CALENDAR OF EVENTS Board of Directors’ meeting Wednesday, April 2, 7:30 pm, home of Delia Taylor, 1851 Catalina Ave Berkeley Spring preparations for our October 18-19th Plant Fair see page 6 Tuesday afternoons 1 pm to 5 pm, Fridays 9 am to noon, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm at Native Here Nursery Native Here see page 2 Fridays, April 4, 11, 18, 25, Native Here open 9 am-12 pm and Saturdays, April 5, 12, 19, 26, Native Here open 10 am to 1 pm Gathering for Jenny Fleming see page 3 Saturday April 5 th , anytime between 12 noon and 3 pm, 2750 Shasta Road, Berkeley, CA 4 th Annual Pacific Coast Native Iris Open House see page 7 Saturday, April 5, 2008 10:00-4:00 Field Trips see page 4 April 6, 2008, 9:30 am, Burma Road from Camel Rock to Moses Rock Spring in Mt. Diablo State Park Sunday, April 20, 2:00 pm, Morgan Territory Regional Park MEMBERSHIP MEETING Designing California Native Gardens Speaker: Glenn Keator Wednesday, April 23, 7:30 pm Location: Garden Room, Orinda Public Library (directions be- low) We in California are lucky to find ourselves in a climate that is gentle enough to allow us to include plants from all over the world in our gardens. But should we? There are compelling reasons to turn to California natives, which are already adapted to our habitats and microclimates. For our speaker, the two outstanding reasons are beauty and challenge. Glenn Keator, co-author with Alrie Middlebrook of the new book, Designing California Native Gardens, will focus on how to create Sunday, April 20, field trip to Jepson Prairie in Solano County, a remnant of vernal pool grasslands Sunday, April 27, 2008, Sea Foam Trail in Kennedy Grove park in El Sobrante California Native Plant Sale see page 7 Saturday, April 19, 2008, 10 am to 3 pm, Regional Parks Botanic Garden California Wildflower Show see page 4 Saturday, April 19 from 10 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday, April 20, from 12:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Oakland Museum Membership Meeting see below Wednesday, April 23, 7:30 pm Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour see page 5 Sunday, May 4, 2008 Strategies and Solutions: Conservation Conference see page 5 Jan 17-19, 2009, this conference is for all members of CNPS, for professionals and for students and will take place at the Sacramento Convention Center and Sheraton Palace Hotel. beautiful, site-appropriate designs using California natives. He’ll emphasize plants from our local communities such as oak wood- land, grassland, mixed-evergreen forest, and chaparral. Glenn Keator is a free-lance instructor and writer who teaches at several venues in the Bay Area including Merritt College. His specialty is identifying and gardening with California natives. He also leads field trips all over the state and has written several books about natives. The newest, Designing California Native Gardens, with Alrie Middlebrook (UC Press), forms the basis for this talk. Cop- ies of the book will be available for purchase ($27.50) and signing after the presentation. East Bay CNPS membership meetings are free of charge and open to everyone. This month’s meeting takes place in the Garden Room of the Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way (in Orinda Village). continued on page 2 MEMBERSHIP MEETING The Garden Room is on the second floor of the building, accessible by stairs or an elevator. The Garden Room will open at 7:00 pm.; the meeting begins at 7:30 pm. Refreshments will be served after the presentation. Please contact Sue Rosenthal, (510) 496-6016 or rosacalifornica@earthlink.net, if you have any questions. Directions to Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way: From the west, take Highway 24 to the Orinda/Moraga exit. At the end of the off ramp, turn left on Camino Pablo (toward Orinda Village), right on Santa Maria Way (the signal after the BART sta- tion and freeway entrance), and left on Orinda Way. From the east, take Highway 24 to the Orinda exit. Follow the ramp to Orinda Village. Turn right on Santa Maria Way (the first signal) and left on Orinda Way. Once on Orinda Way, go 1 short block to the parking lot on the southeast side of the new 2-story building on your right. There NATIVE HERE Native Here is getting ready for the Bringing Back the Natives Tour in May. We will be open in the afternoon as well as the morning on May 3 and May 10, the Saturdays before and after the Garden Tour. We’re also gearing up for the Native Plant Fair, scheduled for October 18-19, 2008. We have been moving and building plant display pallets to accommodate the Native There or All California component of the fair. This spring we have lots of California poppies and osoberry, as well as dogwood and willow. Osoberry is a deciduous shrub growing 6 to 10 feet tall. It likes light shade to full sun, needs moist humus soil, and is one of the earliest natives to flower (late winter). The fruit is edible. We have some reference books on native plant identification and horticulture available for browsing, as well as a binder of pictures and descriptions of many of the plants we have available through- out the year at the nursery. THINK GLOBALLY VOLUNTEE Have any questions about upcoming events? Interested in getting more involved? Please don’t hesitate to contact us. elainejx@att.net, (925) 372.0687 or carollbcastro@hotmail.com, (510) 352-2382 Martinez — Sky Ranch Tina Batt Trail Work Day April 5th, 9am-l pm , bring gloves, bag lunch & water. Refreshments provided. RSVP to the Land Trust, (925) 228-5460. Oakland — Oakland Museum Wild flower show April 19th and 20 th . Contact Carol Castro, carollbcastro@hotmail.com Martinez — Earth Day Birthday, John Muir National Historic Site April 19 th . Contact Elaine P. Jackson, elainejx@att.net Bay Area — Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour May 4 th . Contact Janice Bray, janicebray@mindspring.com Walnut Creek — Heritage Day, Borgus Ranch June 8 th . Contact Elaine P. Jackson, elainejx@att.net Clayton — Help needed at the Native Plant Garden at the Clayton Library. continued from page 1 is additional free parking beneath the building as well as on the street. From BART (4 blocks): Exit the Orinda station, turn right and cross a pedestrian bridge, then cross a second pedestrian bridge on the left. Go 1 short block on the sidewalk to the third pedestrian bridge. Go 2 blocks on Orinda Way to the Orinda Library. Upcoming Programs: Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 7:30 pm (at the UC Botanical Garden Conference Center): Matteo Garbelotto — Sudden Oak Death: New Developments We accept donated pots when we are open. We use many of them and put the rest in our pot bin located outside our top gate. Feel free to take any pots from this bin for your own planting projects. Volunteers are always welcome at the nursery to help with seed sowing, transplanting, weeding, watering, and other tasks. Regular Native Here volunteers will be coming in some afternoons during the week to work with student volunteers. If you’d like to join them, email nativehere@ebcnps to find out which afternoons they’ll be at the nursery. We are located in Tilden Regional Park, across the street from the entrance to the Tilden Golf Course, 101 Golf Course Drive, Berkeley, CA 94708, (510) 549-0211, nativehere@ebcnps.org, www.ebcnps.org. Margot Cunningham ? LOCALLY Contact Lisa Anich at (925) 689-2642 or email admin@diablocreek.info. Walnut Creek — Native demonstration garden on The Iron Horse Trail in Walnut Creek near the Walnut Creek Intermediate. Contact Judy Adler, jadlermtnmama@sbcglobal.net Do you have or know of a local event coming up in your neighborhood that would be a good location for CNPS to have a display table? You can host it . Come to our Native Here Nursery during business hours and pick up supplies to pass out. Call us with any questions. Please join us in welcoming those who joined in January: Nadia Adolf, Timothy Belcher, Laura Boxer, Edward Clarke, Karen Daughters, Michael Graves, Luke Hass, Ann Huber, Kelly Marshall, Linda Middleton, Beth Wurzburg, & Meredith Zaccherio. Elaine Jackson and Carol Castro 2 THE BAY LEAF April 2008 Gathering for Jenny Fleming Jenny’s family invites you to join us in remembering her and celebrating her life. Please drop by to visit with us and each other in her garden. When: Saturday April 5* Anytime between 12 noon and 3 pm Where: 2 750 Shasta Road Berkeley, CA ^JOS Scott, India, Hilari, Glenn, John Erin, Mariah, Ariane RSVP to India Heming-Earris farris@dcn.org C»0) 7^-4210 FIELD TRIPS Saturday, April 5, 10 am, Mitchell Canyon/Mount Diablo (see March Bay Leaf for details) April 6, 2008. Meet at 9:30 am at the Burma Road crossing of North Gate Road in Mount Diablo State Park. We will walk Burma Road from Camel Rock to Moses Rock Spring. This route will take us along part of Long Ridge, featured in Steve Edwards’ 2006/2007 Wayne Roderick lecture about Mount Diablo. There are a variety of spring flowers and some uncommon plants. We will pass through woodland, grassland, and chaparral areas. There is a 1000-foot elevation change on the way out. It will be downhill on the return trip. Round trip is about 4 miles. Trip will take about 4 hours. Bring lunch and water. We will not be deterred by rain and will proceed regardless of weather. Directions: Take the North Gate Road entrance to Mount Diablo State Park. This entrance is in the City of Concord. There is a $6 entrance fee for cars. Continue on North Gate Road for about 2-3 miles and park at the Burma Road trail crossing. Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 8:30 am, Livermore Valley Floor, Pat- terson Pass and Springtown Preserve 1) Meet at the Zone 7 Bridge on El Charro Road off Highway 580. Drive east to the Las Positas Creek area (between Fleishman Road and Mohr Avenue with Las Positas Golf Course on your left). Zone 7 Biologist Mary Lim will open the gates to the Creek at the Steelhead fish ladders area for us to bird. Following the creek west, Swallows, Sandpipers and spring migrants should be seen. 2) Car pool to Patterson Pass for spring migrations. Hope we’ll see an early Blue Grosbeak, Western Tanager. Last year we had three Red-eyed Vireos, an uncommon bird for the Bay Area. 3) Lunch at the Livermore Springtown Preserve. We’ll enter Spring- town Preserve from a different point, allowing for 180 degree views of north Livermore valley. FSP steering committee and CNPS botanist Heath Bartosh will ID blooming spring flowers for us. We may find the endangered bird’s beak plant - but not in bloom. We’ll look for Western King Birds and maybe a Burrowing Owl. Ohlone Audubon Society is a sponsoring partner of Friends of Springtown Preserve. Sunday, April 20, 2:00 pm, Morgan Territory Regional Park. A somewhat strenuous walk through this regional park on the edge of Mount Diablo. The area is mostly oak forest and meadows. There CALIFORNIA WILDFLOWER i The 50th Annual California Wildflower Show will be held on Sat- urday, April 19 from 10 am to 6:00 pm and Sunday, April 20, from 12:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Oakland Museum in Oakland. CNPS is a co-sponsor of this event. should be a good flower display, including Mount Diablo globe lily, along with large trees and various shrubs. The total elevation change is several hundred feet and the distance is 3 to 4 miles. Wear good hiking shoes or boots and bring plenty of water. Directions: from 1-580 in Livermore, exit onto North Livermore Ave. and turn north. Shortly after North Livermore curves left (west), turn right onto Morgan Territory Road and follow it for about 5.5 miles to the staging area. From Walnut Creek/Concord, take Clayton Road to Marsh Creek Road, then turn right onto Morgan Territory Road. The staging area is 9.4 miles from Marsh Creek Road. We will meet at the staging area at 2:00 pm. We start on the Coyote Trail (in case latecomers need to catch up). Walk led by David Margolies (cell 510-393-1858 home 510-654-0283). Sunday, April 20, field trip to Jepson Prairie in Solano County, a remnant of vernal pool grasslands. The trip will be led by Rus- sell Huddleston, a professional wetlands ecologist / botanist and docent and Celia Zavatsky, a longtime native plant enthusiast. We will meet at 10 am. Bring lunch, lots of water, sun protection and sturdy hiking shoes (we will not be on trails, so the ground will be somewhat uneven). Also bring layers; it can sometimes get very windy there later in the day. We will hike through sections of the prairie that are only open to exploration with a docent. A donation of $5 per adult participant is requested. Learn more about Jepson Prairie at: http://www.vernalpools.org/JepsonSchedule.htm. Directions from the Bay Area: East on 1-80, or north on 1-680 until it joins 1-80 at Cordelia. Continue a few miles more on 1-80, then go east on Highway 12 (go about 16-17 miles) and turn north on Highway 113. Go about 7 miles and take the first left at a warning light, then turn left again in less than a mile onto Cook Lane at the second warning light. Continue down Cook Lane across the railroad tracks to the parking area near the eucalyptus trees. Approximate driving time from Berkeley: 1 hour 15 minutes. Sunday, April 27, 2008, Sea Foam Trail in Kennedy Grove Park in El Sobrante. Compare the native plant rich area to the eucalyptus plantation. Under the bay trees here, there is more than one would expect. Lots of common natives, and some unusual ones. This is a short 1.5 mile walk. Only 400 foot elevation gain up to the ridge. Meet at 10am, we should be back at the cars around 11:30. There will then be an optional continuation along Black Oak Loop trail. Directions: Take San Pablo Dam road from Route 80 or from Orinda to Castro Ranch Road in El Sobrante. Turn onto Castro Ranch Road. During the two-day event, we need people to attend to our in- formation and membership table, as well as botanists (amateurs accepted) who will roam the show to provide information to in- quiring visitors. There will be “dazzling displays of fresh, fragrant wildflowers from across the state, hands-on activities (microscopes, 4 THE BAY LEAF April 2008 drawing) and slide shows both days.” You’ll see your old favorites and perhaps meet make acquaintances in the botanical world. This year is unique as the flowers will be from regions all throughout California. Past years have focused on just one region at a time. Admission to the museum will be free for CNPS Volunteers. We need people for two-hour shifts for both Saturday and Sunday. You can volunteer for one or more shifts. Contact Carol Castro at (510) 352-2382 or carollbcastro@hotmail. BRINGING BACK THE NATIVES Registration is open for the 2008 Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour on Sunday, May 4, 2008. Register for this free event at www.bringingbackthenatives.net and receive a garden guide with descriptions and addresses of 60 beauti- ful native plant gardens in Alameda and Contra Costa counties that contain at least 50% natives, are pesticide-free, water-conserving, and provide habitat for wildlife. Volunteers Sought for Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour The Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour is seeking volunteers who will spend a morning or afternoon greeting tour participants and answering questions. Volunteers can select the garden where they would like to spend time by visiting the “Preview the 2008 Gardens” section at www.BringingBackTheNatives.net. Greeters do not need to be familiar with natives; they staff the entry tables and take tickets. Garden Assistants help the hosts and should be able to answer basic questions about native plants. Benefits to volunteers include: invitations to Garden Soirees, in which a variety of gardens are open to hosts and volunteers for leisurely and companionable viewing; a pre-tour meeting with the owner and private tour of the garden you will be staffing; a guaran- teed tour reservation for the half day you are free; a Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour t-shirt, and, perhaps best of all, heartfelt thanks for helping to educate the public about the many pleasures and benefits of gardening with California native plants. For more information, e-mail Kathy Kramer at Kathy @ Kathy Kra- merConsulting.net, or call (510) 236-9558 between 9 am and 9 pm. Gardens Sought for the May, 2009 Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Gardens are being sought to participate in the May, 2009 Bring- ing Back the Natives Garden Tour, which will showcase bird- and butterfly-friendly, pesticide-free, water conserving gardens that contain 50% or more California native plants. Gardens must be located in Alameda or Contra Costa counties. To receive an appli- cation or to be added to the mailing list, visit the website at www. BringingBackTheNatives.net (look under “Volunteer or Host”), email Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or call (510) 236-9558 between 9 am and 9 pm. CONSERVATION CONFERENCE Strategies and Solutions: Conservation Conference Jan 17-19, 2009 This conference is for all members of CNPS, for professionals and students and will take place at the Sacramento Convention Center and Sheraton Palace Hotel. • The Call for Papers and Posters is now open, March 1 to June 30. CNPS members are encouraged to participate. • The website is up: go to www.cnps.org and click on the link. There is basic information, but please have patience as there is still lots to do to finish the planning of the conference. Here are some of the needs: • A grad student liaison to bring in students and help them present posters, talks, and financial help. • Silent Auction and Raffle: a committee to organize a fundraiser featuring botanical art and such to help defray expenses. • Sponsors: Five levels of sponsorship from $20,000 to $1000. Sponsors will be listed in program or, if preferred, will be anonymous. • Financial support for registration fees in order to bring in volunteers, CNPS members and others. Registration fees are not yet set. • Marketing support: look for the link on our chapter website and download posters to distribute. • Volunteers for the days of the conference will get a reduced registration fee. Please contact Delia Taylor if you can help or have ideas for the conference. THE BAY LEAF April 2008 5 PREPARATIONS FOR OUR OCTOBER 18-19TH PLANT FAIR Many plants make happy customers and money for our important work! We have hundreds of the cutest seedlings that will grow into great plants to offer for sale throughout the year and especially at the Plant Fair. They need potting up, and a delightful job it is. We will be shopping for young plants and these too will need attention. ACTIVITIES OF OTHERS Muir Heritage Land Trust April 2008 Hike and Event Schedule Saturday, April 5 th 9 am-l:00 pm, Sky Ranch Tina Batt Trail Work Day. Bring gloves, bag lunch fk water. Refreshments provided. RSVP to the Land Trust, (925) 228-5460. Saturday, April 19 th , 8:30 am - 10:00 am, Hike: In John Muir’s Footprints — Exploring Mt. Wanda. Please call the Land Trust for more details (925) 228-5460. Saturday, April 19th, 10:00 am-4:00 pm . Earth Day Celebration at John Muir National Historic Site. See www.johnmuirearthday.com for community-wide events including recreational opportunities and an environmental living fair. The native plant garden at the El Cerrito Library needs your help. Created in 2001 by Earth Day volunteers, the community garden contains 30 species native to the East Bay, including three beautiful specimens of pallid manzanita. The garden creates a beautiful entry to the library and educates patrons about native plants through signage and a booklet. Since establishing the garden, I have not had time to give it the attention it needs. The Merritt College pruning club does the major structural work, but the garden needs additional help every couple of months or so (weeding, mulching in the fall), and occasional spot watering in mid- to late summer. If you would like to help, please contact Carla Koop, (510) 232- 2391. The garden is also next to a school and senior center and could be used for environmental education. East Bay Wildflowers: Identification & Conservation Looking to learn to identify some of the East Bay’s 1000 native plants? This five-week course will provide you with a taxonomic We now have three regular nursery days. No need to call ahead. Just come and stay as long as you wish. Tuesday afternoon 1 pm to 5pm, Friday 9 am to noon, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm But if you would like to help out and these times don’t work for you, contact Delia and we may be able to find another time. deliataylor@ mac.com, (510) 527-3912 Charli Danielsen and Delia Taylor, Plant Fair co-chairs tour of our botanical gems. We’ll cover about 20 plant families and 200 common, unusual and rare species of the East Bay. Materials fee is $25, payable to the instructor. Five Tuesday lectures, April 1-May 5, 7:00-8:30 pm, with three field trips on April 5, 13 and 26. The course fee is $60. Detailed Class Information: www.AlbanyAdultSchool.org, www.goldenhour.org Email instructor, lech@goldenhour.org Co-Instructors: Lech Naumovich and Eli Saddler Eli has JD, MPH, and MA degrees, and is the Conservation Director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society. 4th Annual Pacific Coast Native Iris Open House April 5, 2008 10:00-4:00 El Centro Gardens, The Home Garden of Ryan Grisso, Anna Pas- cuzzi, and Little Giana Please join us on Saturday April 5, 2008 (rain or shine) as we open our Pacific Coast Native Iris Garden. This is a rare opportunity to see thousands of Pacific Coast Native Iris hybrids in peak bloom. The garden features thousands of iris seedlings from our own hybridizing work, as well as many of the Joe Ghio and Vern Wood past introductions. There will also be a number of hybrid varieties potted up for sale. We are located off Highway 80, take the Hilltop exit and head East, to El Centro Road. Turn right. We are the third house from the bottom on the right (shingled house). Please park respectfully. Please call or e-mail if you have any questions. We may open up additional dates this bloom season; e-mail us for details. El Centro Gardens/609 El Centro Road/ El Sobrante, CA 94803 (510) 222-3877, ryangrisso@msn.com Editors’ note: Due to a formatting mistake the fact that Heath Bartosh and Laura Baker wrote the article about David Gowen and Navarretia gowenii was inadvertently left out of the March Bay Leaf. The editors apologize for this error. 6 THE BAY LEAF April 2008 $ Saturday, April 19, 2008, 10 am to 3 pm California Native Plant Sale Organized by the Volunteers of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden (510)841-8732 www.nativeplants.org The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is located at the intersection of Wildcat Canyon Road and South Park Drive, near the Brazilian Room at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley (admission is free) California shrubs, trees, perennials Find many plants that are not available in a nursery Horticultural advice gladly given Come and explore the Garden Buy some plants to take home Please bring boxes to carry home your treasures and an umbrella if it rains Refreshments available Proceeds directly benefit the Garden THE BAY LEAF April 2008 7 Board of Directors Elected Officers President Charli Danielsen 510-549-0211 nativehere@ebcnps.org Vice President Delia Taylor 510-527-3912 deliataylor@mac.com Treasurer Holly Forbes hforbes@berkeley.edu h 510-234-2913 w 510-643-8040 FAX 510-642-5045 Recording Secretary Barbara Malloch Leitner 925-253-8300 bleitner@pacbell.net Corresponding Secretary Laura Baker 510-849-1409 Lbake66@aol.com Past President Elaine Jackson 925-372-0687 Elainejx@att.net Education/Outreach Hospitality Bay Leaf Editor and Web- open master Membership Joe Willingham Elaine P. Jackson 510-841-4681 925-372-0687 pepel 066@comcast.net Elainejx@mindspring.com Bay Leaf Assistant Editor Carol Castro David Margolies 510-352-2382 510-654-0283 carollbcastro@hotmail. dm@franz.com com Bay Leaf Mailing Plant Sale Holly Forbes Interim Chair 510-234-2913 Sue Rosenthal hforbes@berkeley.edu 510-496-6016 rosacalifornica@earthlink. Education net open Book Sales Field Trips Elly Bade Janet Gawthrop Janetg24@excite.com bebade@sbcglobal.net Programs Regional Parks Botanic Sue Rosenthal Garden Liaison 510-496-6016 Sue Rosenthal rosacalifornica@earthlink. 510-496-6016 net rosacalifornica@earthlink. net Publicity/Media open Grants Sandy McCoy sandymccoy@mindspring. com Conservation Rare Plants Conservation Committee Heath Bartosh Chair 925-957-0069 Laura Baker hbartosh@nomadecology. 510-849-1409 com Lbake66@aol.com Unusual Plants Conservation Analyst Dianne Lake (Staff) 510-741-8066 Lech Naumovich 510 734-0335 diannelake@yahoo.com conservation@ebcnps.org Vegetation Stewardship Erin McDermott Native Plant Restoration Team erinmcd2004@yahoo.com Mike Perlmutter Members at Larae 774-279-6416 Gregg Weber mperlmutter@audubon. 510-223-3310 org Roy West Native Here Nursery rwest@monocot.com Charli Danielsen Project 650-906-1100 Manager Margot Cunningham Sales Peter Rauch Manager peterar@berkeley.edu Janice Bray Liaison to Board 510-549-0211 nativehere@ebcnps.org Plant Science Bryophytes John Game51 0-527-7855 jcgame@standford.edu Membership Application Name Address Zip Telephone I wish to affiliate with: East Bay Chapter (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) Other Membership category: Student, Limited income, $25 Individual, Library, $45 Household, Family, or Group, $75 Supporting, $75 Plant lover, $100 Patron, $300 Benefactor, $600 Mariposa Lily, $1500 Mail application and check to: California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1, Sacramento CA 95816 California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter P.O. Box 5597, Elmwood Station Berkeley CA 94705 Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Oakland, CA Permit No. 2018 Time Value April 2008 issue