Choosing California Native Plants and a Pasadena Favorites Update
My California native plant landscaping lessons – post 2: Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, and the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants in Shadow Hills (right outside of Burbank) each have great websites with lots of information about California native plants. The Theodore Payne Foundation is also holding its annual fall sale this weekend, as I mentioned in my last post.
I decided last year that the next landscape project I worked on and maintained would be one that did not require regular mowing, blowing, or watering. My primary goal was to save money, but I was also motivated by the idea of contributing to a more sustainable urban environment. The first website I came across during early research was Las Pilitas’ in Escondido. I read the detailed descriptions of many shrubs, ground covers, perennials and annuals with interest, wondering when, if ever, I would be able to drive to Escondido and buy all these plants.
Finally, I decided that just like anything else, if I can find it anywhere in the world, I should be able to find it in Los Angeles. I started searching on the web for native plants and Los Angeles and found the Theodore Payne Foundation, located right off Tuxford Street in Shadow Hills, a 20-minute drive from Glendale. This nonprofit foundation is dedicated to preserving native wildflowers and plants, and runs a small nursery along with year-round educational programs and a book and seed store (where I bought packages of gilia tricolor, the wildflower in the photo, courtesy of Kida Yasuo). It also has a large online library of native plants.
Before I bought any plants, I wanted to know how they would look as they grew in the garden. Searching through some links, I discovered that the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden maintains a large arboretum (along with a bookstore and its own annual plant sale) open to the public. I took a 40-minute drive to Claremont one morning, and wandered around the gardens, searching for plants I had seen online. Some appealed to me; others in their full-grown state didn’t look like they would work. This was a worthwhile trip (and by the way, they host field trips and provide educational programs for schools).
I’ll write about my next landscaping steps in an upcoming post.
Here is an update on three Pasadena 91104 listings I featured and saved in Redfin’s Favorites:
1255 E. Lexington Street
Sold for $745,000 (9/11/08)
I featured this property on July 22. It was listed at $755,000 and had been on the market for 44 days.
1985 Santa Rosa Avenue
Sold for $470,000 (9/12/08)
This property appeared in my August 1 post. It was listed at $499,000 and had been on the market for 30 days.
1508 Sinaloa Avenue
Sold? for $562,000 (9/29/08)
This looks like a foreclosure. I featured it just last week, on October 1, when it was listed at $755,000 (down from an original list price of $899,000).
