September 2010 r The Bay Leaf California Native Plant Society • East Bay Chapter Alameda & Contra Costa Counties ^ www.ebcnps.org www.groups.google.com/group/ebcnps MEMBERSHIP MEETING - Peter Veilleux Photo by Pedro Vasquez Experimenting with Native Plants in the Landscape Speaker: Pete Veilleux Wednesday, September 22, 7:30 pm Location: Garden Room, Orinda Public Library (directions below) Did you know that you can grow some natives in contain- ers with no holes in them? Do you know what to plant in that scorching hot spot up on the hill? Or do you know how to plant a madrone in your yard so that it will thrive? How about getting something to grow in a very shady but dry spot right next to a structure? What does "bright shade" mean? Or "partial sun"? Come to Pete Veilleux's presentation and get the scoop on how to do it right the first time— or if you've already killed a few plants, how to get it right the next time. Pete will talk about his experiments growing wooly blue curls {Trichostema lanatum), chaparral pea (Pickeringia montana), and our local bush poppy {Dendromecon rigida) along with many other plants rarely seen in the home landscape. Pete Veilleux left a 20-year career in social services and inter- national development to pursue his love of gardening with native plants in 2002. Since then he has founded East Bay Wilds, a design-install-maintenance company and native plant nursery. One of his goals is to help people make the connection between their yards and the greater wild world around us. Pete is an avid photographer and plant explorer as well as a horticultural innovator. 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). The Garden Room is on the second floor of the building, accessible by stairs or an elevator. The Gar- den Room opens at 7:00 pm; the meeting begins at 7:30 pm. 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 Hwy 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 station and freeway entrance), and left on Orinda Way. From the east, take Hwy 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 two-story building on your right. There 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. CHAPTER FINANCES - HOW YOU CAN HELP In adopting the budget for this fiscal year (April 2010-March 2011) the Chapter Board took the responsible position of de- creasing spending. Students will receive less grant money. While the chapter has significant reserves, it is prudent to match spending with anticipated income. Our money comes from two main sources — Native Here Nursery sales (includ- ing the Plant Fair) and the Conservation Analyst Annual Ap- peal. Your CNPS dues support the many important projects at the state level as well as administration. Each chapter receives $500 a year and has opportunities for small amounts of grant money. Each chapter must raise its own operating income. Good news includes that the Conservation Analyst Appeal nearly met the goal set, and that first quarter financials for Native Here show an improvement over fiscal 2009-2010. Rev- enue and income less expenses peaked in the years 07-08 and 08-09. Since then we have noticed a decline in business from professional landscapers as they have had fewer jobs. The Plant Fair also is prohibited by the contract with the East Bay Regional Parks District from selling plants other than those native to Alameda and Contra Costa County, which means no sales of the popular horticultural natives and hybrids that we sold for years at Merritt College. We are working on increasing the business at Native Here. Thanks to a generous donor, we will have a year's worth of Native Here ads in the Berkeley Monthly magazine. We con- tribute to CNPS ads in Bay Nature magazine as well. Signs placed on Golf Course Road are drawing in new customers to the nursery. Beverly Powell, Publicity Chair, is working hard on getting the word out about October's Native Plant Fair. You can help too! Spend money at Native Here Nursery. If all of our 1100 members did a little or a lot of shopping at Native Here Nursery, we would be in the green. Give plant gifts. Tell friends and neighbors about our nursery. Attend and help out at the Plant Fair. Please contribute generously to the Conservation Analyst Annual Fund. And if you have a way to help us make more money we'd like to hear about it. Delia Taylor, East Bay Chapter President CONSERVATION ANALYST FUND Conservation Analyst Fund 2010-11 Appeal is On In September we members will receive a request for contribu- tions to the East Bay Chapter's Conservation Analyst Fund. Our goal of $35,000 is the same we had last round when we raised $30,000. We are the only CNPS chapter to support a Conservation Analyst, and it has made all the difference. Look at http:/ /ebcnps. wordpress.com/ and be impressed! We need your help to keep our excellent and unique Conser- vation Program thriving. Please contribute generously to the Conservation Analyst Annual Fund. This year the Mount Diablo Sunflower is featured on the return card. Helianthella castanea, is a CNPS List 1B.2 plant (rare, threatened or endangered in California and elsewhere). The largest number of occurrences is in Alameda and Contra Costa. It's a beautiful plant and is listed in a number of our conservation issues. The card was designed by Carol Castro, Laura Baker and Delia Taylor. We had great graphic design help from Shawn Morales. 2010-2011 Conservation Analyst Fund East Bay Chapter Enclosed is my donation for the East Bay Chapter, in the amount of: S3, 000 (month's salary) S500 $250 $1,500 (two weeks' salary) SI 50 $100 $750 (one week's safary) $ Other Please make your check payable to: California Native Plant Society CNPS isa n&n-profit-wipofa&wi. Yourdonalion is EaK. daductibte per IRC § HeUanttieiia castan&a ^DiaHo BunfflowBr" Plwtio courtes-y James Gaiiher We have incfuded an envelope for your convenieice. Please mail (o: California Native Plant Socioty East Bay Chapter, Consarvation Analyst Fund P.O. Box S597, Elmwood Station, Berkeley, CA9470S 2 FIELD TRIPS There will be an autumn field trip to the Vaqueros Farms property recently acquired by East Bay Regional Parks, for a treasure hunt of alkaline vegetation. This land is still closed to public access. If you are interested, RSVPto janetgawthrop47@ gmail.com. If you are not already signed up for the East Bay listserve, you can do so by e-mailing Martha Booz at rnlbooz® calnatives.com to receive further updates about this trip. Saturdays, September 11 and October 9, 9:30 am. Restoration crew at Huckleberry Regional Preserve We will revisit the knoll and canyon near the entrance, to keep several invasive species in check over this cool, moist sum- mer. Volunteers can work in one of several locations near the entrance. If you want to go further into the preserve to pull cape ivy or veldt grass, then be sure to take a bag so the weed seeds do not stay behind. There will be large plastic bags, water and snacks, and some tools available at the entrance. Bring gloves, or send an e-mail to janetgawthrop47@gmail. com_if you need to borrow a pair. Directions: Exit Highway 13 at either Park (from the south) or Moraga/Thornhill( from the north). From Park, turn left over 13 and left again onto Mountain. Turn left at the stop- light for Mountain and Snake, and turn right (uphill) on Snake. After a very short distance. Snake will split, with the left-hand fork keeping the same name and winding hard to the left. Stay on the left fork— the right side is Shepherd Can- yon Road. Follow Snake uphill until it ends at the stop sign at Skyline Blvd. Turn left onto Skyline and follow it a short RESTORATION Our chilly summer seems to be helping the new plantings at Pt. Isabel. Except for a young bunchgrass or two, which seem to have been carried off by moles, the newly planted shrubs and grasses are ah thriving along the trail. The restoration team held a work party on August 7 and tackled a myriad of tasks. Nel removed a large infestation of invasive pea that was creeping up on the coyote brush {Baccharis pilularis) and we took out the remaining few mustard plants in the area. Doris inspected every inch of a large section where she had previously removed countless young radish plants and found only a few small resprouts. That entire stretch is now invasive free and contains only sagebrush (Artemisia califomica), toyon (Heteromeles arhutifolia) , blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus), purple needlegrass (Nassella pulchra), June grass (Koeleria macrantha), farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena), and California poppies (Eschscholzia califomica) full of popping seed pods. On the northern stretch of the trail, Calvin and Tom picked up huge piles of invasive plant debris (radish, mustard, exotic grasses, fennel and ice plant) that we had stacked up at previous work parties and piled it into a dump truck that the District provided. Most of the ice plant had decomposed into a dark. distance to the Huckleberry parking lot on the right. From Moraga/ Thornhill, proceed straight through the traffic light on Moraga. Moraga runs south parallel to 13 and changes its name to Mountain. Turn left (uphill) onto Snake at the traffic light for Mountain and Snake, and follow the previous direc- tions to Huckleberry. Saturday, September 4, at 9:00 am. Skyline Gate at Redwood Regional Park Join the park staff to remove Genista, but also to monitor habitat changes since the trails and roads crew widened the East Ridge Trail in mid- August. All are welcome, but anyone with previous experience on East Ridge Trail can contribute memories or photos of vegetation to keep track of machine grading on the surrounding parkland. Bring gloves and tools, or park staff can loan those to you. Directions: From Highway 13, exit at Park and turn left at both the traffic light at the exit ramp and again at the traffic light for Mountain and Park. Follow Mountain northwest for several blocks to the traffic light for Mountain and Snake. Turn right (uphill) onto Snake. In one short block, you will reach a fork where Shepherd Canyon Road goes straight uphill and Snake turns left. Follow Shepherd Canyon Road uphill to its end at the intersection with Skyline. Turn right onto Skyline and follow it south; turn off at the Skyline parking lot on the left. earth-like material which we spread over the area where it had been left. We pulled out a number of newly growing fennel plants (watching carefully for anise swallowtail caterpillars) and added them to the dumpster stash. The six California buckeye (Aesculus califomica) saplings, which we grew from seed harvested at the site, are losing their leaves on schedule. We grew three of the saplings at home and three of them by pushing the seeds into the earth. The latter three saplings look a little stronger than the ones grown in pots. At a mini work party a few weeks ago, we discovered a mas- sive pile of car battery pieces right along the marsh and our young volunteer, Michelle, helped us collect and dispose of 4 large bags of this material. Doris and Jane removed another 7 full bags at today's work party, carefully picking up hun- dreds of large and small pieces lodged amongst the picklcweed (Salicornia virginica) and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). Our re- ward was the discovery of a beautiful patch of sea lavender Eimonium califomicum) in full bloom and covered in visiting Continued on page 4 THE BAY LEAF September 2010 3 RESTORATION Continued from page 3 insects. There are a lot of battery pieces left but we intend to remove them all during subsequent work parties. The Pt. Isabel Restoration Team counts itself lucky to be sup- ported by Kevin Takei and Bruce Adams from the EBRPD. Doris at marsh side collecting battery pieces NATIVE HERE September is a great month for • purchasing large plant orders so that the volume discount applies (no volume discounts at the Plant Fair) • taking one watering stint (one to two hours) each week to get to know a section so that you can be an informed salesperson at the Plant Fair • planning your fall planting and lining up the plants you'd like before they are all "snapped up" • buying books from CNPS • joining a Tuesday seed collection trip. E-mail native- here@ebcnps and ask to be put on the distribution list for information about upcoming trips. • letting your friends and neighbors know about the Plant Fair, October 16th and 17th at Native Here! Although we had some hot days, there was a lot of fog as well, which meant the plants didn't dry out as much as in past summers. Thanks to the many volunteers who helped with watering this summer. Both of them provide us with their unfailingly cheerful and valuable support. Jane and Tom Kelly Nel pulling out invasive pea Photos by Jane Kelly Keeping basins filled with water all year for our water-thirsty plants, such as creek monkeyflower, cardinal monkeyflower, and sedges and rushes attracted frogs. Pacific treefrogs laid their eggs in the plastic basins in the winter and spring and we had tadpoles and then little frogs in summer. We also saw several garter snakes slithering around pots. We posted an updated inventory on our web page, www. ebcnps . or g/ nativehere . html . This is a less detailed inventory than last year, with species and location. During the summer we need to pot plants into a container large enough to insulate roots so it is hard to predict the size and thus the price of each offering. Having the list posted now avoids literal headaches putting it together the week before the Fair. Margot and Charli 4 THE BAY LEAF September 2010 MEMERSHIP NOTES Linda with her beautiful Carpenteha. Photo by Phred Jackson. Meet Linda Newton here, and at our Plant Fair on October 16‘h and V7^\ My conscious interest in the natural world began when I was six years old and hiked with my older sister's Girl Scout troop in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Slathered in green soap to protect against poison oak, I was, my mother said, the best hiker of the bunch. I became a Girl Scout myself and loved all the outdoor activities. As I moved on to junior high and high school, my old troops disbanded because the girls were getting to be too sophisticated for Girl Scouts. I was fortunate to find new troops for me to join in both schools. My high school troop was perfect for me since we went camping at least during the summer. We also took an extended camping trip in my senior year to many of our western national parks. This love of the out-of-doors didn't translate into love of na- tive plants until I became an elementary teacher and moved to the Bay Area in 1967. Living in San Francisco and being so close to open space like Mt. Tam, I was out in nature as a regular course. Another teacher introduced me to the BALER Fair, Audubon and CNPS. CNPS just made so much sense to me. Of course we should support our native flora to go along with our native fauna. So I paid my dues and bought plant books for identifying and drawing flowers on hikes. When I exposed my classes to Mrs. Terwilliger and Slide Ranch, I learned a few plants. I cut out articles about plant families from the old CNPS newsletters. But it wasn't until I bought my first house in 1991 that I went to the CNPS plant sale and bought natives for my garden. My backyard had an established big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllam) that dominated our view. I bought, planted, pulled out, mourned and was smitten. Only then did I respond to Shirley McPheeter's postcards to help at a plant sale. She assigned me to work in the book booth with Elly Bade. I volunteered every year after that spending more and more time selling books with Elly Then I volunteered during my summer vacations to help propagate on Tuesday mornings. Upon retiring from teaching in 2001 1 became a year round Tuesday propagator. My education in native plants really began then. How patient John Rusk and others were with me as I asked repeatedly what plant we were potting, where it grew and what its habits were. Coincidentally, I eventually took over the book booth, selling the books that Elly ordered. In addition, I did a few odd volunteering jobs for CNPS and attended a few meetings. When Merritt closed our growing grounds, I stepped back from being actively involved as other demands in life took center stage. Now I have new gardens and much more experi- ence with the natives. My goal is to have my gardens on the Bringing Back the Natives tour in another couple of years. Linda Newton New Members Please join us in welcoming our new members for the May/ June time frame, Karen Chu, Sasha Harris-Lovett, Patricia Moore, and Laura Tudor As always, a huge thank you to our renewing members. Think Globally, Volunteer locally Native Plant Fair, October 16‘^ and 17‘^ www.ebcnps.org Plants from Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Find your city and then your plants collected and grown right here at our EBCNPS Native Here Nursery. Vendors, membership items and more, free admittance! Elaine Jackson and Carol Castro THE BAY LEAF September 2010 5 California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter 2010 NATIVE PLANT FAIR Plants native to Alameda and Contra Costa counties Saturday, October 16, 10 am to 3 pm Sunday, October 17, noon to 3 pm Native Here Nursery 101 Golf Course Drive - Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA (Across from the Tilden Golf Course) Native Plants, Lectures, Books, Posters, Gifts This year only! Book closeout sale! Deeply discounted botanical and garden books for the plant lover and book collector! Vendors of photography, seeds & bulbs, garden arts & crafts Exhibits on native bees, invasive plants. Native Plant Society benefits Special exhibitor/vendor. Laura Cunningham, Celebrated Artist and Naturalist, with her new book, A State of Change from Heyday Press Educational Speakers (1 pm each day) Saturday: Barbara Deutsch, "Let's Entwine Ourselves with Pipevines and Adorn Our Gardens with Butterflies" Sunday: Lisa Owens Viani, "From Gray to Green: How Green Streets and Residential Rain Gardens Can Help San Francisco Bay" Specialties for fall planting: ferns, Douglas iris, dutchman's pipe Beautiful Oaks at Half-Price: Plant a Tree and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint! For Your Shopping Convenience, Golf Course Parking, Plant Hold Area and Shuttle. Handicapped parking and parking for pick-up of plants is available on the nursery level. Other parking is across the road at the golf course lot. Checks or Cash Only (Sorry No Credit Cards) Please bring your own boxes for plants and other purchases We appreciate Carpoolers and Public Transit Users! A map to Native Here Nursery and public transit sugges- tions are on the Native Here website at www.ebcnps.org/nativehere.html THE BAY LEAF September 2010 Officers President Delia Barnes Taylor 510-527-3912 deliataylor@mac.com Vice President and Chapter Council Del- egate Bill Hunt wjhunt@astound.net Recording Secretary Carol Castro 510-352-2382 carollbcastro@hotmail. com Corresponding Secre- tary Janet Gawthrop janetgawthrop47@gmail. com Treasurer David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Committees Bayleaf Newsletter Bay Leaf Editor and Web- master Chapter Directory Joe Willingham, Chair 510-841-4681 pepel 066@comcast.net Bay Leaf Assistant Editor David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Bayleaf Mailing Holly Forbes hforbes@berkeley.edu h 510-234-2913 w 510-643-8040 Conservation Laura Baker, Chair 510-849-1409 Lbake66@aol.com Conservation analyst Lech Naumovich conservation@ebcnps.org Field Trips Janet Gawthrop, Chair Funds Development Carol Castro, Chair Grant Management Sally de Becker 510-841-6613 sallydebecker@comcast. net Information Infrastruc- ture Peter Rauch, Chair peterar@berkeley.edu Membership Elaine Jackson, Carol Castro Co-Chairs Volunteer coordinator Delia Taylor volunteer@ebcnps.org Programs Sue Rosenthal, Chair rosacalifornica@earthlink. net Publicity Beverley Powell (http:// www.linkedin.com/bg- powell, blog Greening California Roofs www. greenroofsca.com), beverly.g.powell@gmail. com Rare Plants Heath Bartosh, Chair 925-957-0069 hbartosh@nomadecology. com Bryophytes John Game 510-527-7855 jcgame@stanford.edu Unusual Plants Dianne Lake, Chair 510-741-8066 diannelake@yahoo.com Vegetation Erin McDermott, Chair erinmcd2004@yahoo.com Outreach (vacant) Education (vacant) EBCNPS Sponsored Activities Book & Poster Sales Joanne Orengo greentheglobe@juno.com Grant Awards Sandy McCoy sandymccoy@mindspring. com Native Here Nursery 510-549-021 1 Manager — Charli Dan- ielsen nativehere@ebcnps.org Sales — Margot Cunning- ham bunchgrassmarg@gmail. com Seed Collection — Gregg Weber 510-223-3310 Plant Fair Gudrun Kleist 510-222-2320 gkleist@sbcglobal.net and Charli Danielsen Coordinators Restoration Projects Leaders: Huckleberry — Janet Gawthrop Point Isabel — Tom and Jane Kelly 510-704-8628 (w) 510-684-6484 (c) kyotousa@sbcglobal.net Strawberry Creek — Tom and Jane Kelly Officers and Committee Chairs serve on the Board. Committees are formed based on chapter needs and the interests of volunteers. Proposals for committees and projects are welcome and will be considered by the Board. ACTIVITIES OF OTHERS Lange's Metalmark Butterfly counts at Antioch Dunes Na- tional Wildlife Refuge Join the refuge staff and help count butterflies for several weeks on Wednesdays and Thursdays in September. We are changing the count strategy this year in the hope of finding the butterflies at their peak activity time. Instead of surveying on one very long day per week, we will be surveying on two short days per week. Our counts will start at 11 am and go until 3 pm, the times in which our butterflies are most active. The dates for the butterfly counts will all be on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The weekly count dates will be September 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23 and we will be conducting counts until 0 butterflies are seen, whenever that may be in September. You'll be briefed on what to do and what to look for on each day of the count , so first-timers are welcome. As you might guess, 7\ntioch in summer can be challenging. Temperatures can range from very warm to hot, but often with a nice breeze. The terrain can be uneven and sometimes steep. There are many plants to step over, under and around, as well as plant parts that want to go home with you. However, if you are of the hardy variety (or are tired of coastal fog), the payoff is fabulous and worth it! Lange's Metalmark butterflies are found nowhere else in the world, except at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. Don't miss this opportunity to see this endangered species. Volunteers will need to wear sturdy shoes/ boots, long pants (star thistle smarts), and bring sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, lunch and lots of water. Short gaiters can be provided, but bring your own long pair of gaitors, if you want them. They help to keep weeds out of shoes and socks. If you are interested in volunteering for September counts, please contact Louis Terrazas by e-mail at Louis_Terrazas@ fws.gov or by phone at 510-377-1233. If you leave a message, please leave your name, telephone number and e-mail, and Louis will contact you as soon as possible. THE BAY LEAF September 2010 7 California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter P.O. Box 5597, Elmwood Station Berkeley CA 94705 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Oakland, CA Permit No. 2018 Time Value September 2010 issue CALENDAR OF EVENTS Native Here Nursery (see page 4) Tuesday mornings — seed collection, usually leaving from road below Native Here Nursery at 9 am. Length of trips varies. Tuesday afternoons— nursery open noon to 3 pm Friday mornings — nursery open 9 am to noon Saturdays— nursery open 10 am to 2 pm. Field Trips (see page 3) There will be an autumn field trip to the Vaqueros Farms property recently acquired by East Bay Regional Parks Saturdays, September 11 and October 9, 9:30 am. Restoration crew at Huckleberry Regional Preserve Saturday, September 4, at 9:00 am. Skyline Gate at Redwood Regional Park Plant Fair (see enclosed poster) Saturday, October 16, 10 am to 3 pm Sunday, October 17, noon to 3 pm For late breaking news and events, join the chapter announcement mailing list by visiting http://groups. google, com/group/ebcnps and clicking on iJoin this group?. Email traffic is low and limited to official chapter announce- ments. For the latest activities of the Conservation Committee check out http://ebcnps.wordpress.com/. You can add yourself to the CNPS eNewletter mailing list for current news about CNPS. The mailings are ap- proximately monthly. Look under Publications on the cnps.org website or go to https://cnps.org/cnps/publications/ news/index.php. Membership Application and Renewal Form Name Address Zip Telephone Email I wish to affiliate with: East Bay Chapter (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) Other Membership category: Individual, $45 Family, Library, Group or International, $75 Plant Lover, $100.00 Plant lover, $100 Patron, $300 Benefactor, $600 Mariposa Lily, $1500 Limited Income or student, $25.00 Other Mail application and check to: California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1, Sacramento CA 95816