Our next meeting is Monday, February 21 at 11:00 a.m. Our speaker will be Elizabeth Wallace, who has been gardening with California-native plants for thirty years. About three years ago, she embarked on a landscaping project for the non-profit Teen Project in Trabuco Canyon. Her goal was to rehabilitate a residential acreage of twelve acres, and to create nature gardens that are healing for resi- dents and wildlife. We look forward to hearing about her journey and her future plans for the area.
Cold Weather Protection for Plants
Dana Point falls into the United States Department of Agriculture’s Zone 10a. This means that in a really cold year, temperatures may drop as low as 30°F—slightly below freezing—usually in the early part of January.
How do you protect plants from potential frost damage? The most popular way is to cover plants with newspaper, old sheets, burlap sacks, etc. in the evening, and to remove them before the sun rises the following morning. Light watering in evening hours—before temperatures drop— will help raise humidity levels and reduce frost damage. Wet soil retains heat for longer than dry soil.
Freeze-damaged plants can’t always be saved, depending on the specific plant and how exposed it was.
Sometimes it’s a matter of foliage damage with cold burned leaf tips and discoloration; at other times more severe damage occurs. Succulents and cacti store a great deal of water, so freezing can be very damaging. However, many of these plants are remarkably hardy. Don’t rush to cut off foliage or stems on damaged succulents: rather, watch them for a few weeks. Then if you see signs of new leaves and growth, your succulent is salvageable.
End of Winter, Looking Forward to Spring
February is the last month of the winter. We can look forward to warming temperatures and the opportunity to get going with a little cleanup in our gardens and planting.
If you have never visited Anza-Borrego Desert State Park during spring bloom, this may be the year to take an out- ing! The outlook for the park’s wildflower season looks hopeful due to this region’s one-inch rainfall in December. Currently, it’s too early to predict whether nor when this spring will be a super-bloom event. Typically, the second week in March is the peak of the wildflower bloom in the desert.
For more information, call the Anza-Borrego Wild- flower Hotline at (760) 767-4684. You can also call the State Park Visitor Center at (760) 767-4205.
Plant Sale
Happy gardening—and please remember our annual fund- raiser: the Garden Club Plant Sale on March 26. Our members and our generous local nurseries will be contributing plants and garden-related items for sale.
—Ann Strauss
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