The Theodore Payne Foundation is holding its annual Native Plant Sale & Fall Festival, its biggest sale of the year, over the next two weekends. Native plants and seed will be available at a discount along with vendors, music, and other activities.
Click the flyer for details.
The University of California Extension will hold classes to become a Certified UC Victory Gardener in October.
Part of the Master Gardener program, the classes will take place in the Coral Learning Garden, 2750 E. New York Dr., Pasadena on four Sundays: Oct. 2, 9, 16, and 23, from 3-6 PM.
Cost is $50 for the four days. Space is limited, and you are registered only when your fee has been received. To register or for more information, contact instructor Mark Rice at mark.rice@alumni.usc.edu or 626-272-2752.
We've been getting warnings from several quarters about the Poodle Dog Bush, also called Sticky Nama (Turricula parryi). It's a fire-follower plant that lives in granatic soils and can form thickets. It's pretty, but you neither want to touch it or breathe too close to it if you encounter it in the hills.
The poodledog has highly-irritating glandular hairs to discourage herbivores. The sticky hairs -- which can dislodge easily -- can be passed on to hikers who touch it or brush up against it, causing an itching dermititis that can last for two weeks. Even shaking the plant and inhaling close to it can cause a serious reaction.
Wikipedia says: "Chemicals exuded by the glandular trichomes (prenylated phenolics) result in severe contact dermatitis and an inflammation response similar to that caused by poison oak. The scientific name of the plant's genus, Turricula, means "little tower" in reference to the stalk of deep blue, deceptively lovely flowers that rises over the plant in the spring. At other times of year the poodle dog bush can appear to be a droopy collection of brownish stems topped by green pom-poms of narrow leaves, shaped a bit like a clipped poodle." Orange County Register has a short article.
The LA Times Garden Blog takes a look at the garden of Altadena novelist (and our old seminary running buddy) Michelle Huneven. The takeaway for us: after buying a weed-infested lot, she buried it under a 10-in. layer of horse manure, which cooked the weeds dead and matured into a formidable planting medium. We give props to her understanding neighbors while THAT process was going on!
(Update: fixed the name spelling. We've known this woman for 20 years, you think we'd remember how to spell her name .... Thx to Jim Potter, who, as her husband, DOES know how to spell her name!)
by Michele Zack
Special to Altadenablog
There is no more fun (or funny) volunteer job in the world than contacting winners of Altadena Heritage’s Golden Poppy Garden Award to break the news to them. This generally happens over the phone, and reactions vary. The winner is often skeptical, as in: “Are you trying to sell me something?”
When it sinks in that all Altadena Heritage wants is to honor the gardener and garden, the tone switches to general astonishment and joy at this small but significant recognition of the labor of love that is gardening. “What! We’ve never won anything in our lives, this is amazing. . . I’m going to call my Aunt Barbara, she will be so thrilled!”
The
above was Lon McCoy’s first thought when Altadena Heritage Board Member
and event chair Anita David called him in advance of Sunday’s Annual
Golden Poppy Urban Homestead Fete, which this year attracted 130 people
to Kazi Petelka and John Steinmetz’s incredible urban farm. McCoy and
partner George Feaster have worked for 15 years on their Highview
Avenue drought tolerant garden. They reside in the Gregory Ain
modernist neighborhood designated as an “AHA!” or Altadena Heritage
Area in 2002. (Aunt Barbara, 87 and ailing in Seattle, was indeed
happy, according to Lon, when he told her of the honor.)
This year’s other winners included Jennifer Shepard and Pam Forrest’s edible landscape on Glenrose, and Dr. Jason and Jane Yoo’s and Mark and Susan Sironi’s drought tolerant gardens on Altadena Drive and Athens Street. All were present, and all spoke eloquently about their efforts to create beautiful and personally meaningful landscapes. Their neighborhoods have benefited, too, and we’re sure our Golden Poppy gardeners will inspire others. Each was presented by Chairman Mark Goldschmidt and Vice Chair Lili Etezady with a beautiful bronze plaque to display in their garden for two years, when it is passed on to other winners. This year’s theme, drought tolerant and edible landscapes, is part of Altadena Heritage’s current “Sustainability Series.”
Farm
tours, personally guided by Kazi Petelka, farmer/gardener
extraordinaire, were the other highlight of the event. Kazi took groups
through her orchard of rare fruit, vegetable gardens, and poultry area,
sharing her vast knowledge with Altadena Heritage’s guests. She sent
them home with a handout listing recommended tomato and other vegetable
varieties, as well as a list of all her fruit trees. She also
generously provided party favors: a choice of iris rhizomes in shades
of purple!
A word about the food: scrumptious. This year, board members and spouses made everything from scratch, in keeping with the sustainability theme. Many ingredients, such as ripe tomatoes, came from Altadena Gardens — and all dishes came from Altadena kitchens (with wine and cheese from Trader Joe’s!) Delicious canapés, from onion marmalade with herbed goat cheese to cucumber dill sandwiches, were followed by numerous salads, Chairman’s Chili, apricot tarts, and rhubarb-peach crumble.
Visit Altadenaheritage.org for more information on this community based organization.
Photos, top to bottom:
Kazi Petelka conducts farm tour
Golden Poppy Garden Awards
Chair Mark Goldschmidt with Golden Poppy winners Lon McCoy and George Feaster
130 guests (including 30 new members) enjoy the garden fete.
Click on the graphic for juicy details about Altadena Heritage's annual Golden Poppy Awards, next Sun. at 6:30 PM.
