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Monthly Archives: December 2016

California Sagebrush and Change of Seasons

December 14, 2016by concretechaparral Leave a comment

The hillsides are brown and dry, seemily covered with dead brush

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Native Plants, Urban Parks

Milkweed and Unending Faith

December 13, 2016by concretechaparral 1 Comment

Few things require calling upon faith over and over as much as gardening

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Garden, Native Plants

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Caterpillar attack! Red-flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens) makes a tasty snack for this caterpillar, which in turn may become a tasty snack for a songbird or lizard. And a garden starts to become an ecosystem…

Coming in for a landing. Bladderpod (Peritoma arborea) flowers and honey bee.

The closer you look, the more elaborate flowers become - narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)

I made a new friend! This young Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) flew into my Dad’s window and fell to the ground. I tried to put him on a branch for safety, but he liked my finger better. I named him Jimmy - don’t know why, just seems right. After 30 minutes he flew off.

Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) gathering nectar from ashy-leaf buckwheat (Eriogonum cinereum). It’s interesting what new native plants can bring to the garden. Never seen this wasp before until a few weeks ago when my new ashy-leaf buckwheat and California buckwheat began to blossom. They love them! Interesting, the red-flowered buckwheat which I’ve had for several years never attracted them. If you have a veggie garden, the great golden digger wasp is a great ally with the female preying on members of the grasshopper family.

Cliff Aster (Malacothrix saxatilis). For a plant that can look so weedy, I can’t get enough of their flowers that float above the dry brush of summer and fall. And in the middle of the flower appears a tiny, magical city - perhaps occupied by Who’s?

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