The study and science of plants.
The newly fledged Forrest Deaner Native Plant Garden in the Benicia State Recreation Area has the distinction of being the second public garden in the Bay Area to focus exclusively on California native plants (the first is the Regional Parks … Read more
It’s no longer a secret to readers of this magazine that native plant gardens can look as beautiful as those stocked with showy exotics, while at the same time providing habitat for native insects and birds and conserving water and … Read more
Perched 600 feet above San Francisco Bay, Ring Mountain has spectacular views of the surrounding ridgelines, Bay, and urban areas. But you can also find much deeper views into the earth preserved in the remarkable rocks strewn about this wild and open landscape.
On just ten acres in the Berkeley hills, there's an enchanting garden that hosts much of California's vast botanic diversity. The Regional Parks Botanic Garden—Northern California's only public garden focused on our state's native plants—is a center for conservation, research, and public education. Rare and endangered plants from around the state have found a refuge here. And thousands of children and adults alike have walked the garden's paths, under the spell of our native flora.
January-March 2007 WEB EXTRA: Rare and Endangered Mosses Many of us go through life barely noticing mosses and their cousins, liverworts and hornworts. It’s easy to miss bryophytes—the collective name for mosses, liverworts, and hornworts—painted on a tree trunk, growing … Read more
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden, in Tilden Regional Park, is a 10-acre landscape of plants native to California. The garden includes ten sections corresponding to ten geographic regions of the state, all woven into a beautiful naturalistic landscape of trees, … Read more
When yellow star thistle hitched a ride to California on alfalfa seed in the mid-1800s, it found fertile soil, a temperate climate, and no natural enemies. In its native Mediterranean home, yellow star thistle is kept in check by a … Read more
By the time that sudden oak death (SOD) began hitting North Bay oaks and tanoaks in the mid-1990s, Ted Swiecki and Elizabeth Bernhardt, husband-and-wife plant pathologists, had been studying oak diseases in California oak woodlands for many years in the … Read more
Since 2000, sudden oak death has spread through 14 California counties, including all nine in the Bay Area, threatening our signature oak woodlands. Though rain, wind, and fog have caused much of that spread, some of the blame likely lies with those of us who venture into the woods for business or pleasure: The disease can move on infected plants and firewood, and on the muddy shoes and bicycle tires of recreational trail users.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
