Native Plants

RE "For Peace in the Garden: Just Let it Be," [Oct. 26]: I hope you inspire many people since you hit the big points of saving our money and saving our oceans. Plus, imagine! Being able to enjoy our yards because they are quiet and take less work. I have fooled around with native plants for 20 years. I am about to take out most of the old St. Augustine lawn and put in much-needed new drip/sprinkler systems and Mediterranean plants, along with a few California natives. A mini Getty Villa here in northwest Alhambra.

A wise man once said: Everything is easy, once you know how. Tell that to the frustrated native-plant gardener and suggest she find a copy of this book. Unlike other new titles on California flora, this ring-bound reference provides the how, why, when and where for growing scores of different species and cultivars -- practical information that can lead to success.

The knowledge pool for Mediterranean-climate gardeners is now deeper and richer, thanks to this distinctive work. Its format, unlike other valuable, new native-plant books, is not encyclopedic. The author, a distinguished horticulturist and nurseryman, is a Californian whose expertise stems from a lifelong observation of native plants in the wild and growing them in the nursery and garden.

IT'S all gardener and dedicated birder Ken Gilliland can do to whisper with restraint. "Early this morning, I counted 75 quail," he says excitedly. "Look, there's one now on that log."

For five families in Newport Beach, dunes day is coming. The residents are expected to be ordered by the California Coastal Commission to rebuild the rolling sand dunes in front of their oceanfront homes that were flattened late one April night -- allegedly to improve ocean views. It took less than three hours to level the dunes, but experts say rebuilding them could take several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ed Peterson, a wildflower expert who helped preserve California's native plants by collecting and cataloging seeds for 40 years as the primary seed gatherer of the Theodore Payne Foundation, a Sun Valley group that promotes the preservation and use of indigenous plants, has died. He was 100.

GARDENERS WILL find it much easier to dig and plant now that we've had a deep, soaking rain. And there is no shortage of things to plant, since November is one of the best months, especially for those drought-tolerant things that do so well in our climate, including our own native plants. You can sow a new lawn (sod can be installed anytime) and plant ground covers, perennials (including ornamental grasses), shrubs or even trees.

A Santa Barbara County businessman has sued the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy seeking to halt their $7-million feral pig eradication program, which has killed about 1,100 pigs on Santa Cruz Island in the past six weeks. Richard M. Feldman, owner and chief executive of Santa Barbara Eyeglass Factory, filed his request for a preliminary and permanent injunction Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

A striking photograph of golden currant (Ribes aureum), a favorite of wildlife and gardeners, greets visitors to the no-frills web page for this region-specific hotline, the area's first to offer free advice on gardening with California's diverse native plants. By telephone or e-mail, a live person based at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont will answer questions -- in detail -- on plant selection, planting and maintenance.