Two Top Speakers Highlight Botany Society's First Monthly Lecture

The Anza Borrego Desert Botany Society is fortunate to have 2 gifted speakers for our monthly lecture series this coming Monday (Dec 10) at 10 a.m.

Our first speaker is Kate Harper, known familiarly as Botany Woman. Kate has been a botanist in the Borrego area for years and is a principal contributor of Tom Chester’s excellent Web site, Plant Species of the Borrego Desert.

Kate will focus on desert adaptations. Hear her speak to learn which plant is the “King of Desert Plant Adaptations.”

Following Kate’s talk will be Dr. Chris McDonald, Natural Resource Advisor for southeastern California. Chris will discuss plants that jeopardize desert native plants. McDonald is an expert in invasive plants and will demonstrate how to recognize aggressive, invasive plants in the Borrego Desert and discuss what can be done to control them.

Dr Chris McDonald is the Inland and Desert Natural Resources Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension. His expertise is in managing plants in wildlands with an emphasis on managing difficult weeds.

What: Botany Society Lecture Series
When: 10:00 a.m. Monday December 10
Where: Anza Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center Discovery Lab
Cost: Free, open to the public
Parking: Free

Pre-order Form for Annual Native Desert Plant Sale Has Been Posted

Fairy Duster. Calliandra eriophylla. ©2015 Arie Korporaal

NOTE: The Botany Society’s annual plant sale was held over Thanksgiving Weekend. The online order form is no longer active.

The Anza Borrego Botany Society has announced the dates of its popular desert plant sale. The native plant sale will be held Friday, November 23, 2018. The plant sale will be held at the Anza Borrego Foundation State Park Store in the Mall, 587 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs 92004. 

A pre-order form for the desert plants you want to purchase has been posted on this website. All proceeds support the work of the Botany Society including its well-known botany speaker series. 

2018 Anza-Borrego Botany Society Plant Sale Order Form

Jon Rebman Returns to Headline Fall Botany Festival

Dr. Jon Rebman, Curator of Botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum, will be the featured speaker at the Annual Fall Botany Festival on Saturday, November 24th.

Dr. Jon Rebman, Curator of Botany, San Diego County Natural History Museum

Dr. Rebman will discuss Fern Diversity of the San Diego Region in the Discovery Lab at the Anza Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center. Rebman’s talk begins at 10 AM and is free to the public.

The Botany Society will be holding its native desert plants sale in front of the Anza Borrego Foundation State Park Store in town the previous day, Friday, November 23rd. The plant sale is scheduled to run from 8:30 am to 3 pm or until all plants are sold. Check out the pre-sale plant list to order ahead. These desert plants sell out quickly so use the online order form to reserve your plants.

Who: Dr. Jon Rebman, Curator of Botany, San Diego County Natural History Museum
Topic: Fern Diversity of the San Diego Region
Where: Discovery Lab, Visitor Center, 200 Palm Canyon Drive, Borrego Springs, CA 92004
When: Saturday, November 24, 2018
Time: 10:00 to 11:30 AM
Cost: Free; public is invited.
Reminder: The State Park charges a day use fee of $10 per vehicle for entrance to the parking area on weekends.

Don Rideout Part of Expert Panel at CNPS–San Diego

Installation: Planting, Watering, and Mulching

Create a California Native Garden: Ready-Set-Go!
A panel of 4 experts moderated by Clayton Tschudy

California Native Plant Society-San Diego Chapter
workshop@cnpssd.org

Click for Workshop Tickets

Sep 08, 2018 9:00 AM
UCSD-Scripps Sumner Auditorium in La Jolla, CA

After you have spent time planning and designing your California native garden and have selected the plants that you believe will work in harmony with your yard’s soil types and exposures proper installation is essential. Putting plants in the ground so that they can make best use of water in the ground and develop mycorrhizal networks with other plants will set them up for success in the years to come. Watering properly both at installation and afterwards will insure that your native plants have just what they need and not what they can’t use. Also, mulching your plants properly, without smothering the soil, will help protect their water resources, prevent weeds, and feed the soil.
 
This panel of experts will answer your questions about all of the above. The session will begin with some moderated questions curated from past workshops and then open up to an extended period of questions from the audience. Whatever you want to know more about on this subject--get your questions ready!

Mike Gonzales, Natural Resources Project Manager

 Don Rideout, Co-Founder and Past President, Anza-Borrego Desert Botany Society and Plant Selection Editor, Calscape.com

Diane Kennedy, Founder, Finch Frolic Garden Permaculture

Lee Gordon, CNPS-San Diego Writer and Committee Champion of Gardening and Propagation best practices

Birgit Knorr Receives the Prestigious Golden Poppy Award

The Golden Poppy Award recognizes outstanding individuals, corporations, and organizations for their contributions of leadership, time, and/or financial resources to protecting and enhancing state parks and the California environment. One of this year's honorees is Birgit Knorr an active member of the Botany Society. 

Here are the comments about her award from the Volunteers Gala: "Birgit Knorr has dedicated so much to the Botany projects of the park, continued in effective leadership of the Botany Society, and has shown relentless passion and support in all her projects and presentations. She has spent countless hours documenting Mason Valley Cholla, the herbarium database, contributions for the cabinets, and recent work in Canebrake on tamarisk leading a community effort to export the efforts of the park into private land. Her dedication has spanned many changes of the Society and program. She continues to serve on the Steering Committee meeting as a seasoned and knowledgeable contributor. Her work continues this season in guiding weekly plant science discussions in Botany Study group and providing valuable input for the Certification Course planning."