This is California — Fall is for Planting!

We live in California, a Mediterranean climate zone where the return of rains after a long dry summer means GROWTH and GREEN! and PLANTING!

That's why all gardeners in California should seek out your California Native Plant Society plant sales.

Opening time at the CNPS Santa Cruz County plant sale last weekend! Shoppers stream towards our beautifully set out and labeled plants...

Santa Clara Valley chapter's sale is this Saturday, October 18! at Hidden Villa Ranch (26870 Moody Road, Los Altos Hills, 2 miles west of I-280) from 10 am to 3 pm, with two talks:

Steve Rosenthal will talk about pollinator/plant connection at 1:00 p.m., and Kevin Bryant will talk about "Success with Native Plants for Beginners" at 2:00 p.m.

Excellent news for anyone within driving distance.  Click the link above for more details, including a plant list.

CNPS Santa Clara Valley also shares their venue with another plant sale - that of the wonderful Acterra Native Plant Nursery.

Shoppers get busy picking and choosing

My chapter's sale (Santa Cruz County) was last week - sorry - I was too busy doing publicity for it to post I'm afraid, including this article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on creating a butterfly (and caterpillar!) garden. My article also publicizes the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum plant sale, held separately but at the same time and place. I think that sort of pairing of organizations happens quite a lot - more plants attract more happy customers.

We had a special on Iris this time!

There's nothing quite like the smile of a gardener with new plants!

Get a load of these beauties!

So - sorry I'm putting out this word a bit late but hope some of you will be able to go to a native plant sale near you. CNPS Plant sales are our chapters' major fundraisers, making all the work we do possible - and you'll often find plants there that are not available at commercial nurseries too, including local natives and more.

Happy planting!