CNPS-SLO

Coreopsis Hill

cnps2011 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:30:59 +0000

Sunday, March 25th, 2012, Annual Hike to Coreopsis Hill led by Lauren Brown, Dirk Walters, and other local botanists. If you are in the SLO area or points north, we will meet at 8:30 AM at the SLO Vets Hall then head south (see directions below). The hike will begin about 9:30 am at Beigle Road and will be [...]

President’s Message January 2012

cnps2011 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:15:09 +0000

Another year! How they fly. I am hoping that the current rainfall deficit remedies itself and we will have a great year of wildflowers. As I write this I am preparing, along with several other chapter members, to attend the CNPS Conservation Conference in San Diego. When you look at the program and talk abstracts, [...]

Conservation January 2012

cnps2011 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:08:47 +0000

On January 7 the SLO Tribune ran a story “Shrimp Hunt Threatens Housing” in which stated that a search for a protected fairy shrimp, a denizen of vernal pools, would have to be completed before a “massive housing development” could be started. Of course, the headline should have read “Housing Threatens Shrimp”, but our concept [...]

2012 Banquet

cnps2011 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:52:09 +0000

San Luis Obispo Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Morro Bay Community Center 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay Saturday, January 21, 2012 Social Hour 6:00 Pot Luck Dinner 7:00 Chapter Business 8:00 Program begins 8:30 Program Native plants shine as the perfect answer to recreating local habitats in home gardens. By selecting the right [...]

Book Talk, February 2012

cnps2011 — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:21:34 +0000

Nevin Smith has spent his life growing native plants and exploring the wilderness areas of California. During the 1980s, his articles on natives appeared in Fremontia and, finally, he was prevailed upon to put the articles into book format. That book is Native Treasures. We have been without copies to sell for two years, but now have [...]

Chapter Meeting, February 2, 2012

cnps2011 — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:53:55 +0000

Thursday, February 2, 2012–Groundhog Day Program: Dirk and David’s Best Spring Plant Walks Illustrated Veterans Hall, 801 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo 7:00 pm: Social time, refreshments and browse our book table The meeting begins at 7:30 with a little time for chapter business and announcements, followed by the presentation.

La Purisima Burton Mesa Wildflower Walk

cnps2011 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:31:11 +0000

Saturday, March 31, 2012, 9 am, CNPS and Sierra Club Spring La Purisima Burton Mesa Wildflower Walk This is the annual California Native Plant Society and Sierra Club spring tour of the beauties of the Burton Mesa Chaparral. This is turning out to be a fair year for wildflowers, annuals as well as shrubs. Optional afternoon tour. Meet at the [...]

Burton Mesa Chaparral Clean-up

cnps2011 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:23:02 +0000

Saturday, February 11, 2012, 9 am, LVBHS Burton Mesa Chaparral AHC Interpretative Area Clean-up This is the annual “Spring Cleaning” of the BMC Interpretative Area on the Lompoc Allan Hancock College Campus. This six-acre area was established in the 1970s in what was then Ken Adam Park, now part of the Lompoc AHC Campus, by what grew into [...]

La Purisima Mission

cnps2011 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:17:25 +0000

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012, 9 am, Late Winter BMC Chaparral CNPS Field Trip at the La Purisima Mission The California Native Plant Society (CNPS)/ Lompoc Valley Botanic and Horticultural Society (LVBHS) will hold their annual winter field trip to the Burton Mesa Chaparral (BMC) on the La Purisima Mission grounds. Join us for a chance to see the [...]

Beach Sun Cup

cnps2011 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:55:51 +0000

Beach sun cup (Camissonia cheiranthifolia) is one of the few plants that bloom year around along our coast. It is found most commonly on the unstable, sandy hillocks immediately in-shore from the beach. It can also occasionally found on disturbed sandy soils away from the immediate coast, but this is very rare. Its range is [...]

Elfin Forest Walk

cnps2011 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:13:19 +0000

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012, 10 am, El Moro Elfin Forest, Los Osos The Elfin Forest is adjacent to the Morro Bay estuary, a 90-acre natural area belonging to San Luis Obispo County Parks and California State Parks. Its plant communities include coastal brackish marsh, riparian woodland fringe, pygmy oak woodland, maritime chaparral, coastal dune scrub, and oak and [...]

Oats Peak – Coon Creek Loop

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:29:11 +0000

Saturday, December 17th, 9:00 am, Oats Peak-Coon Creek Loop, Montaña de Oro This is a moderately difficult hike up the side of Valencia Peak, following the ridge to Oaks Peak, then dropping into Coon Creek Canyon and returning to the start. The plants, animals, and the geology of the area will be topics during the hike. Total distance distance is 8 miles [...]

Fungal Foray

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:31:40 +0000

Saturday, December 10th, 9:00 am, Cambria. Join us on our annual Fungal Foray, led by David Krause, Mark Brunschwiler, and Dennis Sheridan. On this morning field trip we will be looking for mushrooms growing in the Monterey pine forests of Cambria. Total distance: The hike will be easy, about a 3 hour stroll through the woods. Meet – 8am in SLO: Meet at the San Luis [...]

Black Hill

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:42:14 +0000

Sunday, December 4th, 9:00 am, Black Hill, Morro Bay We hope you can join us on this is 3-mile hike on a good dirt trail. We will be identifying and explaining flowers, bushes and trees along the way. At the top we will enjoy views of the ocean, Morros and surrounding towns. Total distance is 3 miles (4.8K) round trip [...]

Book Talk, December 2011

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:20:26 +0000

Glenn Keator has agreed to be our guest speaker at the upcoming January SLO-CNPS banquet in Morro Bay. Our December meeting at the SLO Vets hall will be your only chance to pick up his books if you don’t already have them on your bookshelves. The Life of an Oak, an Intimate Portrait*, by Glenn Keator, author, and Susan Bazell, illustrator, California [...]

Chapter Meeting, December 7, 2011

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:26:33 +0000

Thursday, 7 p.m., December 1, 2011. Veterans Building, 801 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo Program – Calflora’s Integrated Mapping Platform Using Calflora’s integrated mapping platform to understand and conserve California flora: recent results and prospects for further future improvement. Daniel Gluesenkamp is Executive Director of the Calflora Database, where he helps the leading source of California wild plant information to [...]

Conservation

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:21:03 +0000

I would like to thank all of you who turned up to the South Bay Advisory Council to support Audubon’s proposed removal of eucalyptus from the eastern end of the tidal marsh. Unfortunately our ecological arguments did not win the day, which fell to poems, odes to the joy of seeing the trees, false claims of their biological value, and accusations [...]

President’s Message

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:17:23 +0000

I think our November meeting was the highest attendance we have ever had at a regular meeting, thanks mostly to the host of Cal Poly students. Randy Baldwin’s fine presentation of plants that are “in the trade” and the human interest of their history of introduction might reinforce the notion that study of native plants is not just about learning latin [...]

Watson’s Salt Bush (Atriplex watsonii)

cnps2011 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:11:21 +0000

The plant featured on the this cover of the Obispoensis would not generally be considered worthy of presentation to a general audience. Its flowers are tiny; its appearance mundane. It belongs to a plant family past students in Cal Poly’s Field Botany class nick named the “Uglyaceae.” It grows along the uppermost edge of coastal salt marshes and edges of coastal sand [...]

Book Talk November, 2011

cnps2011 — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 01:14:49 +0000

Books for All-Native Gardeners If you like to putter in the garden with native plants these two books need to be on your bookshelf. The first is California Native Plants For The Garden by Bornstein, Fross and O’Brien. This book is an encyclopedia of the most available and garden friendly natives for home gardeners and gives fine descriptions of each plant [...]