Could you please help our neighborhood ecosystem?
Did you know?
Local native plants are habitat for California’s wildlife which has evolved with our native plant species. Which means our bees, butterflies and birds need native plants to survive!
California native plants require significantly less water, no fertilizer and no pesticides, less pruning and less of your time.
Growing just one native California plant in your garden can help provide an important “bridge” to nearby open spaces thus supporting our local ecology.
Wildlife viewing:
Watch hummingbirds and song birds in your garden. Watch fuzzy bumble bees and ladybugs return. California’s wealth of insect pollinators can improve fruit set in your garden too. Attracting a variety of native insects and birds will also help keep your garden free of mosquitos and plant-eating critters. What do you think those birds are scratching for under leaf litter in your garden? They are eating bugs. Check out my iNat observations below. All of these species and many more have visited my Danville urban garden.
You want lizards in your garden as they eat ticks and stop Lyme Disease https://daily.jstor.org/theres-something-about-lizard-blood/
Neighborhoods that grow more natives have increased neighborhood connectivity and a keen sense of place.
Watch this space and my picket fence signs for a planned neighborhood “Open Garden” in April. Come visit my garden and ask questions.
I encourage my neighbors to try to grow even just one local native California native plant in their garden.
View all my photo observations of species that have visited this urban garden. (Select "observations" in the side bar.) This is a capstone project for California Naturalist Certification - your participation is appreciated.
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Acorn WoodpeckerMelanerpes formicivorus
Juvenile, this just hatched and I heard it fluttering around drying its wings.
Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio regulus on trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis) check out that proboscis
Male Valley Carpenter Bee
Juvenile western fence lizards, also known as blue belly lizards. This species loves my drought tolerant native plant garden habitat Every year we are rewarded with the presence of baby lizards darting under brush and across the garden paths. These lizards possess proteins in their blood that are capable of eliminating the bacteria, borrelia birdorferi, that causes Lyme disease. Western fence lizards change color to blend in the environment.
German Dark Bee on a Toyon blossom
Nymph Mediterranean Katydid, an invasive species that has spread to the San Francisco Bay Area. It inhabits sunny and dry habitats, especially shrubs and low branches of trees.
Find these every year in my garden
I suspect this is H. Axyridis
About 1 cm in size on an Erigeron karvinskianus flower
Perched on Salvia apiana, eating the seeds
I think this is a female. 6 segments? VS male with 8. Definitely a mature sample, with the final moulting, wings appear
On Quercus agrifolia along Diablo Rd near creek, Danville CA
On cabbage
On steep well draining hillside
My little study specimen for my CalNat class
Trying to remember what this plant is. I thought it was a NorCal native. Perennial, very fragrant, sticky petals, superior ovary
Found in a mature well seasoned compost pile
2-3 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, very fast mover, found in mature compost pile
Native ground cover supports numerous native bees and butterflies
Several manzanita species are excellent hosts to native insects and a few birds. Great addition to native urban gardens.
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