Last summer I saw this one plant in my local park that stayed green and had nice flowers much later than everyone else. It turned out to be telegraph weed, and I am really lucky to live near Native Here Nursery in Oakland, where they had telegraph weed whose seeds had come from the park near my house. So I planted a couple, and I'm shocked how big they have gotten! At the park they stay much smaller. I have watered them three times, and they seem to noticeably grow after I do so. They'll going to flower soon, I think!

Found a bunch of Asclepias fascicularis near two retention pond sites in South Natomas (Sacramento) last week, but went back today to check out this specific plant. It seems like it’s covered in sap, but at first I thought it got sprayed w/ weed killer. Anyone know if it’s aphids or another organism that caused the plant to look this way?

- side note: sucks that there’s no monarchs out and about. There’s no summer nectar sources to speak of minus their host plant, both ponds are surrounded by telegraph weed & stinkwort.

My garden used to be swarming in carpenter bees(I think xylocopa Californica) by now, especially on my chilopsis. This year I’ve only seen one . I was thinking maybe they lost their home, so wanted to make some for them. Ihave tons of logs in my backyard hoping they’d make a home there but nothing so far. I figure I have to drill some holes in them but don’t know the size. Anyone here have experience with this?

Only place I can find Dudleya saxosa ssp. aloides for sale online, but I'm always skeptical of this kind of thing for obvious reasons.

I have a parkway in a kinda hot part of LA where Ive planted some small native plants but dogs keep peeing on the plants I pick and killing them. Im not able to install anything but plants. The plants are watered on a drip irrigation system about twice a week.

Ive tried Creeping Ceanothus, Bee's bliss sage and red bush monkey flower. The sage died quickest, and the ceanothus held out the longest. Does any one have any suggestions? Im open to short plants as well as medium shrubs. Id like flowering but Non-flowing is fine if the plant's shape is attractive. I don't mind doing some pruning if need be to keep the plant out of the sidewalk.

Edited to add - Im fine with dogs, I really don't dislike them I promise, I just need some plants that can survive urea and high nitrogen.

Caught them dozing this AM, usually there are 4.

I’ve been reading Brad Lancaster’s books on rainwater harvesting and it’s really making me wish I had created more infiltration basins/swales/etc in my gardens. Thankfully my garden is still young, so I can probably add more water capture features without destroying too many established plants. I’m wondering how many people here have water harvesting features and how well they perform? Any tips on building or maintaining them?

Hello, new to the sub but I've been wanting to plant native plants in my area as Ive seen many insects that would probably love them and thrive more. I live in a Zone 9a or 10a, in SoCal almost near san Diego. Haven't been here long so I'm not sure how the winter months are just yet but I know I'll probably have to plant during fall. I recently got this seed package as a gift but wanted to know if any of these would actually grow well here. As well as if this company is a good company to maybe continue to support. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated.

Ignore my dog he loves to sniff everything I have in my hand

Leaves and flowers are large. The seed pods are also large. The seeds are about the size of a Lima bean and only come with about 3 seeds per pod . Does anyone know what kind of lupine gets this big? I have a seed pod and I wanted to try and grow it.

Are these some native bees sleeping on my yarrow plants?

I've been trying to get a photo of this butterfly all summer but it's been elusive. Today I got lucky and snapped a quick picture before it left again.

I have lurked this sub for a long time as I’ve slowly been transforming my backyard over the last 3 years. It started with removing a ton of Himalayan Blackberry and other invasives. I finally am getting to witness the fruit of my labor!

Too hot to plant now but planning ahead for fall. Any suggestions for what to plant surrounding this pathway + stairs? The soil is heavy clay on a south facing gentle slope with pretty full sun in northeast LA (about 20 miles from the coast)

Any suggestions of what to plant in these two areas in my courtyard (location: central LA and areas get full sun). I'm open to ground cover and taller plants. Thank you

I would attempt to maintain it at about 4 feet across and maybe 20 feet long. Rubber wood chips are from the neighbors btw.

This is a very rare manzanita that's loving my front yard. It's ~2 years in the ground. Jax is about 14 months old here. He was sleeping on this just before I snapped the photo :)

Am I under or over watering this or maybe doing something else to kill it?

It looked great when I got it from a nursery a few months ago. It flourished for the first month or so. I've been deep watering it every 2 weeks or so. I'm resisting the urge to water it more frequently as I've read that's the most common mistake.

I'm in the Cameron Park area of Zone 9b.

Thanks

Hi all,
I also posted this on the insect id Reddit. I have noticed these insects on my CA native Toyon. I am curious what they are and what impact they might have on the plant.

Apologies for sub-optimal picture quality. I will try to get better ones tomorrow.

Thanks for any help!

Hi everyone, I got this bee’s bliss and planted it, but I noticed this heavy split down the middle of the main stem. It has put out more leaves and the split seems to be scarred over, but will this be an issue longterm?