While I might rightfully be described as a gardener of many plants, master of none - I always enjoy a garden or gardener with a dedicated collection of some special plant or plant group. Photo: A mature bloom of Western trillium Trillium ovatum, which is often snow-white when first open and then ages to pink and purple.

I have recently enjoyed thoroughly several visits to the home garden of Mike Thiede in Paradise to witness the seasonal unfolding of his collection of specimen Trillium. Photo: The woodland entry to Mike Thiede’s Paradise garden.

Trillium – I like to say the name – to hear the name, it has a feel. And this wonderful genus of woodland plants have flowers, foliage and form to match their name. Photo: Above, a patch of Trillium albidum in bud under a ponderosa pine, fawn lilies bloom nearby. Below, the same patch in bloom a few weeks later.

The name Trillium, with its latin root meaning “three”, refers to the plants’ strong and very consistent structure: Trillium have three opposite – often handsome - broad and ovate leaves above which rise their generally single stem (sometimes there is no stem between flower and leaf whorl) bearing a sculptural flower of three strong sepals staggered symmetrically behind three strong petals surrounding open and often showy stamens. The genus includes approximately 40+ species and subspecies of primarily North American origin – although a few are found in Asia. Photo: Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum).

In early spring, you can enjoy native trillium carpeting lowland islands off the coast of South Carolina, you can find them in the woodlands and mountains of Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Vermont and New Hampshire to name a few. And at least 6 varieties of trillium are native to California. Photo: A mixed patch of trillium in bloom at Mike Thiede’s.

One traditional common name for trillium is trinity flower, referring to the three-part structure. An eastern species of trillium, T. sessile, which is characterized by its flower growing right out of the leaves and having no stalk of its own, is known as toad trillium. Another common name for the entire group is wake-robin, reportedly because many varieties bloom so early in spring that they help to wake the robins and entice them to return to our woods and gardens after their winter absence. Photo: Trillium cuneatum.

Mike’s collection illustrates this early spring tendency nicely as his earliest plants are up and showing flower buds by the end of January. The vagaries of weather depending, his earliest trillium are opening by Valentine’s day and his later varieties are still blooming come early summer. “This year’s late winter water seems to have staggered the bloom time far more than usual in my garden,” Mike allowed. In higher elevations, trillium can be found blooming right through summer. My family and I enjoyed a nice show of them near Mount Hood, Oregon one mid-July. Photo: Trillium kurbayashi.

Due to loss of habitat, as well as pressure and fragmentation of their habitat, many trillium are listed by state and federal agencies as endangered or threatened. Because picking their flowers can harm their ability to produce the following the year, it is not advised to pick the flowers and in some areas it is illegal. Trillium plants should not be collected from the wild. Photo: Trillium erecta.

Mike is an avid plant researcher and propagator and his trillium collection features more than 25 distinct species or sub-species of trillium, his individual plants number in the hundreds. He has been experimenting with trillium for more than 10 years. While Mike simply enjoys interesting plants, he explains that “part of the reason for the collection is for hybridizing, especially the T. sessile group from the central and eastern part of the country. West coast trillium are much larger and more vigorous but prefer summer full summer drought, east coast types tolerate summer water so they keep their foliage much longer into the season. I hope to hybridize a more vigorous trillium that could adapt to a wider range of garden conditions, including being able to take water throughout the season.” Photo: Trillium luteum above, Mike Thiede and one of his assistant gardeners in the garden.

Mike’s sloping woodland, creekside garden in Paradise is a perfect spot for trillium, which prefer woodland conditions: meaning some shade, soil is high in organic matter and which drains well, moist in spring and drier in summer/fall when the plants will go dormant. Photo: Trillium sp. opening in the soft spring sunlight.

Trillium make great spring woodland garden additions under pines or oaks. They can spread by seed (which is ant dispersed) or vegetatively, so that given the right conditions, over time, the plants naturalize into nice mass colonies. Trillium range in size from the petite snow trillium (Trillium nivale)- which is a very early bloomer and only about 2 -4 inches high, to Trillium grandiflorum the flowers on which are more than 3 inches across. The genus ranges in color from pure pure white, to pale mottled pink, to deep burgundy, and even an acid yellow. Photo: A large flowered Trillium albidum Mike observed in Nevada County this spring. Photo courtesy of Mike Thiede.

Trillium are best planted in late fall, and best divided when they are dormant from late summer on. While they can be grown from seed, it is a lengthy process. If you do encounter some nice looking plants for purchase this late in spring, as I did last year at a local California Native Plant Society chapter sale, Mike recommends leaving the plants in the pots and sinking the whole pot into partly-shaded woodland soil until fall when they will transplant more readily.” Mike also recommends a balanced fertilizer in spring around bloom time. Photo: Trillium sp. in a soft mottled pink.

For further reading, Mike recommends:

“Trilliums” by Frederick W. Case, Jr. and Roberta Case, Timber Press 1997.

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To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

I recently had the good fun of accompanying a visiting native bee specialist to a few of our local gardens. He was looking for one or two area gardens to monitor over time for bee activity and behavior. All of the gardens we visited were lovely, beginning to bloom and green with spring rains, buzzing with bees and other life. The last garden we visited was the largest of them, a peaceful, many-roomed and casually welcoming gardening with dappled light here, and warm sun here. Cascading roses and fireworks of alliums here, a tree heavy with blood oranges there. No perfect lawn, no tidy edges just a profusion of garden blending seamlessly with life around it. When we left this garden, my guest turned to me and said: Isn’t it nice to just BE in a garden like that sometimes? Photo: A heritage single rose in spring bloom.

As your garden – be it a balcony of containers or an acre of market crops - grows along into the fullness of the season – I hope you get some time between planning, planting, pruning, harvesting, feeding and watering to just be there in it during this magical month of may. Photo: An enthusiastic North State public garden in May. Read the rest of this entry »

With my peony buds positively fat and ready to burst open any day, I thought it was a great time to revisit this interview on how to grow peonies well in our region. They were among my mother’s favorite flowers, and are without question among mine. Enjoy!

Some plants are rooted more deeply into each gardener’s personal memories than others - the plants they grew up surrounded by, the plants grown by people they loved perhaps. Peonies are among those memoried plants for me. Each June, when I was a child, my family’s dining room table would be graced by a Wedgewood-blue urn-shaped vase overflowing with opulent and sensual pale-pink and pink-flecked-white blooms of sweetly-scented double peonies grown by my mother. In this annual June arrangement, the rounded, ruffled, voluptuous peonies were accented by delicate little spires of red coral bell flowers. The composition of this arrangement - its size and shape and colors and scent - marks for me, still. the height of elegance and beauty. Read the rest of this entry »

Due to Northstate Public Radio’s Spring Membership Drive, there is no regular airing of
In a North State Garden this weekend April 21st and 22nd.

Please join us for a special one-hour call-in of In a North State Garden on Northstate Public Radio (91.7 fm KCHO in Chico; 88.9 fm KFPR in Redding) on Tuesday April 24th from 10 am - 11 am. The show will focus on “The State of the North State Foodshed: A Conversation” with special guests Earl Bloor of Edible Shasta Butte, Noelle Ferdon of Buy Fresh, Buy Local North Valley, Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Farms, and Wayne Kessler of Shambani Organics and the Shasta Community Teaching Garden.

If you enjoy In a North State Garden and all that it brings to the North State, please consider calling in during the special to make your pledge of support for Northstate Public Radio and its valuable local programming! 1 - 800 234-5246.

In the meantime, while the apple blossoms are blooming, I thought it was a good time to revisit the Trinity Heritage Orchard Project in Weaverville. The orchards will be breathtaking this time of year.

“A Lilac bush and an Apple tree
Were standing in the woods,
Out on the hill above the town,
Where once a farmhouse stood.

In the winter the leaves are bare
And no one sees the signs
Of a house that stood and a garden that grew
And life in another time.”

Kate Wolf - The Lilac and the Apple Tree

The North State has many rich legacies. One of them is heirloom apples. Since 2006, Carol Fall, Program Representative for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Trinity, has been working year-round trying to trace and document this very legacy for the Trinity Heritage Orchard Project (THOP). Photo: An heritage apple tree in full production at the Steiner Flats orchard site in Trinity County.

The Trinity Heritage Orchard Project is “a multi-purpose effort by the UCCE which seeks to preserve the horticultural history of the County, promote heirloom orchards as a food resource, and demonstrate techniques to care for these neglected trees.” It is one of the branches (pardon the pun) of “Trinity Roots,” an initiative sponsored by UCCE in Trinity County in order to promote agritourism and locally-supported agriculture. Photo: Carol Fall, UCCE Program Representative in Trinity County, beneath a fruiting apple on the grounds of the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

Among many other programs on which Carol works, the Heritage Orchard Project is clearly close to her heart. She is animated and infectious in her enthusiasm for the project, the heritage it strives to protect, and the very trees themselves. Weaverville and Trinity County in general are clearly close to her heart. Photo: Carol Fall, UCCE Program Representative in Trinity County, discussing the quirks of some of the heritage trees at the BLM-owned Steiner Flats orchard site.

Carol works out of the Young Family Ranch, a remnant pioneer homestead dating back to the 1850s in Weaverville, located alongside the historic Weaverville Cemetery. The Ranch is owned by the Young Family Ranch Trust and managed by the Trinity County Resource Conservation District. When she is not out in the trees, or implementing one of the other UCCE nutrition or agriculture-education programs in the county, Carol is at the Young Family Ranch diligently mapping the location of old trees in the County, writing up seasonal conditions reports, inventorying the trees identified so far, and even tending to young grafts of some of the most significant old varieties. Photo: At the end of the grape-vine enclosed nursery garden at Young Family Ranch stands an elegant old barn.

Recently, Carol toured us around the Young Family Ranch grounds - citing the history of the buildings and the trees. Over a delicious and completely Trinity-County-sourced lunch, she talked with passion about the fun and satisfaction involved in locating the County’s old trees. She described hiking through snowy wilderness areas, orchard ladder in hand, in early spring “because that’s the easiest time to spot the trees - when they’re blooming!” she explained. Photo: The entrance sign at the Young Family Ranch.

THOP got its start in early 2006 with an effort to save and document old trees around the historic Lowden Ranch in Lewiston. A stage coach stop, post office and the location of a critically important bridge crossing the Trinity River, Lowden Ranch once boasted 3000 orchard trees. Like most of the heritage orchards in Trinity County, Lowden Ranch’s orchard was originally planted by settlers coming to the area after gold was discovered in the County in 1858. Among the many things that settlers brought with them from their former homes were cuttings and root stock for both productive and ornamental plants. Many, many varieties of apples were brought to the area and planted not only for their fruit but as importantly for producing hard cider. Now owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Lowden Ranch has just a few remaining trees - including ‘Sweet Bough’ and ‘Siberian Crab’ apples. Photo: Spring apple blossoms.

In the spring of 2006, when the decision was made by UCCE to undertake such a project, the first thing on the agenda was trying to locate old trees and remnant orchards in the County. While settlers may have “streamed to the area” following the discovery of gold, many historic homesteads were abandoned and allowed to return to their natural state once gold fever had passed. “At this point,” laughs Carol, “Trinity has more bears per capita than it does people.” Trinity County which covers around 2 million acres, is largely rural and boasts two of the North State’s most revered wilderness areas, The Trinity Alps and the Yolly Bolly Wilderness. Although many historic trees and orchards remain around existing towns, these wilderness areas are also dotted with historic apple trees marking the spots (along with other fruit trees and lilac bushes) where once homesteads stood. Photo: A heavily laden branch of ‘Sierra Beauty’ with an old shed side and the Weaverville Cemetery in the background.

To get the initial old-tree inventory started, the UCCE got information from a variety of sources. A Trinity County-legend, botanist and forester, Alice Goen Jones walked Carol through topographical maps of the County and marked areas in which she knew there were, or had once been, producing trees. Alice, who died at the age of 98 in 2010, was the 9th woman graduate of a forestry program in the United States and only the 3rd in the state of California, according to Trinity County Historical society sources. She received her degree in Forestry from UC, Berkeley in 1934 and subsequently moved to Trinity County with her husband. Alice was one of the leading advocates for the Trinity Alps to be designated as an official Wilderness Area, which it was in the 1980s. Alice knew the wilderness areas of Trinity County as well as anyone and Carol expressed how lucky she was to have received so much first-hand information from Alice. Photo: A largely untended, but fruitful ‘Rome’ apple dating back to the 1860s at the Steiner Flat orchard site.

Carol and the UCCE also reviewed existing historical records and put out a call to local residents through ads and community announcements requesting any information about old trees. Over 145 locations of old trees were reported and listed by mid-2006. Some were single trees, Carol said, others were larger orchards. Photo: The freshly cut but quickly browning flesh of a famed cider apple, the ‘Hubbardston Nonesuch.’ This apples develops a protective russet-colored netting on its skin as it matures, making it an excellent ‘keeper’.

Between 2006 and 2007, staff on the THOP visited 50 of the reported tree sites. “In the fall of 2006 and 2007, apples and pears were collected from 118 trees at 28 locations,” Carol reported. Of the originally visited 50 sites, 22 of them did not bear fruit. Collected fruit was sent to Ram Fishman of Greenmantle Nursery in Garberville for identification. Carol described Ram as the “Godfather of Heirloom” in the area, and his nursery is dedicated to “All the old timers, Long may they thrive”. After years of working with him, sending fruit to id and cuttings to graft and propagate, Carol has learned a lot. Over time, she has developed her own sense of which trees are most interesting, bear the best fruit, might be a variety as yet undocumented by the project, or might be worth reproducing as clones to protect the lineage. But she is always excited when she finds something she is not sure of and sends it off to Ram for confirmation. Photo: Heritage pears are also tracked and documented for the Trinity Heritage Orchard project. This one ornaments the entrance to the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

Ideally, Carol maintains a fairly systematic schedule of visiting old trees in spring to see if they are in bloom, reporting on time and condition of bloom and then re-visiting those same trees again the following autumn to collect and report on the tree’s fruit. “I try to collect fruit from one tree six times over the course of the fruit production, each time collecting from a different part of the tree. I note things such as ripening time, color of fruit over time, flavor, juice, aroma, flesh texture and the color of the fruit when cut.” All of these factors indicate different things, such as how well people will like the apples, and help Carol decide to collect ’scion wood’ cuttings in order to reproduce the trees or not. “People used to have very different standards as to what made a good apple,” Carol said. “For one thing, whether it kept well without refrigeration. For another, how soft it was. Many people today prefer a crisp, firm apple. But back then, they did not have the teeth we have now or the dentistry and so a soft apple - like ‘Golden Sweet’ was preferred. They also used a lot of apples for drying, cooking, and making cider and hard cider. Many of these heritage apples, such as ‘Hubbardston Nonesuch’ and ‘Smith Cider,’ aren’t great eaten fresh, but make great cider or cookers!” Photo: Heritage lilacs, roses and pears are also tracked and documented for the Trinity Heritage Orchard project. This pear ornaments the entrance to the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

One of the goals of the THOP is to identify and reproduce culturally significant varieties, especially ones no longer in cultivation and in danger of being lost as a genetic strain. Between data collected on the fruits of the heritage trees and the identification provided by Ram Fishman, Carol and UCCE decide whether or not to collect cuttings from which to grow clones. Cuttings are taken as hardwood cuttings from the top of the tree in February when the tree is dormant. Apples are some of the longest lived fruit trees, especially in the ideal (for apples) climate of Trinity County, with its cold winters and dry hot summers. But Carol admitted to there being a certain urgency to the work, for her, as these trees begin (after all these years) to “senesce and head towards the end of their useful life.” She worries that important old varieties could be lost before she gets to them to take cuttings. In spring 2008, Carol identified a significant tree in one of the wilderness areas, but wildfires that summer, caused so much damage in the region, that the tree was lost. “It was heartbreaking.”

When a tree is chosen for cloning, multiple cuttings are grown-on to increase the chance of success that one or more will reach maturity. Ram Fishman keeps some of the clones, and the UCCE takes some them. Once the clones are big enough, the UCCE plants the young trees in public areas such as schools and banks and libraries in order to keep the genetic variety alive and to provide fruit and access to this ‘living history’ to the public. “Trees from scion wood collected in 2006 have been planted in the Weaverville Children’s Garden, Hayfork Children’s Garden, Weaverville Community Forest, Lowden Ranch, and the Young Family Ranch.” Photo: Apples from the Steiner Flat trees.

“You can request this work be done by us as well.” Carol related with regional pride that a long-time resident of downtown Weaverville requested that UCCE take cuttings of the name-unknown old tree in her garden. “She’s 98 and happily paid the small fee for identifying and taking cuttings under the condition that we re-plant the tree at the local school before she dies. There’s a great legacy.”

If you’re headed to Trinity County, you can visit many of the historic orchards on your own, and public gleaning is allowed, but gleaners are asked to follow good gleaning etiquette, for instance do not climb or otherwise cause potential damage to the trees and ask first to pick any fruit from private property. Although originally planted by miners and homesteaders following the Gold Rush, many of remnant orchards and trees are on land now owned by local or federal agencies. Photo: Apples from the Steiner Flat trees.

The following orchards are listed as easily accessible:

Lee Ranch House, Weaverville
Located on Lorenz Street behind the Jake
Jackson Museum, owned by Trinity
County.The ranch house was built in 1918 by
Sam Lee, a miner, farmer, storekeeper
and descendant of a pioneer
chinese family.
Apple trees include Gravenstein, Lawver
and Grindstone (AKA American Pippin).

Steiner Flat Orchard, Douglas City
Turn on Steiner Flat Rd from Hwy 299 at Douglas City. Go 3
miles. Orchard is on your left. Owned by BLM.
Steiner Flat was settled by Benjamin Steiner in 1850. The
ranch produced fruits and vergetable to sell to the mining
community.
Apple varieties include Sweet Bough, Roxbury Russet,
Holland Pippin, Hubbardston Nonesuch, and Rome Beauty.

Lowden Orchard, Lewiston
Located on Lewiston Road, 2 miles north of Hwy 299.
Look for Parking Area & trailhead. Walk trail 1/4
mile north through pasture. Owned by BLM.
William Lowden established a homestead here in
1852. His Grass Valley Ranch supplied produce
to a hotel and stage stop at the ranch and other
locations beginning in 1858. Only a few trees remain
from an orchard that once included almost 3000 trees.
Apple varieties include a Sweet Bough and Siberian Crab.

Highland Art Center, Weaverville
Located on Hwy 299, across from Jake Jackson Museum
Owned by Snyder-Highland Foundation.
The Highland Art Center was formed in 1953. The facilities
were orginally a residence built in 1894 with various out-
buildings added over the years.
The apple tree adjacent to the white picket fence is a
Keswick Codlin.

UCCE serves Trinity County through its 4-H Youth Development Program, Nutrition, Family & Consumer Science Program, and Agriculture & Natural Resources Program. Carol is hoping to also begin a Trinity County Master Gardener program in spring of 2012. Photo: Heritage trees that have been visited by Carol or other UCCE staff are pin-pointed using GPS and labeled as well as entered into the computerized data-base of the THOP trees.

The Young Family Ranch hosts a series of events to educate children and their families about gardening, nutrition and natural resources, including the Summer Day Camp, Pioneer Day, a Pumpkin Patch and Cider Pressing. For more information on upcoming activities, contact: TCRCD at (530) 623-6004.

Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook.

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. Made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico, In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

“In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” –Margaret Atwood.

Any gardener can tell you that soil is the soul of the garden. It is the foundation on which all else is built. If you look carefully at the health (or non-health) of your plants, you can tell quite a lot about what is happening in your soil. Or what is not happening in your soil. Got a problem with a plant? Want to grow a new kind of plant? One of the first things most good gardeners might say to you is: Test your soil.

But step back a second. Look up from your tomato plant, your vegetable bed, your shrub or perennial border and cast your eyes to the horizon: look at the formation of the lands all around you as you garden, as you hike, as you drive. Look at lay of the land and this will tell you even more about your soil.

Look at the lay of the land with Andrew Conlin, Soil Scientist with the USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), by your side and you will learn learn much much more than that. You will begin to see not only what is happening in the world beneath you feet right now, but also what did happen - last season, 10 thousand years ago, millions of years ago.

Andrew Conlin reads soil. Based on years and years of study and the systematic mapping of hundreds of square miles of soils in Northern California, Andrew can read the geomorphology of the lay of the land in front of you with his eyes analyzing colors, textures, gradients, and associated vegetation. He can read much about the composition and history of soils with his hands as he moves from soil type to soil type on a walk. Walking with Andrew brings to life the dramatic history of climactic events that have created the amazing landforms and soils of Northern California. This in turn brings new meaning and the beginning of a deeper understanding about the soil I hold so dear in my garden.

On a yearly basis, Andrew offers guided walks of some of the soils in our area. These lively and intriguing walks are like seeing the story of our part of the planet unfold before your eyes in the 3-D, high-def technicolor that is the great outdoors: Volcanoes churn like “cement mixers” and erupt in the distance; lava and mud flows for miles and miles; ash flies; boulders and rock rumble across the landscape; rain and mammalian movement wear pathways and crevices; winds blow; creeks and rivers rise and flood; soil forms, ages, developing complex microbiology; oaks and pines, alders and sycamores, buckbrush and toyon, grasses and forbs root themselves in their preferred soils; and the storyline continues on.

“Big plants need big soils!” Andrew point outs emphatically. “You can look across this landscape and as you look more closely, you can see how the vegetation strata - the layers of plant life - correspond to the rock/soil strata in which they are growing.”

Andrew is leading two of these guided soils walks for the public in the Chico area this spring, you will enjoy every minute of each one them:

On April 21st, at 9 am, Soils, Landforms and Vegetation of Upper Bidwell Park
In association with Gateway Science Museum, Andrew will be offering a guided tour of the soils of Upper Bidwell Park. MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Andrew will walk you through time, space and the shifting soils of the many elevations of this area - from the top of the sweeping plateau to the river bed below. Meet at Parking Area B (the second parking area on your left as you drive into Upper Park). Come dressed for walking and being outside. Bring water and snacks for a 1 - 4 hour amble. For more information contact Jennifer Jewell, Volunteer Coordinator Gateway Science Museum: jjewell@csuchico.edu or 530-588-6369.

May 19th, Saturday Soils, Landforms and Vegetation of the BCCER (moderate)
Andrew Conlin, Soil Scientist, Natural Resource Conservation Service
The best way to understand why things live and grow where they do is to understand the soils and landforms beneath them. Andrew Conlin has spent the last 20 years conducting soil surveys of areas including Butte County and Lassen Volcanic National Park and has created the soil map covering the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. Join us to gain a ‘deeper’ understanding of how what you see relates to what’s beneath your feet. For more information contact Outdoor Education Coordinator Scott Huber at whuber@csuchico.edu or (530) 898-5010.

Andrew Conlin, USDA-NRCS and the Great Soil Surveys of Northern California

The USDA- NRCS Soils division and its associated mapping of the majority of the soils of the United States, including Northern California, traces its beginning to the great Dust Bowl tragedy of the 1930s in the American midwest. After this great environmental disaster, it was clear and imperative that the integrated and comprehensive oversight and management was needed for one of our countries greatest natural resources: our soils.

Over time, the work and efforts to understand and map the nations soils and to disseminate the resulting information to people and organizations (like farmers, ranchers, miners, city planners, gardeners and you and me), have been under one government department or another, but is currently part of the USDA- NRCS. The USDA-NRCS has soil offices across the country, including 8 in California, 3 in Northern California.

The information collected and managed by the USDA-NRCS soils staff is put to practical use in many ways by the department’s soil offices and soil scientists, as well as being compiled online. “Web Soil Survey (WSS) provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey, an effort of Federal and State agencies, universities, and professional societies to deliver science-based soil information. It is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world. NRCS has soil maps and data available online for more than 95 percent of the nation’s counties and anticipates having 100 percent in the near future. The WSS website is updated and maintained online as the single authoritative source of soil survey information.”

As described by the USDA-NRCS: “If you look in a soil pit or on a roadside cut, you will see various layers in the soil. These layers are called soil horizons. The arrangement of these horizons in a soil is known as a soil profile. Soil scientists, who are also called pedologists, observe and describe soil profiles and soil horizons to classify and interpret the soil for various uses.”

“Soil horizons differ in a number of easily seen soil properties such as color, texture, structure, and thickness. Other properties are less visible. Properties, such as chemical and mineral content, consistence, and reaction require special laboratory tests. All these properties are used to define types of soil horizons.”

Some key things to keep in mind about the big picture of soil and how and why it’s important to us all, as summarized by the USDA-NRCS include:

“Soils perform vital functions: sustaining plant and animal life above and below the surface; regulating the flow of water and soluble materials; Filtering, buffering, degrading, immobilizing, and detoxifying; Storing and cycling nutrients; Providing support to structures. Andrew pointed out one example of such function as we walked recently: “This soil here is very shallow and fragile above bedrock. This thin layer of soil is incredibly important in conveying water laterally - like a paper towel.” This steady controlled conveyance in turn affects erosion and in turn water quality in the creek below.”

“Soil is the Basis of the Ecosystem: The living systems occurring above and below the ground surface are determined by the properties of the soil. We often ignore the soil because it is hard to observe.”

“Soils Support Life: Organism Types Roles & Benefits
bacteria decomposition
fungi release nutrients
protozoa create pores
nematodes stabilize soil
arthropods
earthworms

“Soil Management Affects Soil Quality”

“Soils Have Unique Physical, Chemical, and Biological Properties Important to Their Use: Soil is a natural body of solids, liquid, and gases, with either horizons, or layers or the ability to support rooted plants.”

“Soil-Forming Factors Determine the Location and Kind of Soil: There are 23,000 soil series in various combinations with different slopes and surface textures in the U.S. Soil Forming Factors include:
Parent Material Climate Living Organisms Topography Time”

“Soils Have Limitations Which Must Be Understood: Concerns for life and properties include: allergies, corrosivity, dust, flooding, gypsum dissolution piping, contaminants crop loss erosion, frost action, liquefaction, radon, rapid runoff, sand blowing, septic failure, sinkholes, soil borne disease, sulfidic materials, water tables, salt build up, sedimentation, shrink-swell, slope failures, subsidence, urban hydrology.”

“Scientific Names for Soils
• Like plants and animals, soils are classified
• The system is called Soil Taxonomy
• The highest level is the soil order (12)
• The lowest level is the soil series, often a
place name”

“Soil Science is interwoven into much of we do and study: Science: ecology, biology, chemistry. Social Studies: world trade, land use. Mathematics/Engineering: soil loss, soil formation. History:
settlement of the U.S., development and evolution of agriculture, dust bowl.”

“Soil Survey is a Scientifically-Based Inventory: A soil survey includes maps, descriptions, properties, climate, and interpretations. These are excellent sources of information.
About 3000 counties (including the counties in the North State) in the United States have a soil survey.”

Have you seen yours? Andrew Conlin or a soil scientist in your area can walk you through it! Join Andrew April 21st and May 19th. You will never see the lay of our land, the soil in your garden, in quite the same way.

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To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

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In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays can also be found at ANewsCafe.com.

This week In a North State Garden has the pleasure of interviewing Scott Huber, Education and Research Coordinator of the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves (BCCER) located near Forest Ranch. Scott talks to us about the reserve’s spring hike series, which really brings this large expanse of beautiful natural land to life for the public visitor. Many groups in the North State offer guided hikes in State and National Parks, Forest Service Land, Bureau of Land Management lands and more. There is a lot to be learned and enjoyed in the company of these groups with knowledgeable people leading the way. This week’s essay discusses the BCCER, and its spring hike series, as well as lists nature hikes/walks being offered by other groups of interest in the region. Some of the most consistent of these groups include the Shasta Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, the Mt. Lassen Chapter of the CNPS, the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club. With this much opportunity - you have no excuse - get out and take a hike! Read the rest of this entry »

“A little madness in the spring is wholesome even for the King!”

I like to think that when Emily Dickinson wrote these words, she included some heady joy in the word madness, and she included us all in the wholesome benefits. Spring makes many of us feel a bit kingly – a bit more expansive in our energies.

So much comes to life in the garden in April! Winter crops like bok choy and hardy lettuce are finishing, bolting, blooming and going to seed; spring crops are at their peak; summer crop-seedlings of peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and squashes are busting out of pots in greenhouses across the region - eager to get into the ground. Perennials like peonies, roses and herbal oregano and calamenthe are poking up and leafing out. Early blooming daffodils, witch hazel and red bud are turning over the stage to the next in line. Early seasonal farmers markets are opening: on Thursday April 5th the Chico Thursday Night Farmers Market returns, and on Saturday April 7th, the Redding Saturday Market opens for its season.

And in between rain, snow, wind and cloud cover which move swiftly across the landscape, warm pools of sunlight intermittently illuminate my bright spring blooms. In golden California poppy cups, on acid-yellow bok choy flowers, and Ceanothus the color of lapis lazuli, you can hear and see the positively kingly buzzing of our many pollinators – bees, butterflies, flies and more - at their work of collecting pollen and nectar. Their work is of course at the same time accomplishing work for both the flowers and plants and for us the gardeners who love and cultivate these plants for food and for beauty.

April is a good time in the garden for heading off the now-sprouting weed seeds in our borders, for saving or sowing seeds, for giving your trees and shrubs a feeding with a balanced slow-release fertilizer, for applying iron-supplements to acid loving plants that may look a little chlorotic (my gardenias and camellias like this boost!), and for preparing and amending soil in areas of the garden with compost. For heavy feeding beds, like vegetable beds or rose beds, I add manure-enriched compost. Because many of our native pollinators are ground nesters, I also try to leave areas of bare soil on the outskirts and native plant areas of my garden, these are generally less-watered areas of my garden, with plants that don’t want a lot of cover over their roots and around their crowns anyway.

Good things to direct seed into the garden this month include: beets, beans, leeks, lettuce (unless we get a heat wave), and radish, if you still have seed potatoes, get them in the ground! Once your area gets just past average last frost (mid-April in the Valley), you are fairly safe to sow corn, cucumbers, eggplant, pumpkins and squashes. Some interesting cut-flowers to direct seed outdoors this month include aster, celosia, cleome, cosmos, marigolds, salvia, scabiosa, sunflower and zinnia.

Some months the regional calendar of gardening events seems to have a theme of its own – that seasonal cycle of purpose. This month is buzzing with Pollinators and Pollination Passion!

The On-line Calendar of North State Gardening Events at jewellgarden.com adds events throughout the month. I do my very best to keep the calendar up to date and accurate, please confirm all events with the event host. If you have an event you would like listed or if you are aware of a mistake on the calendar, please send all pertinent information to: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com! Thanks!

March 30 - April 1 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Field Trip together with Altacal Audubon: Pinnacles National Monument, San Benito County. Late March is a great time for wildflowers and nesting song birds at Pinnacles NM south of Hollister in San Benito County. Come together with wildflower and avian enthusiasts to soar with California condors after hiking the well groomed, 2 mile trail to the “High Peaks”. Then look west across the Salinas Valley toward the Ventana Range and elsewhere across the green, rolling ridges of the inner Coast Range. Shorter trails access upland habitat and through a jumble of boulders that create cool caves along a water course tumbling from an upper reservoir where water fowl are found. Nesting habitat for easy bird watching is abundant in the stream wash next to the campground on the east side of the Monument. Condors can be seen at dawn roosting in the conifers on the ridge above. The Monument’s large campground for tents and RVs (full hookups available) is a 5 hour drive from Chico down I-5 and via Hwy 152 over Pacheco Pass. Reservations for a group camp site or circle of camp sites will be made. Contact Woody at woodyelliott@gmail.com or 530 342-6053 to sign up. For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

March 31 - Forest Ranch: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves, CSU, Chico Spring Hike Series: Outdoor Survival Skills 1 (moderate) Scott Grist Join Scott Grist for a day of learning ancient wilderness survival techniques as used by the Native Americans of this area. We will focus on the bow drill fire starting technique using natural materials found in the area. There will be a fire-making workshop where everyone can get their hands on the materials and take home their own bow drill kit. The workshop will be followed by a plant walk where we will learn the uses of some of our native edible and medicinal plants in the reserve. Scott received a degree in Geology from CSUC and has since been practicing wilderness survival in several different environments across the country. These hikes range in levels of difficulty from moderate to strenuous. Advanced signup is required via e-mail to bccer@csuchico.edu or by calling Leana at (830) 898-5010. Each hike will accommodate a limited amount of hikers so you are encouraged to sign up early.

March 31 - Chico: Friends of the Chico State Herbarium Workshop Emerging Botanical Field Methods: Using new technologies to identify, map, and explore wild diversity by Dan Gluesenkamp 9:30 am - 4 pm; Rm 129 Holt Hall, CSU, Chico. Learn how to use your iphone, android, tablet or GPS camera to precisely map plants. Find out how to report beautiful or important plant discoveries and explore plants from mountaintop, desktop or laptop. This workshop will introduce the use of all of the latest technology to be ready for your best spring wildflower season ever! This workshop will meet Saturday, March 31, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Holt Hall room 129 at CSU Chico. The registration fee is $100.00 personal, $125.00 business, $40.00 student (only 2 seats at this price), $90.00 for members of Friends of the Herbarium. Please register in advance; class size is limited to 25 participants (class cancelled without a minimum of 10 participants). For more information about workshop content please con- tact Dan Gluesenkamp at dan@calflora.org or 415-939-6681. For more in- formation about workshop registration please contact the Biology office at (530) 898-5356 or jbraden@csuchico.edu.

March 31 - Oroville: California Dept of Fish & Game WILDFLOWER TOURS OF North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: 10 am and 1 pm each Saturday in March and April. Each 2 hour/2 mile tour is free, but limited to 25 attendees and attendees MUST pre-register on-line at www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region2/northtable.html. For more information: 916-358-2869.

March 31 - Vina Plains Preserve with the Nature Conservancy - Vernal Pool Tours: 10 am - Noon. Enjoy a 1 mile hike across some of our most beautiful and interesting scenery in Northern California. Tours will be led by California Native Plant Society botanists, knowledgeable in the plants and ecology of these rare treasures. Wear Boots for uneven and muddy terrain, bring binoculars, snack and water - no DOGS, To register or for more information: nature.org.

March 31 - Arcata: Humboldt Permaculture Guild’s 14 Annual Seed And Plant Exchange 11am - 4pm, admission is free. Arcata Community Center. Workshops, speakers, live music, food, raffle, seeds including Redwood Seeds, and starts. 321 Community Park Way, Arcata.

March 31 - Sacramento: Sacramento: Gardens Gone Native 10 am - 3pm 10am to 3pm Tickets: Free, attendance is limited & registration is required Contact: gardensgonenative@gmail.com, Attn: Tara For more information: (916) 374-8116 or cnpsgarden@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CaliforniaNativePlantGarden.

March 31 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Walk With Lisa Endicott, Horticultural Manager 11 am. Bring your notebooks and camera! We’ll make our way through the Gardens with frequent stops for discussions about (what else?) plants! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

March 31 - Paradise: Mendons Nursery hosts Selby Apiaries Beekeeping Classes: 10am and 2 pm. Help save the honeybees! Pick up live beehives perfect for home gardens. For more information call Fred Selby: 530-566-4736.

APRIL

April 1 - Chico: The Plant Barn and Gifts Workshop “Designing with Succulents” 2 - 4 pm. Call for more information. 406 Entler Ave Chico, Ca 95928 530-345-3121/fax 530-345-5354 www.theplantbarn.com

April 1 - Chico: Breaking Bread, Breaking Ground - building a new Community Garden 4:30 - 8 pm. Help Us Build a New Community Garden Doors open at 4:30 — Dinner at 5ish Local gourmet meal, Silent Auction, No-Host Bar Music by Stevie Cook (4:30) and The Railflowers (6:00) Tickets are $25 each Table of eight is $200, and includes two bottles of wine Hosted by the Butte Environmental Council and Cultivating Communities Tickets available soon. ARC Pavilion 2020 Park Avenue Chico. For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/393182280698183/

April 2 - Chico: 2012 Chico Organic Gardening April Classes: Worm-Farming 101! Compost, Vermacompost, and Worms! 6:30-8:30 $10.00 at the door. Join us for an informational evening with Mark Purser of THE WORM FARM and learn how to transform kitchen food waste into the best compost money can buy through WORMS! Mark will teach us how to house, feed and put worms to use to produce year-round soil enhancing nutrients for your garden and plants. A method so easy and efficient you can even keep your worm bin in the house! In “Worms Eat My Garbage” by Mary Appelhof, 1lb of redworms will eat 1/2lbs of garbage per day easily transforming daily waste into rich fertilizer, saving energy, reducing waste disposal cost and saving you money because you will have your own supply of compost. Mark is a great speaker, passionate about the topic of worms, vermacomposting and compost in general and will help you launch the system that’s right for you in order to enhance the productivity of your garden or farm and save you money and energy as well. If you’ve wanted a compost system but didn’t want to strain your back or give it much thought, Mark will teach you how to start with worms. As one Chico worm enthusiast says, “My worm bin not only eats my garbage daily but I always have worms to fish with, feed my chickens for extra protein and jump-start my clippings and leaves pile. Plus, I don’t have to turn my worm bin and strain my back!” Monday April 2, Matthews Café, 1600 Mangrove.

April 4 - Chico: Gateway Science Museum MWOW presents: “Keeping Company with Flowers: a glimpse into the world of pollinators”, by John Whittlesey, plantsman and owner of Canyon Creek Nursery & Design 7:30 pm CARD Center in Chico. Gateway’s Museum Without Walls Spring 2012 Lecture series is titled: Butterflies, Bees & Bats! Native Pollinators of Northern California. The series runs every Wednesday from April 4th to May 2, 2012. Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) Center, 545 Vallombrosa Ave, Chico. A donation of $3 per adult is requested. Students with ID are free. Question and answer period will follow each program.

April 4 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Regular Monthly meeting and Program: Exploring the Outback at Kangaroo Lake, presented by Marjorie McNairn 7:30 pm Butte County Library, Chico. In the Klamath National Forest, Kangaroo Lake Botanical Area is located along the spine of the Scott Mountain Range in the southeastern edge of the Scott River Ranger District. It is the most easily accessible of several adjacent Botanical Areas noted for high elevation ultramafic soils and home to many rare and sensitive plant species. The Fen Trail is representative of this unique environment and the plants that inhabit it. For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

April 6 - FULL MOON

April 7 - Redding: Roses & Rust Vintage Home and Garden Market 8 am - 5 pm Redding Civic Auditorium from 8 am to 5 pm. The entrance fee is $5.00, with children under 16 free. The Market is presented by 4 creative ladies, which include Bonnie Burhart as the director, Lynni Miller, Zizi Ukestad and Kimberly Snowden. Awarded the honor of being one of the Top 10 Romantic Flea Markets in the Nation by Romantic Homes Magazine in August 2011, we are even more inspired to create an event that showcases businesses and provides beauty and inspiration to all who attend.What you will find is fabulous treasures for your home and garden from French Chic to Rustic Farm Chic, Up-cycled, Salvaged and Re-Purposed goods, plus hand-crafted jewelry, food, music, and more! Visit our blog at www.RosesandRust.blogspot.com and our Facebook page: Roses AndRust http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002674864446&sk=wallwww.RosesandRustVintageMarket.blogspot.com

April 7 - Oroville: Oroville Wildflower Festival hosts Selby Apiaries Beekeeping Classes: 10am and 2 pm. Help save the honeybees! Pick up live beehives perfect for home gardens. For more information call Fred Selby: 530-566-4736.

April 7 - Oroville: California Dept of Fish & Game WILDFLOWER TOURS OF North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: 10 am and 1 pm each Saturday in March and April. Each 2 hour/2 mile tour is free, but limited to 25 attendees and attendees MUST pre-register on-line at www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region2/northtable.html. For more information: 916-358-2869.

April 7 - Davis: UC Davis Arboretum Guided Tour: Plant Sale Preview2 p.m., Arboretum Teaching Nursery, Garrod Drive, UC Davis; Gardeners thinking about adding new plants to their home landscapes can visit the demonstration plantings at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery during a special tour on Saturday, April 7. The tour will focus on the best plants for our garden climate, including the Arboretum All-Stars, plants selected by the Arboretum’s horticultural staff for their beauty, reliability, heat and drought tolerance, and value in attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators. There will be time for questions and answers about participants’ own gardens and any special problems they might have. No plants will be for sale during the guided tour, but visitors will get a special preview of the plants that will be for sale at the Arboretum’s spring plant sales on April 14 and May 19. The tour will meet at 2:00 p.m. at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, on Garrod Drive across from the School of Veterinary Medicine on the UC Davis campus. Free parking is available along Garrod Drive and in Visitor Lots 50 and 55. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

April 7 - Redding: Wyntour Gardens Kids Easter Basket Planting 10 am - noon. Kids get to plant a basket of pansies. Free. 8026 Airport Road, Redding CA. More info: 530-365-2256/wyntourgardens.com

April 8 - Forest Ranch: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves, CSU, Chico Spring Hike Series: Flower Identification Hike (moderate) Robert Fischer This hike is meant for the wildflower enthusiast of any skill level. Our goal is to learn a few new foothill plants, take photos, share any knowledge we have on the characteristics that separate our local species, and learn their common or Latin names. We will develop a sharper eye for plants, large and small, and a few of the details that separate them from each other. For further details, such as the on-site meeting spot, call Robert Fischer 343-3620 or write to rdfischer@comcast.net. Bring your favorite identification book and a hand lens if you have one. These hikes range in levels of difficulty from moderate to strenuous. Advanced signup is required via e-mail to bccer@csuchico.edu or by calling Leana at (830) 898-5010. Each hike will accommodate a limited amount of hikers so you are encouraged to sign up early.

April 9 - Chico: 2012 Chico Organic Gardening April Classes: Canning, Drying, Freezing & Putting Up. Now that you’ve grown it What To Do With It? with Mary Berglund 6:30-8:30 $10.00 at the door. Mary Berglund will show us how to preserve our garden food. After raising her family on fresh fruits and vegetables from her backyard Chico garden, Mary is the master of “Putting Food By” and will impart her knowledge in this informative, practical workshop. Simplicity, variety and a bit of daily diligence is the key to fitting it all into a busy life and Mary specializes in growing it and getting it to the table all year ‘round. Her genius is in her own technique of blending the elegant and beautiful with presentable home-grown product. Tonight we will hear all about it and be able to pick Mary’s brain! A Not-To-Be-Missed Class, this is the one I get the most requests for and the beginning of the season is the perfect time to plan for what to do with all that bounty….from Asparagus to Zucchini! Mon April 9, Matthews Café, 1600 Mangrove, 6:30-8:30 $10.00 at the door.

April 9 - Paradise: Paradise Garden Club Monthly Member Meeting and Program 1 pm. Terry Ashe Rec Center Paradise. For more info: http://paradisegardenclub.org/

April 11 - Magalia: Magalia Beautification Association Regular Monthly Meeting & program: The MBA meets on the second Wednesday of the month at the POA Racine Center in Magalia (map); 12:30 for lunch, 1:00-3:00 for business. Please join us! The sole qualification is an interest in gardening, horticulture, civic art, and/or beautification in Magalia. For more info: http://magaliagardeners.webs.com/aboutus.htm

April 11 - Davis: UC Davis Arboretum Walk With Warren Noon. 12 p.m., Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, Old Davis Road, UC Davis; Join Arboretum Superintendent Emeritus Warren Roberts for a lunchtime stroll in the UC Davis Arboretum’s native plant collections on Wednesday, April 11. Enjoy the early spring weather, learn about the Arboretum’s collections, see spring wildflowers in bloom, and get a little exercise. Meet at noon at the Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, located on Old Davis Road at Mrak Hall Drive, across from the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour. Parking is available for $7 in Visitor Lots 1 and 2 and the Mondavi Center parking structure. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

April 11 - Chico: Gateway Science Museum MWOW presents: “Nectar and Pollen in Northstate Wildflowers: Food for a Diversity of Native Pollinators”, by Dr. Rob Schlising, professor emeritus of Biological Sciences, CSU, Chico 7:30 pm CARD Center in Chico. Gateway’s Museum Without Walls Spring 2012 Lecture series is titled: Butterflies, Bees & Bats! Native Pollinators of Northern California. The series runs every Wednesday from April 4th to May 2, 2012. Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) Center, 545 Vallombrosa Ave, Chico. A donation of $3 per adult is requested. Students with ID are free. Question and answer period will follow each program.

April 12 - Oroville: Lake Oroville Area Garden Club Regular Monthly member meeting Meetings are held September-June on the 2nd Thursday of the month. “Coffee, Cake and Conversation” from 9:30 to 10:00am with the General Meeting beginning at 10:00am. Meetings are generally adjourned around 11:30am although this may vary depending upon that month’s scheduled program. Meeting location is Trinity Presbyterian Fellowship Hall at 2350 Foothill Blvd, Oroville, CA (North of Olive Highway on Foothill Blvd.). We invite guests to attend +++ your first meeting is FREE. For More Info: http://www.loagardenclub.com/

April 13 & 14 - Redding: McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens 20th Annual Spring Plant Sale! Friday, 5:00-8:00pm, Turtle Bay Members Night Event (Memberships available at the gate) Saturday, 9:00am-2:00pm, General Public Sale! Our ever-popular, heirloom vegetables are a main feature of the spring plant sale - and they sell out fast! In addition, we have available an enormous stock of unusual, drought-tolerant, and hard-to-find perennials, shrubs, and trees, as well as California native plants and a wide variety of sought after ornamental grasses, all grown here in our Nursery and acclimated to Redding’s vigorous climatic conditions. Sale includes a discount for the public, and an even greater (than the everyday 20% off) discount for Turtle Bay members. FREE admission into the Gardens. Arboretum & Gardens Nursery 1100 Arboretum Drive (Next to Greenhouse in Nursery) Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Nursery on immediate left.

April 14 - Forest Ranch: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves, CSU, Chico Spring Hike Series: Wildflowers, Geology, and Natural History (strenuous) Dr. Paul Maslin Dr. Maslin has spent the last twelve years learning, understanding, preserving and restoring the 4,000 acre Reserve and has an intimate familiarity with it’s natural history. Join him for an insightful exploration of the property. This hike is several miles on trails but over some rough terrain. Hikers should be in good physical condition. These hikes range in levels of difficulty from moderate to strenuous. Advanced signup is required via e-mail to bccer@csuchico.edu or by calling Leana at (830) 898-5010. Each hike will accommodate a limited amount of hikers so you are encouraged to sign up early.

April 14 - Redding: Shasta Chapter California Native Plant Society Field Trip: Yana Trail area of the Sacramento River Bend Recreation Join Jay & Terri Thesken for an 8- to 9-mile hike to the Yana Trail area of the Sacramento River Bend Recreation Area north of Red Bluff. The bluffs adjacent to the Sacramento River are typically covered with wildflowers at this time of year. This will be a long, all-day hike that requires good hiking boots, water, and lunch. No dogs, please. Space will be limited, so call Jay & Terri at 221-0906 for time, directions, and further information. For more info: http://www.shastacnps.org/calendar.html

April 14 - Davis: UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale: 3Bs—Birds, Bees, and Beneficials 9 a.m.–1 p.m., Arboretum Teaching Nursery, Garrod Drive, UC Davis; Central Valley gardeners can enhance their gardens with beautiful spring plants from the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum plant sale on Saturday, April 14, 9:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m., at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery. The sale will feature hundreds of different kinds of plants, most of which have been grown in Davis and will thrive in Central Valley conditions, including newly-introduced and unusual garden plants that are hard to find or not available in commercial nurseries. This sale has a special focus on plants that attract and support pollinators in the home landscape. Many of the Arboretum All-Stars, the Arboretum’s top recommended plants for Central Valley gardens, will be for sale. Experienced gardeners will be on hand to advise on the best plants for shoppers’ garden conditions. At the Plant Doctor booth, plant pathology graduate students will diagnose plant pests and diseases—shoppers can bring samples of problem plants in a sealed plastic bag for advice. Anyone can join the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum at the door and receive a 10% discount on purchases. New members get a coupon worth $10 off their purchases in addition to the 10% member discount. The Arboretum Teaching Nursery is located on Garrod Drive across from the School of Veterinary Medicine on the UC Davis campus. Free parking is available along Garrod Drive and in Visitor Lots 50 and 55. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

April 14 - Oroville: California Dept of Fish & Game WILDFLOWER TOURS OF North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: 10 am and 1 pm each Saturday in March and April. Each 2 hour/2 mile tour is free, but limited to 25 attendees and attendees MUST pre-register on-line at www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region2/northtable.html. For more information: 916-358-2869.

April 14 - Vina Plains Preserve with the Nature Conservancy - Vernal Pool Tours: 10 am - Noon. Enjoy a 1 mile hike across some of our most beautiful and interesting scenery in Northern California. Tours will be led by California Native Plant Society botanists, knowledgeable in the plants and ecology of these rare treasures. Wear Boots for uneven and muddy terrain, bring snack, binoculars and water - no DOGS, To register or for more information: nature.org.

April 14 - Redding: Shasta Community Teaching Garden Workshop “Non-Toxic Insect Management”, presented by Jim Collins 1 - 3 pm. Shasta College Main Campus. Insect problems are generally an indicator that the gardener needs to correct something out of balance. Pesticides further degrade this balance leading to more and worse problems and sending the gardener backwards in her efforts to grow nutritious food, like the children’s game chutes and ladders. Garden Manager Jim Collins will be discussing new developments in ecoagriculture and sustainable practices, as well as time-honored methods of managing problem insect populations while simultaneously encouraging pollinators and other beneficials— nearly impossible if you use pesticides. There will be ample time for questions and specific problem-solving. Presenters: Jim Collins Fee: $15.00. For more info or to Register on-line at www.shastacollege.edu/EWD and click on Pathways. Or, call: 530.242.7630

April 14 - Chico: Gateway Science Museum Sustainability Gardens Workshop: Full of Beans: A Legume Extravaganza 2 - 4pm. Gateway Science Museum outdoor amphitheater. Join Kalan Redwood of Redwood Seeds and GRUB for this hands on workshop all about dry beans, including a hands-on bean art activity. Beans offer a valuable source of protein and nutrition in a small homestead or urban garden. Learn the ins and outs of planting, seed saving, harvesting, and cooking. Part of the class will include a “taste testing” event with many varieties of dry beans, including Tiger Eye and Orca, cooked up for eager taste buds. If you grew dry beans this year and want to include your beans in the Taste Test contact Kalan Redood at info@redwoodseeds.net. This workshop is FREE, but does not include admission to the museum. Please note, if you wish to visit the Gateway Science Museum, general admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children over the age of 3, and free for children under the age of 3. For more info: www.gatewayscience.org

April 14 - Redding: Wyntour Gardens 20th Anniversary Celebration 10 am - noon. Fun-filled day of classes, workshops, specials! 8026 Airport Road, Redding CA. More info: 530-365-2256/wyntourgardens.com

April 15 - 22 - California Native Plant Week!

April 15 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Field Trip: NOMLAKI TRAIL MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy 99/32) at 9 am. The hike area is located about 27 miles northwest of Corning, CA. We will walk downhill through the regrowth of an old burn area in chaparral, and expect to see Indian warrior, late fawn lilies, wooly sunflower, Ithurial’s spear, and various shrubs. Bring lunch, water, sun protection, and hiking shoes for a 4-mile round-trip walk. Bring money for ride sharing. Call for secondary meeting place. Leader: Marjorie McNairn 530-343-2397 For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

April 15 - Redding: Shasta Community Teaching Garden Workshop “Permaculture: Re-Thinking the Way We Use Our Yards”, presented by Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper 1 - 3 pm. Shasta College Main Campus. Permaculture is the practice of working with, rather than working against nature. Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper will introduce you to permaculture philosophy, ethics, principles and goals, and teach you the basics of designing an ecological landscape. Stephanie is a certified Permaculture Landscape Designer, co-owner with her husband of Gaia Creations in Chico, providing landscape design services in Butte County and the Northern California region. Presenters: Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper Fee: $15.00. For more info or to Register on-line at www.shastacollege.edu/EWD and click on Pathways. Or, call: 530.242.7630

April 16 - Chico: Chaffin Family Farms and Weston A. Price Foundation present famed-family-farmer Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms 5:15 pm doors open Neighborhood Church of Chico. Ticket Price: $12 per ticket paid online. Joel’s newest book, “Folks, This Ain’t Normal” speaks to consumers about how far we’ve gotten away from common sense and what really works in the natural world. It talks about the trade-offs we’ve made for the conveniences of our modern society. So while I think Joel will spend a brief amount of time recapping his farm and all the amazing work he does, this year his lecture will be completely different and dive to a whole new level of depth surrounding food, farming, and culture. I saw part of his new lecture recently and I have to admit it’s funnier than ever. If you know Joel, than you know you get lots of humor mixed into his sobering message. I think you’ll leave not only educated but also inspired to create change and support our local community in new ways. Chico Neighborhood Church 2801 Notre Dame Boulevard, Chico, CA For tickets go to http://salatinchico.eventbrite.com/

April 18 - Chico: Gateway Science Museum MWOW presents: “Bees and Flowers, the Love Affair Continues”, by Dr. Gordon Frankie, professor and research entomologist in the Division of Insect Biology, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley 7:30 pm CARD Center in Chico. Gateway’s Museum Without Walls Spring 2012 Lecture series is titled: Butterflies, Bees & Bats! Native Pollinators of Northern California. The series runs every Wednesday from April 4th to May 2, 2012. Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) Center, 545 Vallombrosa Ave, Chico. A donation of $3 per adult is requested. Students with ID are free. Question and answer period will follow each program.

April 18 - Redding: Shasta Rose Society Regular Member Meeting and Program with Carole Schmitz, Consulting Rosarian, with a program on Propagating Roses from Cuttings. 7 pm. City of Redding Corporation Way, 2055 Viking Way, Building 4, room 401. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. www.shastarosesociety.org

April 19 - Redding: Shasta Chapter California Native Plant Society Regular Member Meeting and Program 7 PM at the Shasta College Health Science & University Programs building in downtown Redding, 1400 Market Street, Community Room 8220 (clock tower building at the north end of the Market Street Promenade; enter on south side of building). A Board meeting will be held before the regular meeting, at 5:30 PM at Angelo’s Pizza Parlour in the Foundry Square, 1774 California Street, Redding.

April 19 - 21- Redding: Shasta College Spring Plant Sale This 3-day spectacular spring plant sale will be held at the greenhouse/horticulture area of Shasta College. We will be selling our spring-blooming native plants, so call Jay & Terri Thesken at 221-0906 to volunteer for a few hours to help out. Set-up is on Wednesday, April 18, from 4 PM to 6 PM. The plant sale is 8 AM to 5 PM on Thursday and Friday, and 9 AM to 4 PM on Saturday. For more info: http://www.shastacnps.org/calendar.html

April 20 & 21 - Oroville: Butte College Campus Nursery annual spring plant sale Friday Apr 20 from 9am - 5pm and Sat Apr 21 from 9am - 3pm. There is an early bird special from 9 am - 10 am on both days, plus 30% off all plant material and 50% off of selected items. We will have lots of veggies along with plants and trees. Butte College Campus off of the number 4 parking lot (follow the signs). For more info: Allison Burns: msaliburns@yahoo.com

April 21 - Chico: Landforms, Soils, and Vegetation of Upper Bidwell Park, led by Andrew Conlin, NRCS soil scientist stationed at the Chico Cooperative Soil Survey Office 9 am - 1 pm. Meet at parking area B (second parking area on your left) in Upper Bidwell Park at 9 am for this 2 - 4 hour stroll through soil and time. The best way to understand why things live and grow where they do is to understand the soils and landforms beneath them. Andrew Conlin has spent the last 20 years conducting soil surveys of areas including Butte County and Lassen Volcanic National Park and has created the soil map covering Butte County. Join us to gain a ‘deeper’ understanding of how what you see relates to what’s beneath your feet, and the intricate association between soil, vegetation and wildlife and human history. Walking tour - please wear sturdy walking shoes and appropriate clothing. For more information: www.gatewayscience.org

April 21 - Chico: The Plant Barn Nursery & Gifts hosts Selby Apiaries Beekeeping Classes: 10am and 2 pm. Help save the honeybees! Pick up live beehives perfect for home gardens. For more information call Fred Selby: 530-566-4736.

April 21 - Oroville: California Dept of Fish & Game WILDFLOWER TOURS OF North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: 10 am and 1 pm each Saturday in March and April. Each 2 hour/2 mile tour is free, but limited to 25 attendees and attendees MUST pre-register on-line at www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region2/northtable.html. For more information: 916-358-2869.

April 21 - Redding: McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Vegetable Gardening Class 10 am - 12 noon. Join local organic gardener Cleo Lane for a lively discussion of vegetable gardening in our climate with a focus on: seasonal planting, growing more tomatoes, gardening with children, pollinators, pests and diseases, and organic gardening methods. FREE for Members, $3 for Nonmembers. Meet at the Arboretum & Botanical Gardens Office (1135 Arboretum Drive next to Nursery Greenhouse)

April 21 - Sacramento: Historic City Cemetery OPEN DAY in the Gardens 9:30 am - 2 pm. Come enjoy spring in the California Native Plant Demonstration Garden, The Rose Garden and the Perennial Garden. The Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc. provides unique events for people of all ages. FREE - Donations are always appreciated.Parking within the cemetery is very limited. Please park across the street at the Sacramento Works building and enter the Cemetery at the main gate on 10th Street and Broadway.

April 21 - Chico: Chico Creek Nature Center “Celebrate the Jewel!” Earth Day festivities celebrating all things Bidwell Park. MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER OF CNPS SPRING PLANT SALE!! 11 am - 3 pm. More details at http://www.bidwellpark.org/page/calendar/events.php?mo=4&yr=2012

April 21 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society RARE PLANT TREASURE HUNT: PULGA TO MAYARO, FEATHER RIVER Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy 99/32) at 9 am, with lunch, water, and walking gear. Thomes Creek Ecological Reserve northeast of Corning: looking for dwarf downinga, Ahart’s nailwort, Boggs Lake hedge-hyssop, and Henderson’s bent grass. For details and to sign up, email: rareplantschair@mountlassen.cnps.org For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

April 21 & 22 - Chico: Leo T. Clark annual Iris Show and Plant Sale! April 21-22, 2012; Place: Chico Mall, 1950 East 20th Street, Chico, CA Show Chair: Claudia Owen, 837 Miller Ave., Chico, CA 95928; Phone: 530-899-7784

April 22 - EARTH DAY

April 22 - Forest Ranch: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves, CSU, Chico Spring Hike Series: Spring Bird I.D. (moderate) Dawn Garcia 8:30 am-12:30 pm. Join master bird banding expert and Altacal Audubon Society’s Conservation Chair Dawn Garcia on a bird identification walk through the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. Expect to see early arriving migrants like black-headed grosbeak, warbling vireo, Bullock’s oriole and yellow warbler. We’ll meet at the Chico Park-n-Ride (east lot) at 8:30 am and have you back to your vehicle at 12:30 (app.) These hikes range in levels of difficulty from moderate to strenuous. Advanced signup is required via e-mail to bccer@csuchico.edu or by calling Leana at (830) 898-5010. Each hike will accommodate a limited amount of hikers so you are encouraged to sign up early.

April 22 - Redding: Shasta Chapter California Native Plant Society Plant Propagation/Clean-up Session Two-hour work session starting at 10 AM at the Shasta College greenhouses. The greenhouses are located at the back of Shasta College, near the livestock barns. We will be sprucing up, weeding, and potting up nursery starts and rooted cuttings. Bring rooted plants, clippers, and any other tools you might need. Please call Susan Libonati at 347-4654 or Jay & Terri Thesken at 221-0906 for further information. For more info: http://www.shastacnps.org/calendar.html

April 23 - Colusa: Garden Club of Colusa County Regular Monthly Meeting & Program 6:30 pm. We meet on the fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 pm at St. Stephen’s Church, 642 Webster St. in Colusa. We have a short social time with refreshments followed by a short business meeting and a program. For more info: http://colusa-garden-club.webs.com/

April 24 - Northstate Public Radio: In a North State Garden One-Hour, Live, Spring-Special Call-In: The North State Food Shed: an Overview Panel Discussion with Earl Bloor of Edible Shasta Butte, Noelle Ferdon of Buy Fresh, Buy Local, Wayne Kessler of Shasta Community Teaching Garden and Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Farm. Join us! 10 - 11 am on fm 91.7 in Chico, or fm 88.9 in Redding. For additional translators or to stream-live go to www.kcho.org, or www.kfpr.org.

April 24 - Chico: 2012 Chico Organic Gardening April Classes: TUESDAY All Things Tomatoes Class & SALE! Growing Heirlooms, Best Varieties for Our Area, and Secrets to Growing Mouth Watering Tomatoes AND Plant Sale! with Nancy and Brian of Sawmill Creek Farms 6:30-8:30 $10.00 at the door. Nancy and Brian of Sawmill Creek Farms sell some of the most diverse tomato plants obtainable and they are Passionate about growing tomatoes. Want to know what heirlooms are, which ones do well here and how to grow them? Want to know determinant vs. indeterminant and which is best for you? Get ready to not only hear all the tricks of the tomato-growing-trade but also bring home beautiful, robust, hardy, ready-to-plant tomato starts and know exactly what you’re getting and how to grow them. Even a novice or seasoned tomato grower will love the Passion and knowledge these farmers have for their tomatoes! Save the Date-Plan to Get Your Tomato Starts Here-It’s Worth the Wait! Tues. April 24, Matthews Café, 1600 Mangrove, 6:30-8:30 $10.00 at the door.

April 24 - Chico: Butte Rose Society Regular Monthly Meeting and Program 7 pm. General meetings of the Butte Rose Society are held on the last Tuesday of the month January-May and August-November. Meetings begin at 7 pm and are held at the Chico Veterans Memorial Hall at 554 Rio Lindo Ave. Membership is open to all interested in roses, but anyone may attend the General Meetings. Membership is $20.00 per year and provides you with the monthly award winning newsletter and special invitations to members-only events held throughout the year. CONTACT US AT: Butte Rose Society, PO Box 8888, Chico, CA 95927. http://www.butte-rosesociety.org/

April 25 - Chico: Chico Horticultural Society regular member meeting and Program on Gardening for Pollinators with Statewide Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, Pam Geisel 9:30 am gather, 10 am program. Butte County Library, Chico. PUBLIC WELCOME. For more info email jennifer@jewellgarden.com

April 25 - Chico: Gateway Science Museum MWOW presents: “Bats of Northern California”, by Mary Jean “Corky” Quirk, founder of NorCal Bats 7:30 pm CARD Center in Chico. Gateway’s Museum Without Walls Spring 2012 Lecture series is titled: Butterflies, Bees & Bats! Native Pollinators of Northern California. The series runs every Wednesday from April 4th to May 2, 2012. Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) Center, 545 Vallombrosa Ave, Chico. A donation of $3 per adult is requested. Students with ID are free. Question and answer period will follow each program.

April 27 - Oroville: Friends of the Chico State Herbarium Workshop “Reproductive Biology of Table Mountain Wildflowers” with Dr. Rob Schlising and Dr. Adrienne Edwards 9:30 am to 4 pm. This workshop will meet in the field, on Friday, 27 April 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Table Mountain, approximately 5 miles north of Oroville. Gain intimate knowledge of the plant- and pollinator-strategies for survival on the Lovejoy basalt! Enjoy a day really getting to know the wildflowers on world-famous North Table Mountain, near Oroville, California. This workshop will include a long walking tour to examine and determine distinguishing features of Table Mountain flowers and fruits in this wildflower meadow. Attention will focus on at least four aspects of plant biology: 1) pollination, 2) life form and phenology, 3) propagule dispersal, and 4) seed and seedling biology. The registration fee is $100.00 personal, $125.00 business ($90.00 for members of Friends of the Herbarium), $40.00 student (only 2 participants allowed at this price). Registration must be completed by Wednesday 25 April; class size is limited to 16 partic- ipants (class cancelled without a minimum of 10 participants). For more information about workshop content please contact either instructor at aledwards@csuchico.edu or rschlising@csuchico.edu. For more information about workshop registration contact the Biology office at jbraden@csuchico.edu or (530) 898-5356. Registered participants will be emailed a map of the meeting site on 25 April.

April 28 - Davis:UC Davis ArboretumYour Sustainable Backyard: Pollinator Gardening 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m., room 1001 Giedt Hall, UC Davis; Fee: $45, includes coffee/scones and boxed lunch. Learn how to support pollinators and enhance the environmental potential of your home landscape during a special workshop on Your Sustainable Backyard: Pollinator Gardening. Sponsored by the California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis, the workshop is designed to inspire gardeners and show them how simple gardening practices can support healthy populations of pollinating insects. Following talks by entomologists, horticulturalists, and garden design experts, participants will have the opportunity to tour the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven Garden and talk to bee habitat experts. Then visit the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery to tour the pollinator plantings and enjoy a special pollinator plant sale. The workshop will take place on Saturday, April 28, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., in room 1001 Giedt Hall at UC Davis. The fee is $45 and includes parking, morning coffee, tea and scones, and a gourmet boxed lunch. For more information or to register, visit ccuh.ucdavis.edu or contact Missy Gable at 530-752-6642 or mjborel@ucdavis.edu.

April 28 - Forest Ranch: Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserves, CSU, Chico Spring Hike Series: Identifying Spring Bird Song (moderate) Scott Huber 7:00 am – 12:30 pm. Learning to identify bird song will increase your ability to detect the presence of many bird species and greatly enhance your enjoyment of time spent in the outdoors. Scott Huber has led numerous workshops and field trips on western bird song identification, and in addition to pointing out songs, calls and the species they belong to, he will share tips and clues to audio identification. Bring your binoculars – you’ll want to match the visual field marks of the birds you see to their songs! Meet at the Chico Park-n-Ride (east lot) at 7:00 am and be back to your vehicle at around 12:30. These hikes range in levels of difficulty from moderate to strenuous. Advanced signup is required via e-mail to bccer@csuchico.edu or by calling Leana at (830) 898-5010. Each hike will accommodate a limited amount of hikers so you are encouraged to sign up early.

April 28 - Oroville: California Dept of Fish & Game WILDFLOWER TOURS OF North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve: 10 am and 1 pm each Saturday in March and April. Each 2 hour/2 mile tour is free, but limited to 25 attendees and attendees MUST pre-register on-line at www.dfg.ca.gov/lands/er/region2/northtable.html. For more information: 916-358-2869.

April 28 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Whole Earth Day and Watershed Festival 2012 Whole Earth Day and Watershed Festival Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Celebrate Earth Day at Redding City Hall Visit Turtle Bay’s Forestry Learning Center to learn about the important role forests play in our world. The purpose of this event is to increase the awareness of the fragile state of our planet and share information about how individuals and our communities can work together to help the Earth thrive. By bringing together numerous organizations, businesses, and individuals in celebration of Earth Day, we hope to inspire commitment to live more sustainably, build community, and have fun! Visit www.wholeearthandwatershedfestival.org for more information. Free community event! Redding City Hall Community Room and Sculpture Park

April 29 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Field Trip: PULGA TO MAYARO, FEATHER RIVERMeet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy 99/32) at 9 am, with lunch, water, and walking gear for a drive along the PG&E power line road above the Feather River with several stops to look at Fritillaria, snowdrop bush, bleeding heart, and many others. The road is rough and mostly 1-lane. At Pulga we start in the serpentine and higher up we run into granite and quite a different plant community. The road is gated above Mayaro but we will hike along it for a short distance. A gorgeous waterfall at Camp Creek is near the lunch stop. Call for directions to alternate meeting place. Leaders: Wes Dempsey, 530-342-2293 and Gerry Ingco, 530-893-5123. For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

April 29 - Davis:UC Davis ArboretumArboretum Nature Discovery Drop-in 1–3 p.m., Wyatt Deck, Old Davis Road, UC Davis; Got nature? Naturalists of all ages are invited to visit the UC Davis Arboretum for a special chance to explore, observe, investigate, and enjoy hands-on activities. Who knows what plant and animal treasures you’ll discover when you drop by! All ages welcome. The Nature Discovery Drop-in will take place on Sunday, April 29, 1–3 p.m., at the Wyatt Deck, located on Old Davis Road next to the redwood grove in the UC Davis Arboretum. Free parking is available in Visitor Lot 5, at Old Davis Road and A Street. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

April 29 - Redding: Shasta Chapter California Native Plant Society Field Trip: Davis Gulch Trail The Davis Gulch Trail is a fairly easy 3.5-mile walk at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, but does have some rough terrain, so some agility is required. The trail starts out under a canopy of canyon live oak and black oak with an understory of snowdrop bush; transitions to bigleaf maple and white alder in a canyon with sword fern, chain fern, bracken fern, and maidenhair fern; climbs through chaparral and a thick grove of Brewer’s oak; and ends in a grove of ponderosa pine. Participants will receive a copy of our ever-increasing plant list for this trail. Meet at Redding City Hall’s south parking lot on Parkview Avenue at 9:30 AM, or at the trailhead at 10 AM. Parking permits are required at the recreation area. No dogs, please. For more information, call David Ledger at 355-8542. For more info: http://www.shastacnps.org/calendar.html

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In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays can also be found at ANewsCafe.com.

In my experience, gardening is a motivating and compelling force to bring people together. Even with our time and attention constantly split and fractured, we still find ways to come together over gardening - perhaps particularly so over food gardening. While there are pros and cons to the ever increasing presence of technology in our lives, many gardeners have found that technology can be an incredible boon to our gardening knowledge and resources and connections. Photo: Members of Chico Garden Share Project at a project-hosted permaculture workshop “Making Bokashi and Creating a Winter Garden with Sheet Mulch”. Members shown include Agb biotics, Rosie, Wendy and Joseph Wiklund, Leslie Wilson Corsbie, Laurie Niles and Monica Bell. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring is very nearly officially here in the North State. It is a time of year when our mild climate and amazing soils result in the entire region fairly busting at the seams with new growth and renewed life. Gardeners, farmers, ranchers and market growers are all up to their elbows in this life: seeds, seedlings, transplants, blooms, pollinators, eggs, chicks, calving and lambing, and so on. In the vegetable garden and farmers markets the end of the cold hardy winter crops are slowly yielding to the tender spring offerings of asparagus, peas and spring greens. As growers - and as EATERS - we live in a mighty fertile foodshed. Many of us chose to live here because of this abundance, and many individuals and organizations work hard to help maintain, support and even grow this very foodshed. The Buy Fresh Buy Local - North Valley, an outreach of the Northern California Regional Land Trust (NCRLT), is one such program. Photo: The Buy Fresh Buy Local bumpersticker which has ornamented the bookshelves above my desk since summer 2010, when I participated in a Slow Food Shasta Cascade event in Red Bluff. Lower: A pipevine swallowtail butterfly sips nectar from a blooming ‘Santa Rosa’ plum in early spring. Read the rest of this entry »

In this day and age of budget and labor cuts in all areas of society: private, city, state, federal, non-profit and corporate, volunteers are often the stopgap measures between families and organizations grinding to a dismal halt or continuing on. Volunteerism can work well or it can work not-so-well depending on myriad circumstances and variables. When volunteerism works well, it’s a thing of beauty, bringing benefit to the volunteers themselves, the organization for which they are volunteering and to the greater community in which they live.

Successful volunteerism and the betterment of our community - as well as one of our region’s well-known plant communities - are just a few of the rewards of an almost-4-year partnership between the City of Chico Parks Department, the Chico High School Agriculture program, and the Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS). Read the rest of this entry »