California’s Fascinating Native Plants-persons

Interest
in native plants is growing, as gardeners seek new ways to make their gardens more
water-wise and life-friendly. Native plants connect us to the land and its
people. And our knowledge of regional plants owes a huge debt to the native
plants-persons – the early botanists, naturalists, plant collectors and
nursery-persons – who first documented and described these plants. 

California
is blessed with an abundance of interesting people connected to native plants. From
the 1800’s to the present, these native plants-persons have shaped our
knowledge, use and conservation of regional plants.  We’ve featured some of the more interesting in
our ‘Out of the Wilds and Into Your Garden’ lecture series over the years.  Many are little known, even to persons who
work with native plants.

We
learned many interesting stories in preparing these talks (they will probably be
new to you as well).   And while the lives
of some plants-persons are well documented, others required a bit of historical
sleuthing and conjecture.  But all can serve
as an inspiration and challenge to gardeners, landscape designers and life
scientists.   What an amazing, curious
and hardy group – may we live our lives half as fully as they!

·        
Theodore Payne: the legacy of a CA native plantsman - http://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/theodore-payne-2013

·        
Lester Rowntree: legacy of an unusual California native
plantswoman - https://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/lester-rowntree-2014

·        
Alice Eastwood: an unusual California botanist and her
legacy - http://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/alice-eastwood-2015

·        
Mary Katharine Brandegee: an unique California botanist and her
legacy - http://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/katherine-brandegee-2016

·        
Leroy
Abrams and his Los Angeles
flora: https://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/leroy-abrams-2017

·        
Beatrice
F. Howitt and her life with wildflowers - https://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/beatrice-f-howitt-talk
 

·        
S.B.
Parish & W.F. Parish: amateur botanists in S. California - https://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/parish-2018

To access
slides from all of the 2009-2018 lectures in this series (covering a range of
California native plant gardening topics) see: http://nativeplantscsudh.blogspot.com/p/out-of-wilds-and-into-your-garden-talks.html

We
welcome your comments (below).  You can
also send your questions to: mothernaturesbackyard10@gmail.com