Sept. 26, 2013—Many days when we step outside onto our deck, a hummingbird zips up, pauses for a second and then zips away. We've convinced ourselves that he's greeting us, but we could be all wrong; he could be a she, and she could be trying to scare us away from her nest. Either way, one thing is certain: this never happened before we planted a salvia garden on the hillside just below the deck. The eight or so varieties of fragrant native California sage we picked out at the native plant nurseries were advertised as hummingbird and butterfly magnets, and they've delivered. Something's always on the wing in our little patch of gray-green foliage with the red, pink or purple blossoms.
But that's not really why we chose those plants. We chose them because they're drought-tolerant. When you live in a hot, dry area like we do—or in an area with a water shortage, like almost everyone in Santa Cruz County does—drought-tolerant plants just make sense. And if they're natives to boot? Then you can expect a menagerie of insects and birds in your back yard too. And really, who doesn't want that?
Not sure where to start? Watsonville Wetlands Watch is hosting the Pajaro Valley Native Plant and Backyard Habitat Festival this Saturday at the Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center, right behind Pajaro Valley High School in Watsonville. This is a big old party in the making, with music by marimba band Sadze, an Eco Kid zone, a visit from live raptors, wisdom from speakers, advice choosing native plants for your garden and a tour of the new high-tech greenhouse where WWW raises the native plants it uses to restore damaged wetlands to health. Bonus: Richard Merrill, author of the seminal sustainable agriculture text Radical Agriculture and father of the sustainable horticulture program at Cabrillo College, will speak at 11am. (See schedule below.)
And if you're wondering why they're doing this now instead of in spring, fall is actually a great time to start a native plant garden: a few weeks of hand watering to help get them established and then, with a little luck, Mother Nature takes over and waters them for the next months. By May they're blooming their heads off.
10 am Native Plants from Seed - Learn how to grow native plants from seed and take one home
11 am Keynote speech by Richard Merrill: "Backyard Habitat Gardens and Landscape Design—What, Why, How"
11 am Backyard Habitats Workshop - Learn how to create a backyard habitat
12 pm Bird Boxes - Build and take home a bird box
1 pm Live Raptors! - Meet a live raptor
1 pm Sharpening Garden Tools - Bring your garden tools and sharpen them while you learn
The Pajaro Valley Native Plant and Backyard Habitat Festival is Saturday, Sept. 28, 10am-2pm at Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center behind Pajaro Valley High School, 500 Harkins Slough Rd, Watsonville.
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