Planting Season Rolls On
Yet another visit to the Fullerton Arboretum
The rainy season is still in its early stages, and the impulse to put plants into the ground is hard to ignore. My last update was about my order from the local California Native Plant Society chapter, which introduced a large number of plants to the garden. In that same post, I mentioned how the Fullerton Arboretum has plant sales every now and then during prime planting season, and once I saw that they were starting up again, I simply had no choice other than to go.
I have a bit of a soft spot for the arboretum. If you have not been before, it is located on the northern side of Cal State Fullerton’s campus, and serves the greater northern Orange County and South Coast regions. There are other gardens nearby, such as Cal State Long Beach’s Japanese Garden, but you would have to travel a good distance to find an equivalent facility that has the variety of specimens that Fullerton possesses. If you appreciate California’s native plants, which I assume you do if you’re reading this, the Fullerton Arboretum is worth supporting given its mission to grow and advocate for our state’s biodiversity.
To my understanding, they grow the plants they sell at these sales on site. I have had good success before with the plants I’ve bought from them, and although I appreciate our excellent specialized native plant nurseries across the southland, there is a feel-good element to knowing your purchase is supporting the arboretum. Both times now, I have noticed that a number of ants accompany these plants, and their appearances might seem a little rougher at first than their commercial nursery grown cousins, but I have had no problem with any plants I have bought from Fullerton. Do your due diligence of course, but my personal confidence levels are high in the arboretum’s nursery as a whole.
The arboretum holds a number of sales during the season, so if you missed this one, you have more to look forward to. Check their website for dates, and make sure to come on over. Prices vary, but I find that the arboretum’s selection is usually cheaper than that of a nursery, but your experience may vary.
However, the real attraction of this sale was the variety. I came in with a couple of friends around eleven in the morning, and I was delighted to see the depth of the offering. I maintain a spreadsheet where I list out plants that I would like to add to my garden, but not all are easy to find depending on what nurseries have in stock. The arboretum had some real gems available, like a number of Matilija poppies, in addition to the usual favorites like sagebrushes and sages. If you are nerdy about native plants at all, and since you’re reading this, I assume you are, these sales are worth the visit.
I walked away with a desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), a bush sunflower (Encelia californica), a California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), a California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), a California coffeeberry (Frangula californica), a California wildrose (Rosa californica), a laurel sumac (Malosma laurina), a Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri), and two De La Mina verbenas (Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina’). I wanted to add a couple more, but luckily my common sense was able to win out.
That is a long list of plants, I know. I am fully in denial about the problem, but I am starting to run out of space in the garden. A number of these plants are replacing plants that did not make it through the difficult summer, native and non-native alike. I like to be upfront about the fact that I’m still very much in the process of learning about California native plant gardening, and one of the mistakes I made that I hope you can learn from is proper plant placement. I ended up having more shady spots in the garden than I realized, and I needed some part-shade tolerant plants like the wildrose and coffeeberry to come in. The other sin I’m guilty of is improper spacing, since I have been trying to maximize a smaller space.
The garden will continue to grow and evolve, as some plants most likely will not make it. I’m willing to hedge my bets and roll with the punches, but there is absolutely no harm in doing more planning ahead of time. Most plant sales, or nurseries for that matter, will publish their inventory online ahead of time. Scroll through the list and see if there are any plants that you would be interested in adding. My brain tends to work in spreadsheets, so if you are wired the same way, I highly recommend having a running spreadsheet with plants you have added to the garden and would like to add.
I would like to close this little update by encouraging you to visit the arboretum if possible. Their chaparral section is a joy to walk through, and at times, you can convince yourself that you are not in the middle of an ostensibly urbanized environment. That spirit of trying to create something special and reclaim a bit of what has been lost in spaces accessible to us, while protecting what has survived, is what guides a lot of my thinking on gardening. As the plants grow in, and I make my way through finishing touches that never seem to quite be finished, my garden feels more and more like a distinctive space.
I appreciate that the arboretum exists, as the land it sits on could easily have been planned out as a housing unit or parking lot, but instead it has become something much greater than that. It’s special, and I hope that all of us who are able to can follow its lead.
I encourage you to look into your local arboretums or gardens! From what I have seen, they are fantastic resources and a great place to connect with like-minded people in the world of gardening. This article is the second part of an informal series on maximizing the planting season for folks in the greater Los Angeles region. Keep an eye out for more articles throughout the rainy season, including one long form entry that I am particularly excited to share!
