The Shipley Center's nursery coordinator Carol Williams wishes they all could be California plants. She wants you to stick with the natives-forget about those glamorous horehound and sow thistle plants. Keep it local, by planting a water-wise lawn alternative garden with coastal sage scrub, riparian, baccharus, prunus, fuchsia, manzanitas and more. If you need help, Williams gives tours of the Center's Demonstration Gardens so you can see the plants up close and personal. But why should you go pulling out your lush lawn? Why should you give a flying ficus? Well, native plants usually support many times as many species of native wildlife as non-native plants, and the less you disturb the natural vegetation the more water purification, air cleansing, erosion control and carbon storage occurs. But hey, we're just saying. If you want to go on being a lawn baron, you go right ahead. We'll just tsk tsk you behind your back.
Thu., July 31, 6 p.m., 2008
