Notes from the Nursery Manager
A is for Acorn
Believe it or not it’s acorn collecting time again Collecting as many as we can for restoration projects Drought has seriously hampered acorn production in California Exudation is the sticky substance you find on damaged acorns. Leave them be. Find an oak with grass underneath for a soft landing and better chance of survival. Green […]
Some Like It Hot
Others… not so much. As the summer takes hold and the mercury climbs many of our natives decide to close up shop and hunker down until October’s first rains. Dormancy is an important way to survive the 4-6 months of intense heat and almost total lack of water. This includes dropping some or all of […]
Desire Under the Oaks
One of the more frequent questions I get in my capacity as local plant nerd is what can I plant underneath my oak trees. Planting under oaks is tricky for a number of reasons. First, they are large and evergreen, thus allowing precious little sunlight to reach the ground anywhere near the trunk. Secondly, oak […]
Dreaming of a White Ceanothus
Stand anywhere in the Ojai Valley and look up and to your north or west. Well, not anywhere, this won’t work from your guest bathroom, I mean outside. Notice the white patchwork covering our beloved hillsides? Now get thee to thy nearest trailhead and take a deep breath. No, not the horse manure, try a […]
Fowl Weather Friends
The Ojai Meadow Preserve is a veritable cornucopia of ecological systems, one of the most popular and dramatic being the wetlands. Storm runoff which used to pour down the hills and flood Highway 33 is now caught in a nearly year-round pond and two vernal pools. The pools aren’t filling yet but the pond only […]
The Hardly Definitive Guide to the VRP Trail System Part 1
I’m not going to mince words here, or try to shoehorn a 68 point Scrabble word, the Ventura River Preserve is awesome. I am a wee bit biased; I live within 0.75, 1.5 and 2.25 miles from the three trailheads (I can hit the McDonalds with a 3 iron!) I receive a regular income from […]
Sowing the Seeds Part Deaux
Part Une was actually one of my first ever (2012!!). I was so young and naive and rain wasn’t a distant hazy memory. And I didn’t know how to insert YouTube clips. Gotta love the 1989 hair on these fellas no? You may have noticed hulking metal behemoths crisscrossing the Ojai Meadow Preserve this week. […]
Fall Fliers
Last Saturday, local avian stud Jesse Grantham led a herd of bird nerds on a lap around the Ojai Meadow Preserve. The fall migration season is picking up steam and the group espied 35 species. Some highlights to astound and enthrall will ensue post-haste: A marlin is a large sporting fish. Merlin is an Arthurian […]
Calling All Acorns
I am a lazy person. Always have been, always will be. That doesn’t mean I can’t get many things accomplished. I pace myself, and I know how to tactfully get other people to do things for me. I’m calling on you again. All eleven of you. Well, at […]
The Birds of Summer
The spring migrants are long gone and this year’s batch of fledglings are fighting for survival. There seem to be three birds which accompany me on every hike. Bold, beautiful and never bashful these three are the soundtrack for my perambulations. This is the first local bird beyond scrub jays and crows that I could […]
Sierra Serenade Part Two – Lundy Canyon
I know, we did Lundy last year. It deserves another visit. Trail was virtually empty at 10am, we got the waterfall all to ourselves for a whole 20 minutes. I think we saw at least 50 wildflower species, not counting flowering shrubs. To read more posts from the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s Nursery Manager Ron Singer, […]
Sierra Serenade Day One – Parker Lake
It’s that time of year again. As I type this it has been raining for three straight hours, and we watched lightning start a fire maybe a mile from the back porch. Don’t fret, we got off the trail just in time and then let the Clinton-era internet connection run all night to upload the […]
Bloom of the Month For June
This is one of those underappreciated overlooked beauties. Grows just about everywhere, usually lumped in with the other myriad random asters. But it is especially impressive and pink this year, and I have yet to sing its praises so here goes nothin’: Oh so many names. I first learned it as Perezia. In Spanish it […]
Nursery Stowaway
Every winter I start a whole bunch of Lupinus albifrons with seed collected from our very own Ventura River Preserve. It absolutely adores the rocky, sandy well aerated soils of the river bottom area. One of the more spectacular blooms of the late winter Back to the nursery. They germinate beautifully, like 90% success rate […]
Workday on the Ojai Meadows Preserve
Last week we had a planting day with Mr. Lepine’s Environmental Field Studies class from Nordhoff and Janis Duncan’s 3rd and 4th graders from Meiners Oaks Elementary, at the Ojai Meadows Preserve. The Big Brother/Sisters and their energetic pint-sized partners worked together to add some additional color and variety to the infamous Oak Circles I featured […]
Are Euc Idding Me? – On The Ojai Valley Meadows Preserve
There has been quite a bit of grumbling in the local media about the rampant “destruction” being wrought upon the Ojai Meadow Preserve by the OVLC. It is not my goal to point out how wildly underinformed some our local neighbors are. I shall instead take the high road and show you one of the […]
Bloom of the Month
Now for what you’ve all been waiting so patiently for… the bloom of the month. Not such an easy task in September when the local color palette ranges from tan to brown to rust. Hold on… what are those bright red things hugging the hill as you drive up 33 to Ojai? Ah of course, […]
