bunchgrasses #NativeGrasses #GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Hello, Bluesky! I just posted a new Substack article about California's Native Grasses🌾
🌿 The Golden State's Unsung Heroes: A Guide to Native Grasses in Santa Barbara County
open.substack.com/pub/ginaradu...
#CaliforniaNativeGrasses #NativeGrasses #GrowNativePlants #PollinatorGarden #TheNativeGuild
Native fern growing in California forest. Image by Elise Petrovich
🌿Ferns
Some species have wild drought survival tricks
Cliff ferns can shrivel almost to nothing, desert-style, to ride out dry spells
Others, like chain ferns, thrive in constant seepage zones, adapting to ever-shifting water flow
#Ferns #GrowNativePlants #NativeFerns #TheNativeGuild
Native California fern growing in the wild
🌿Gardening with native ferns on the Central California coast means working with the land, not against it
Give them the right light, soil, and moisture, and they’ll thrive with little more than seasonal tidying
#NativeFern #Ferns #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
Fern sprig reaching over log in the forest
🌿Ferns are among the planet’s oldest plant lineages, predating flowering plants by hundreds of millions of years
They have withstood dramatic climate swings, wildfires, droughts, and floods—yet remain gentle, understated presences in the landscape
#Ferns #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
Fern curls stretching for the sun. Image by eqroy
🌿Ferns aren’t just beautiful—they’re soil stabilizers
Their dense roots hold slopes and stream edges, and their shedding fronds enrich the soil
In a garden facing drought and erosion, ferns are both ornament and ally
#GrowNativePlants #Ferns #TheNativeGuild #PollinatorGarden
✨Happy Monday, Bluesky! I just released a new article on Substack - All about ferns🌿
Growing Native Ferns on the Central California Coast: A Guide to Lush, Low-Maintenance Beauty
open.substack.com/pub/ginaradu...
#NativeFern #PollinatorGarden #GrowNativePlants #TheNativeGuild
