imu

California

tive
Plant
Society

KERN CHAPTER

JANUARY 2015

CONTENTS

President's Message - 1
Accolades - 2
Botany Notables - 3
Native Gardening Notes - 4
Meeting Topics - 5
Field Trips - 6

EVENTS

JANUARY

15-17 — 2015 CNPS Conservation
Conference, San Jose, CA

15 — Annual Chapter Potluck
& Program

FEBRUARY
19 — Program

MARCH

14 — FIELD TRIP:
Semitropic Ridge Preserve

16 — Program

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:
Finally, It Rained!

by Richard Spjut

P ATTY GRADEK AND LUCY CLARK PLANNED AND ORGANIZED
our field trips this past year. Unfortu-

nately, we had another disappointing season
of rainfall. Many field trips were cancelled.
Of course, Kern County is generally dry,
since much of it lies in rain shadows, as indi-
cated by Twisselmann in his summary of the
introduction to his flora: "Kern County con-
sists of a complex of mountains, a broad expanse
of desert, and a great inland valley. While it is
a region of contrasts, almost all of the county's
geography, economy, and biology is that of a land
of little rain."

But finally, on December 2, it rained in Kern
County. Our field trip team proposes to
reschedule many of the trips they planned
last year. The WSI precipitation map for Kern
County on Dec. 2 shows the highest rainfall
was along the Kern/ Inyo County line, 1 — 2
inches, although TV reports indicated up to 2
inches fell around Lake Isabella.

One of the plants that flowers early and that
we might expect to see is the desert candle
(Caulanthus inflatus ), a native species in the
mustard family ( Brassicaceae ), that can light
up the desert in early March. Its center of

Desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus),

. j, A ‘ , , r. u California City, March 2005

distribution is Kern County, and most ot the re- 7

cords of this striking plant are from in and around Kern County, as shown

on the next page from a clip of the

Calflora map of its distribution.

"While it is a region of
contrasts, almost all of the
county's geography, econ-
omy, and biology is that of
a land of little rain/'

Over the years, since the 1930's,
desert candle has declined in abun-
dance, judging from records of its
collection in the Consortium of
California Herbaria, as compared
to other native desert annuals.

The California Native Plant Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of California native plants and
their natural habitats, and to increasing the understanding, appreciation, and horticultural use of native plants.

Photo by Richard Spjut.

Photo by Richard Spjut

2

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

President's Message: (Continued) for a 548 gram sample (dried) I collected for cancer re-

search on 28 Feb. 2008, that the flowers closed at 11:05
A.M. After that time, it became a rare species to find.

Dorie Giragosian has been working with chapter
members on organizing a poster for the upcoming
2015 CNPS Conference, and Lucy Clark has been in
contact with a student at the California State Univer-
sity of Bakersfield to increase student awareness of
the CNPS. Chapter funds will be used to help pay for
the student's registration and travel.

Thus, it would seem we are off to a good start for
2015. £

I Th SOS |J an &

members who helped on the day^y

| b Gnmr M ^^Zsfield" 1 ^

I at his own home 8 8anatlve Plan

tatio ^NmnuCd'C V6ry interest m
tober meetZ^A- fetation", at ^

disturbed areas in

Denis Kearns for his pre!

^ory of the San Juan l

ember meeting. This i,

have not visited. He
vegetation, geology anc
fascinating area.

Done Giragos

ter at CNPS
out the year.

nts the Kern Chap-
u^eetings through-

from data compiled in
2008. The figure shown
below was part of a
poster presentation at
the CNPS January 2009
Conference held in
Sacramento. The decline
in desert candle — indi-
cated by the green line
among other native an-
nuals — was suggested
to be due to increase in
off-road vehicle (ORV)
recreation. One standard selected for comparison was
the white line representing collections of the morning
star, Monoptilon belliodies, which is in the aster fam-
ily (Asteraceae ) . It grows on rocky ground where it

-Csufantfws fnilsfus

Morning star ( Monoptilon bellioides),
Death Valley National Park, March 2005.

is less likely to be run down by ORV, and the graph
shows its collecting increased since 1990. The flowers
are known to open in the morning and closed in the
evening, but I noted on my voucher specimen label

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

3

Evalyn Lucille Klein Farnsworth
( 1912 - 2003 ):

Devoted Cattlewoman and Naturalist

by Nancy Nies

O N A FAMILY-OWNED RANCH SOUTHEAST OF
Glennville, at an eleva-
tion of around 4,000 feet, on a
steep hillside accessible only
on horseback or by four-wheel
drive and a half-mile walk,
grows a rare native plant —

S treptanthus farnsworthianus
(Farnsworth's jewel flower) —
named for the remarkable local
woman who first discovered it,

Evalyn Lucille Klein Farn-
sworth.

Evalyn, an only child, grew
up on her family's cattle ranch
near Porterville, which had
its beginnings in land home-
steaded in 1863 by her grandfa-
ther. (Subsequent generations added land, and today
the ranch has the distinction of being one of the few
ranches continuously owned and operated by the
same family for over 100 years.) Evalyn rode sev-
eral miles on horseback to attend grammar school at
White River, and went on to graduate from Porterville
High School and Porterville Junior College. During
her youth, Evalyn also spent much time on the ranch,
helping her hardworking parents with their ranching
and cattle enterprises. It was from her parents that
Evalyn inherited a love for the land and an interest in
nature. Like her father, she was a keen observer of the
world around her. Young Evalyn had an exceptional
memory and was to become " a walking encyclopedia"
of plants, animals, and nature in general, says Sandra
Southard, her daughter.

The family ranch would be hugely significant in Eva-
lyn' s life, as she was to spend her life there as a self-
employed cattlewoman and rancher. The family ac-
quired the first registered Hereford cattle in 1931, and
Evalyn and her husband Freeland Farnsworth became
well-known in livestock circles for their outstanding
Hereford herd, according to Ernest Twisselmann in
his 1967 Flora of Kern County. It was one of the leading
herds until the early 1990s, says Evalyn's daughter. A
lifelong member of the American Hereford Associa-
tion and the National and California Cattlewomen's
Associations, Evalyn Farnsworth founded the Tulare
Cattlewomen's Association and served as its first
president, as well as president of the Kern County

Cattlewomen's Association. She led a local beef
awareness campaign that grew into a national one. On
the ranch, she devised a record-keeping system which
gave rise to the Cattlemen's Beef Cattle Improvement
Association. Evalyn hosted ag classes from Fresno
State and Cal Poly, which came to observe the ranch's
operations, management, cattle, and records.

Cattle were by no means Evalyn's only interest,
however. Her daughter Sandra calls her "the most
well-rounded person I have ever seen . . . interested in
everything." She was an accomplished horsewoman.
She excelled at arts, crafts, and needlework. She "kept
volumes of notes about weather conditions and would refer
to earlier years for comparisons ," says her daughter. In
addition, she assisted Eben McMillan in his studies
of condors and their habitat, in the days before the
captive breeding program began.

Roger Raiche, of the

Bay Area garden-
design firm Planet
Horticulture, writes
in his blog: "If you
want to add an annual
to your garden that no
one has ever seen before,
one that will amaze you

Evalyn Lucille Klein,
Porterville High
School Yearbook,
1929

Farnsworth Jewelflower
( Streptantus farnsworthianus )

And then there was her interest in native plants. In
his Flora , Twisselmann acknowledged Evalyn Farn-
sworth's contribution of nearly 800 collections. He
wrote: "Mrs. Farnsworth has collected in the Greenhorn
range since September 1962 , primarily on the ranches she
and her husband own at Woody , White River, and Glen-
nville; many of her collections are made while doing range
riding for the family cattle operations. Her careful botaniz-
ing along the drainage of Cedar and Lumreau creeks is an
example of the value of intensive collection of a relatively
small but critical area; her collections have yielded nu-
merous Kern County and several Sierra Nevada records.
Among them is the type material for the remarkable jewel
flower Streptanthus farnsworthianus." Evalyn sent many
letters and samples of the plant at different stages to
botanist J. T. How-
ell, at the California
Academy of Sciences
in San Francisco, for
identification. Her
Streptanthus finding,
native and endemic to
the Sierra foothills of
California, was pub-
lished by Dr. Howell
in Leaflets of Western
Botany 10(11):182-183
in 1965.

Photo © Aaron Schusteff 2010

Photo courtesy of Debra Cook

4

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

Evalyn Lucille Klein Farnsworth (Continued)

every time you see it, try the Farnsworth jewel flower . "

He describes it as having spikes of bright white flowers,
set against "a very unusual expanded bract of rose purple,
overlaid with a strange bluish color that reflects the light.”
Favoring sterile, rocky "balds" and ledges, it has
grown well on Raiche' s rock outcrop. When it went to

"If you want to add an annual to
your garden that no one has ever
seen before, one that will amaze
you every time you see it, try the

bers of the plant the next season. Raiche goes on to
say that the plant is available by mail-order from
Annie's Annuals of Richmond, CA. He credits Evalyn
Farnsworth with hitting upon " one of the weirdest,” but
also one of the loveliest, of California's native jewel
flowers.

Farnsworth jewel flower/'

seed, Raiche
"crushed [the
seed] up and
sprinkled
[it] around
to a wider
area," which
resulted in
good num-

Verbena de la mina

Native Plant Gardening

by Monica Tudor

I LOVE FALL PLANT

sale time. Well, make that the time after the plant
sale. This is the best (and some say the only) time of
year to plant natives. Based on my own experience, I
have to agree.

When Evalyn died in 2003 at the age of 91, she left
behind her daughter Sandra and son-in-law Law-
rence Southard — who would like it to be known
that he "thought the world of her” — two grandchildren,
two great-grandchildren, and the ranch to which she
had devoted her life. Evalyn Farnsworth's legacy also
includes a native plant bearing her name, a possibility
she likely never suspected when, on 13 May 1965 on
her family's ranch near Glennville, she first spotted an
unusual purple-and-white plant blooming on a steep

slope of decomposed
slate.

Author's note: Many
thanks go to Sandra
Southard, of Porter-
ville, for her help in
providing many per-
sonal details; to Aaron
Schusteff for his pho-
tograph of Streptanthus
farnsworthianus ; and
to Lorie Barker of the
Porterville College Li-
brary and Annamarie
Olson of the Porterville
City Library, for their
assistance in obtaining
photos.

Streptanthis farnsworthianus,
Farnsworth jewel flower

The cooler weather seems to be appreciated by the
plants as evidenced by their growth spurt this fall.

The Aster chilensis (California aster) got a few new
blooms as did as the Allen Chickering sage. Even the
Quercus lobata (valley oak) sprouted some twigs which
grew several inches.

The hardest part?

Not watering them daily!

1 check to see if they need
water ....If the earth is
damp, do not water.

I had planted a new section of garden in spring this
year, a full sun exposure, using the plants from the
Las Pilitas field trip and the Garden Fest. They lasted

through the
first set of 100
degree days
but that was it.
I had probably
overwatered
at least some
of them, but
others cer-
tainly looked

parched right before they croaked. In any case, they
did not have enough time to develop a large enough
root system to sustain them through Bakersfield's
extreme summer weather. The survivors: a Verbena
de la mina and an Isomeris arborea (bladderpod). The
verbena tolerates summer water and the bladder
pod grows locally on the Panorama Vista Preserve,
so it survives with NO additional summer water.
Those two are good choices for the garden, too. The
verbena has lilac blooms and the bladderpod has
yellow blooms.

This fall, after the first rain, I followed planting direc-
tions from the Las Pilitas website as well as the hints

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

5

from Steve Kranyak, who was a speaker at a recent
CNPS meeting.

Once the plant locations were determined, I dug
large, deep holes and filled them with water. That
accomplished two things: I found out how fast the
water drained and put water deep into the ground
as a reserve for the (soon to be growing) roots. The
plants were taken from their pots, root balls examined
and scored (if appropriate), then planted and watered
one more time.

The hardest part? Not watering them daily! I check

to see if they
need water by
digging out a
little dirt about
an inch away
from the root
ball. If the earth
is damp, do
not water. With
this weather,
the ground
stays moist and
plants do not
need lots of
additional wa-
tering. I have
one exception,
though, and
that's if seeds
are planted.

They'll get lightly watered when the ground appears
dry, about twice a week, to encourage sprouting.

Once the plants are in the ground. I'll go check them
out regularly. Are they putting out new leaves? Or are
any leaves looking odd?

I had to move a recently planted Arctostaphylos Dr.
Hurd that wasn't looking too happy. Its leaves were
turning black around the edges. I'm not sure why, too
much water? Soil too rich? (It was planted where the
bull had lived for two years- draw your own conclu-
sions.) Anyway, once it was moved, it started growing
tiny new leaves! Now, to keep it and the others alive
through the next summer! £

^

Chapter Meetings

upcoming TOPICS

Thursday, January 15, 2015

6-7 pm: ANNUAL POTLUCK,

(Regular informal group discussions
cancelled to allow time for potluck)

7 pm: Richard Spjut,

Western Australian Wildflowers.

Western Austrailia has a Mediter-
ranean climate similar to Califor-
nia's and a spectacular variety
of wildflowers. In th 80s and 90s
Rich sampled 850 plant species for
botanical research sponsored by the
National Cancer Institute.

Thursday, February 19, 2015 7 pm:

Speaker: David Chipping, CNPS
Fellow, Emeritus Professor of
Geology, VP, Friends of the Carrizo
Plain, will speak on a subject rela-
tive to the Carrizo Plain. Title to be
announced.

All chapter meetings are held the
3rd Thursday of each month at the
Hall Ambulance Community Room
1031 21st Street (21st & N St.), Bakers-
field, CA.

Meeting times:

6 pm — Two informal discussion
groups: Plant Identification and
Native Plant Gardening

7 pm — Program presentation

Isomeris arborea, bladderpod

CNPS is the leader for providing reliable information on California native plants and plant conservation. Comprehensive information
about Californias's flora and vegetation communities is available throughtout the state for conservation and educational purposes.
CNPS's leaderships influences personal ethics and actions , as well as public policy for native plant protection.

6

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

FIELD TRIPS

by Lucy Clark and Patty Gradek

the scouting trip. This will be a drive-and-walk trip,
with opportunities to practice keying with our Jepson
manuals (or someone else's!).

ERN CNPS FIELD TRIPS ARE OPEN TO ATE.
Occasionally , numbers will be limited by the land
owners or agencies. We welcome you to join us to see and
learn about our native plants and their habitats , to learn to
identify plants , or to photograph them. If you are skilled in
plant identification, you can help us all learn.

For the past two years we have had to cancel sev-
eral planned field trips due to dry conditions. We're
hopeful we will have normal rainfall this year and be
able to plan several field trips to see some excellent
wildflower displays. At this time, we have several
field trips in the planning stage, including Saturday or
Sunday trips to Carrizo Plain National Monument,
the Mill Creek area on the Sequoia National Forest,
the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, and Na-
ture Conservancy Properties near Bakersfield. We're
keeping the plans flexible, depending on the rainfall
we receive. We have other potential trips in mind for
weekend dates, as well as possible mid-week trips, if
it's a good rainfall season.

Keep your eyes open for specific field trip locations
and dates in the next Mimulus Memo which will
be distributed in March. Depending on the bloom,
March field trips are possible on the Valley floor,
lower Rancheria Road, and China Gardens (Kern
Canyon). These and mid-week field trips will be on
the KCNPS website and Andy Honig will send out
email notifications.

The following March 14th trip is firm:

March 14, Saturday

SEMITROPIC RIDGE PRESERVE
(and possibly PIXLEY VERNAL POOLS)

Contact: Lucy Clark - lucyg391@gmail.com
RSVP Deadline: 8 pm, Thursday, March 12th

We will meet at 7:30 am to form carpools behind the
Del Taco on Merle Haggard between Hwy 65 and 99,
in the far back parking lot. Coming from the south
up Hwy 99, you will need to exit at Hwy 65. We will
leave as soon as all who RSVPed gather.

Please contact Lucy at the above address to RSVP.

Other field trips below are possibilities with tentative
dates, dependent on rain and bloom times. Further
details about these trips with firmer dates will become
available in the March newsletter.

March 7, Saturday

VALLEY FRINGE PORTION of TEJON RANCH

April 4, Saturday

CARRIZO PLAIN NATIONAL MONUMENT

April 19, Sunday

MILL CREEK off OLD KERN CANYON ROAD

The Semitropic Ridge Preserve is a patchwork of
lands in the southern San Joaquin Valley, which
saves habitat for many endangered species, such
as the Tipton Kangaroo Rat, Blunt-nosed Leopard
Lizard, San Joaquin Kit Fox, etc. It also happens to
protect many of our Valley plants which otherwise
have been plowed under. These lands are protected
by the Center for Natural Lands Management. The
preserves will be scouted the week before to see if
there are sufficient species to warrant our gas and our
Saturday. If there has been no water for the Pixley Pre-
serve, we will try for a half-day trip. If Pixley is in its
wonderful spring concentric blooms, we will make it
an all day affair. At any rate, plan on a snack, at least!
A "Go" or "No-Go" notice will be e-mailed to all after

Tejon Ranch looking southward — 2014 trip.

April ?

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY PROPERTIES

April 25, Saturday

BITTER CREEK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
May ?

HIGHER ELEVATION PORTIONS
of TEJON RANCH

May 30, Saturday

TEJON RANCH BIOBLITZ!

(See below)

photo courtesy David Campbell

Mimulus Memo — January/February 2015

7

June 6, Saturday

OLD STAGE ROAD,

GREENHORN BURN AREA

Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 30th when
there will be a Bioblitz at the Tejon Ranch, Cattani
Ranch, and the Nature Conservancy ranches in the
Caliente region! Details will be provided when they
are made available.

As in the past, all trips that we plan will be by reser-
vation only, so we know whom to expect, and how
many will be attending. Each trip listed in the next
Mimulus Memo or described in an email from Andy
Honig will have a contact person listed. We ask that
you email the contact person by two days before the
field trip and indicate the names of those who will
attend and, if possible, a cell phone number where
we can reach you that day.

Garden Signs Now Available

TpQ NOW OFFERS 'Native Plants Live
y ^ I \ X Here' garden signs. This project
seeks to engage the public in native plant gardening
by allowing people to display the signs in their home
and public gardens. Signs are $36.00 and can be pur-
chased at the CNPS online store.

Chapters were given a sign at Chapter Council in
December. Please put
your chapter sign in a
public place or prominent
garden to help spread the
word! Please send a photo
of your sign in its new
home to dkennelly@cnps.
org. A Garden Sign Toolkit
with further information
is available on the admin
page of cnps.org under
"Chapter Toolkits" .

NATIVE

PLANTS

PlantRight™ Spring Nursery Survey
Survey Purpose:

A spring nursery survey is

conducted each year by Plant-
Right™ — an organization promoting
noninvasive plants in California — in
collaboration with the UC Master
Gardener Program and other groups
gathering information about the retail market for
invasive plants in California. This information allows
PlantRight™ to:

RiGHT

4 - Collaborate effectively with thousands of plant
retailers, wholesalers and growers;

4- Provide gardeners with information about invasive
plants, and choosing beautiful non-invasive alter-
natives for their gardens;

4 - Inform our strategy, measure progress, and keep
their plant list relevant.

For specific questions about the annual survey and
how to get involved, please email them at PlantRight@
suscon.org.

The 6th Annual Spring Nursery Survey is being con-
ducted from February through June of 2015, and they
are seeking help! Participation is easy, educational,
and fun. You can register to be a survey volunteer at:.
www. plantrigh t. org/ survey-registration

Volunteers will:

4 - View an online presentation (webinar)

4 - Download required survey materials

4 - Sign up to survey a store in their area

4 - Visit the store and record information about any
invasive plants sold there

4 - Submit the information to PlantRight

On average, the entire process takes about two and a
half hours to complete. Some people choose to work
with other volunteers. Returning volunteers may
choose to view the full webinar, or a shorter refresher
video.

They will be hosting webinars for both Southern
California (San Luis Obispo, Kern and San Bernardino
counties and south) and Northern California (north of
these counties).

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