CNGF Newsletter

sarah — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:24:27 +0000

January 23, 2011   Promoting the Beauty and Ecological Appropriateness of California Native Gardens

Twelve Months of Color in the Native Garden

Grindelia stricta – Gumplant, blooms August to November

Saturday, January 28, 12 noon

Middlebrook Gardens Nursery

76 Race Street

San Jose, CA 95126

Calling all Gardeners!

This Saturday, January 28 at noon, Alrie will present the popular talk “Twelve Months of Color in the Native Garden.” After the talk, John Farais, our beloved “indigenous edibles” chef will be serving lunch fresh from our garden.

Chef John Farais serving native edibles

Cornus sericea – Red-twigged Dogwood in its dormant winter color

Cornus ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ fall color in October and November

Ribes speciosum fuchsia – Flowering gooseberry January bloomer

Garryea elliptica – Coast silk tassel blooms in January

Your contribution or CNGF membership renewal of $38.00 gets a meal ticket and the lecture. That membership also buys you a 10% discount on any plant at the nursery.

We’ll be announcing new classes and sign ups. Alrie’s “Hiking California” series starts in February and sign-ups for this popular class open this Saturday. Class size is limited to 20. No pre-registration before Saturday.

Stachys bullota – Wood Mint blooms January to March

Madia elegans – Elegant tarweed blooms August and September



Won’t you please…
Come out, support the work of CNGF, and buy some of our under-utilized natives that bring color all year long to the garden. Now that the rains are coming, it’s time to get these plants in the ground!
Come on down!

Alrie Middlebrook

Save
10 – 30%

CNGF Members save:

30% on registration for CNGF classes
10% at the following nurseries!

A 1-year subscription to Bay Nature Magazine for $19 (reg. $21.95)
Almaden Valley Nursery, San Jose (plants only)
Central Coast Wilds, Santa Cruz
East Bay Wilds, Berkeley
Gold Rush Nursery, Soquel
Los Gatos Birdwatcher (formerly Wild Bird Center)
Middlebrook Gardens Nursery, San Jose
Native Revival Nursery, Aptos
ProBuild Garden Center , Santa Cruz
Sierra Azul Nursery and Gardens , Watsonville  Summerwinds Garden Centers, many locations
The Watershed Nursery, Richmond
The Garden Company , Santa Cruz (plants only)
Yamagami’s Nursery, Cupertino

Join the California Native Garden Foundation today!

January 2012 Newsletter

sarah — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:27:42 +0000

Happy New Year and welcome to our upgraded website!

We are kicking off 2012 with a bang!

Please do see our 2012 workshop calendar posted under events. Proceeds go to The California Native Garden Foundation and the ELSEE Project.

We have two events coming up this month. Pete Veilleux will be teaching us about container gardening with natives on Jan. 14th from 10AM-Noon. You will have an opportunity to make your own container garden. We’ll have many suitable natives for sale in the nursery. And on Jan.28, at noon, I’ll be giving a popular talk you may have missed, “Twelve Months of Color in the Native Garden”. In this talk I describe over 150 plants, many under-utilized, that bring color to the garden each month. We will serve special food from our garden and many of the plants I’ll be discussing will be for sale in the nursery.

Looking back, 2011 was a good year in spite of the economy. Here are a couple of projects we designed and built that we’d like to share.

The Greene Garden designed by Randy Moore, our project manager at Middlebrook Gardens, featured some amazing stonework. Our crews were able to construct these walls and terraces without mortar. Many tons of Loon Lake boulders mixed with grey lava rock and tumbled blue stone made this a unique palette. Now, let’s just wait until the plants grow in…..

Greene Before

Greene After

Greene Left Side

Greene Right Side

Our next project was the second ELSEE model garden and was designed and built for St. Andrews Episcopal School in Saratoga. As a teaching garden, it features riparian, oak woodland, grassland, coastal bluff, chaparral and desert plant communities. It also has an extensive native edible garden, organized by regions of California.

A large butterfly raised bed for veggies with fruit trees and a caterpillar garden filled with winter vegetables are major elements. There is also an amphitheater, a stage & gathering area and six custom mosaic tables created by Artist, Christina Yaconelli working with the students from St. Andrews.

The tables feature giant insects from the different ecosystems of California, like a California orb weaver spider & California sister butterfly. Watch for the grand opening on January 23rd.

St. Andrews Before Installation

St Andrews After

St. Andrews After

Orbweaver Mosaic

Our winter hours are 6:30-4 M-F. Nursery open by appointment only during the week. If you want to order plants, please call or email Sarah Bronstein at (408) 489-2845 or Sarah@Middlebrook-Gardens.com.

Our Nursery is open every Saturday to the public from 10AM-4PM. Alrie is usually here every Saturday to answer any questions.

Thursday’s are teaching days. Students from St. Leo’s come in the mornings & afternoons. Anyone is welcome to come and observe or become a teaching docent! Fridays are intern days. We are propagating natives and perennial food plants. All are welcome to join us here for that as well.

We hope to see you in the garden one day soon!

Alrie Middlebrook