California Nursery Garden Club

A good year for the ‘Maximilian’ sunflower. Reaching for the palms!

‘Flaming Peace’ is a sport of ‘Peace.’ A ‘Peace’ rose for comparison.

Did You Know?

Of the 4000 bee species known in the United States, about 1600 reside in California.

That is huge! California is well known for its plant diversity (32% of the plants in the entire USA are in California —read more at the link below) but it’s also big in native bee diversity too.

Learn more about some of our native bees here:
https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/blog/beyond-honey-bee-learn-more-about-california-native-bees

California plant diversity:https://www.coastal.ca.gov/coastalvoices/resources/Biodiversity_Atlas_Plants.pdf

The pest control industry is spreading a lot of misinformation about AB 2552. You can read more about the bill at the link below in our "myths and facts" webpage. Photo of great horned owl fledglings by Pamela Rose Hawken. https://protectcawildlifefrompoison.org

Milestone

Back in the day, can you believe that the Nursery had 1000 different varieties of fruit? If you’d like to go beyond the 10 in your grocery store, Andy’s Orchard in Morgan Hill is a place to branch out in your fruit experience.

"Niles IS PROCLAIMED TO WORLD AT STATE FAIR .

Much has been said about Alameda county as a whole "being on the map” at the state fair at Sacramento, opening Saturday, but every visitor to the celebration will know about Niles in particular the minute they enter the grounds The California Nursery company is furnishing the decorations for the main entrance to the state fair grounds. Although the size of advertising signs are restricted, neat and attractive posters proclaim to the world that the hundreds of blooming plants, shrubs and roses came from Niles. A truck load of nursery stock was sent to Sacramento Wednesday afternoon and work on the display gotten under way immediately."

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=WTNR19290829.2.8&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-fair+Niles+roses-------

Washington Township News Register, Volume 41, Number 22, 29 August 1929

Maybe there are photos somewhere!

Starting at 12:30 today!

One of the films that we will be watching on Sunday contains footage of two historic rose gardens in the bay area. One of the gardens is the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. There is a little bit of history here to help you appreciate the rose garden in its birth years. The films will be shown at the Niles Film Museum on Sunday at 12:30. Stop by for some local nursery and rose garden history. It's free!

San Jose Municipal Rose Garden San Jose Municipal Rose Garden - "America's Best Rose Garden" and Great Rosarians of the World "Rose Garden Hall of Fame"

Hey car fans! Do you have a friend who is a car fan? Can you help us identify some of the autos in the big traffic jam at the front entrance to the nursery? We will be showing some old films on the last day of the Bronco Billy Festival. This might help us date the movie... or not.
We know that this was before the road to Niles went through. The road through the nursery to the town of Niles opened October 9th, 1933. So this was earlier than 1933.
Spring 1933? 1932? 1931?

We have trouble with w**ds but not this kind.

Always be sure to mulch well around the base of your kitten to prevent w**d competition!😆

Plastic (especially clear plastic) can be useful for solarization of w**ds and other pests (Be sure to remove all cats though!) See https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

Happy Monday!

Color A California Pollinator!

Get to know four of California's listed pollinators with a fun color-by-number activity!

https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-06/color-california-pollinator

WUCOLS (Water Use Classification of Landscape Species) helps you create a landscape plan based on plant water use within your city/region.

And… it’s easy to use!

1) Select a City/Region
(This will determine the appropriate water use rating for each plant)

2) Search a Plant
(Enter any combination of "Plant Name, Water Use, Plant Types" to find plants of interest)

3) Favorite
(Assemble a list of your plants that meet your needs)

4) Download
(Download your list in a variety of formats)

More info:
https://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/wucols-db

Happy 3rd International Stereoscopy Day!
This year we now have 3 stereographs of the California Nursery Company!!! Thank you to Wendy and George for donating the two from their collection to the museum. The La France rose stereograph is copyright 1906, so this was published after John Rock died and before the Roeding family bought the nursery. Was this taken before the SF Quake? After? Perhaps the man inspecting the growing grounds was W.V. Eberly who managed the nursery after Rock died.
Thank you to Rebecca, the Stereoscopy Blog editor, for keeping us current with this important anniversary.

https://stereoscopy.blog/2024/06/21/happy-3rd-international-stereoscopy-day/

Can’t see these in stereo? Here’s help:

https://stereoscopy.blog/2019/08/04/how-to-view-stereoscopic-3-d-images-basic-tutorial:

Bees

When most people think about bees, they can generally identify two kinds: honey bees and bumblebees. These two bees actually represent only a very small fraction of the diversity of bees in the world.

Locally, in California we have about 1,600 species of native bees, some social, but most are solitary.

Some of the many different types of bees we have in Santa Clara County include: leafcutter bees, sweat bees, digger bees, mining bees, mason bees, carpenter bees, and cuckoo bees.

Western honey bees (Apis mellifera) are non native and all look the same.

BUT native bees come in various shapes and sizes from the somewhat intimidating Valley Carpenter Bee, at one inch long (sometimes more - but they are not aggressive), to tiny sweat bees that are less than one quarter inch long.

They also vary in color, shape, markings on their faces and legs, distribution of hairs on their bodies and other features that may require a magnifying glass to be seen. Native bees also differ in the seasons they appear, habitats they prefer, and flowers they favor.

More info about native bees:
https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk1546/files/inline-files/10-bees-10-plants.pdf

http://www.helpabee.org/bees-how-diverse-can-they-be.html

Photo collage of native bees

We don't want to bee controversial, but we need to talk...

We all love the bees and we know this topic stings, but we're just going to say it, European Honeybees are livestock organisms in America. European Honeybees were introduced to the Americas in the 17th century and have a crucial role to play in agriculture, but their role in the local environments is less than ideal. They directly compete with our natives, contributing to the decline and loss of species abundance and diversity, and they're really inefficient pollinators of most of our native plants, so in reality the desert doesn't get much benefit from them.

This is by no means us advocating for you to go swat the honeybees, but maybe a means for us all to take another look at the role different animals play in our environment. According to the University of Arizona, the Sonoran Desert is home to upwards of 1300 species of bees, let's make sure they all get their time to shine, not just the ones we brought over to make our food. 🌵❤️🐝

[In order from left to right, top row down, the bees shown are: Long-horned Bee, Sonoran Bumble Bee, Valley Carpenter Bee, Carpenter Bee, European Honeybee, Yellow Face Bee, Green Sweat Bee, Digger Bee, Blue Orchard Bee.]
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(JC; 📸, NPS/JCamp/Ekkehard Fischer/Paul G Johnson/Phil Brown)

If you see these on your fennel, dill or parsley plants, do not kill them. They are the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail butterflies.

True! Take a walk in one of your local parks and look at the birds, bees, and bugs. Stop and smell a rose. Look at some leaves.

Are you wanting to add some native plants to your garden for bird/bee/butterfly/etc habitat and drought tolerance?

Naturehood: Online Tools for a Native Plant Garden 🌳
Join us TONIGHT @ 5:30 PM

While trowels and shovels do the hands-on work, some of the best planning can happen in the digital world! Learn how to use innovative online tools to plan and cultivate a vibrant, sustainable garden from CNPS Horticulture experts & .

Register now: https://bit.ly/jntrhood-f
All registrants will receive a recording after the webinar, along with links to recommended resources.

Oceanside front yard with bush sunflower (Encelia californica); Image: Maya Argaman

Thank you, Rebecca, for finding this for us propagators!

Propagatin' - Rocco Elliot (Official music video) NOW STREAMING ON APPLE MUSIC, SPOTIFY, AMAZON MUSIC, ETC!!! 🙌Check out my other songs if you like plants / rap 🪴🎤🎶Shoutout to Perfect Choice Nursery for ...