Ironwood | Magazine of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden | Issue 38
MAGAZINE OF SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN
Editor-in-Chief: Jaime Eschette
Editor: Brie Spicer
Designer: Kathleen Kennedy
Staff Contributors: Hannah Barton; Stephanie Clark, Ph.D.; Sarah Cusser, Ph.D.; Michelle Cyr; Jaime Eschette; Cynthia Hannahs; Alejandro Lemus; Allie Mandel; Keith Nevison; Zach Phillips, Ph.D.; Kevin Spracher; Christina Varnava
Guest Contributors: Lindsay Dill; Enid Osborn; David Starkey
Ironwood is published biannually by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden®.
As the first botanic garden in the nation to focus exclusively on native plants, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has dedicated nearly a century of work to better understand the relationship between plants and people. Growing from 13 acres (5 hectares) in 1926 to today’s 78 acres (31.5 hectares), the grounds now include more than 6 miles (over 9 kilometers) of walking trails, an herbarium, a seed bank, research labs, a library, and a public native plant nursery. Amid the serene beauty of the Garden, teams of scientists, educators, and horticulturists remain committed to the original spirit of the organization’s founders — to conserve native plants and habitats to ensure they continue to support life on the planet and can be enjoyed for generations to come. Visit SBBotanicGarden.org.
The Garden is a member of the American Public Gardens Association, the American Alliance of Museums, the California Association of Museums, and the American Horticultural Society.
Eric Cárdenas, Director of Impact and Advocacy Jaime Eschette, The Gerry Rubin Director of Marketing and Communications
Jill Freeland, Director of Human Resources Keith Nevison, Director of Horticulture and Operations Melissa G. Patrino, Director of Development Scot Pipkin, Director of Education and Engagement
Heather Schneider, Ph.D., Director of Conservation and Research
Steve Windhager, Ph.D., Executive Director Diane Wondolowski, Director of Finance
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Letter From the Editor
Some birthdays just feel different. They’re the ones that mark a special turning point in our lives. For me, I still remember the birthday when I turned 16 — the friends, the laughter, and most of all, the keys to my first car (even if it was a minivan and I had to share it with my family). It felt like a doorway into a whole new stage of life. Later came 21, then 30, and 40, each milestone carrying its own sense of growth and possibility. Birthdays have a way of reminding us that time isn’t just about getting older; it’s about how we choose to evolve and grow, what we learn from our experiences, and who we become along the way.
In 2026, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden turns 100. And as I think about what it means to celebrate a centennial, I think about how much we’ve grown because of our community. From our Living Collection and diverse programming to our members, volunteers, and staff — we have worked together to foster a love for native plants, transform our knowledge into real solutions, and lead with hope in our collective future.
While our story started in 1926 with 13 acres (5 hectares), it has blossomed into an incredible 78 acres (31.5 hectares). Along with it, we’ve earned our position as a leader in native plant horticulture and conservation, impacting landscapes across California. And with your support, we’re defining how the region understands the value of native plants and works to protect them — ultimately supporting all life and ensuring future generations have a place where they can flourish.
This issue of Ironwood reflects both the Garden’s history and the future we’re shaping together. You’ll find a conversation with Doug Tallamy, the 2026 John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award recipient, whose work shows how every yard and garden can make a difference. You can enjoy an inventory of the return of birds to Elings Park, where our landscape transformation’s native habitat continues to flourish. You might be inspired by one Garden member’s home-landscape transformation, in addition to the practical gardening tips to support monarchs and help us reach our 30% native-plant-coverage goal. We’ll also share how the Garden is safeguarding rare species like Santa Catalina Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus) and Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis) in our new “ex-situ” conservation grove. There’s a lot to dig into, alongside poetry, book recommendations, and more.
As we begin our countdown to 2026, I invite you to join us in celebrating this remarkable milestone. But more importantly, I encourage you to carry this work forward with us — because the story of the Garden has always been a story we write together. Here’s to the next 100 years of conserving native plants for the health and well-being of people and the planet.
Let’s get this party started,
Jaime Eschette Editor, Ironwood
The Gerry
Rubin Director of Marketing and Communications
How Your Garden Supports All Life on Earth: A Q&A with Doug Tallamy, Ph.D.
By Keith Nevison, Director of Horticulture and Operations
It’s where we live, it’s where we work, it’s where we play,” explains Doug Tallamy, Ph.D. This is also a common refrain heard around Santa Barbara Botanic Garden when discussing where we can make an impact. Native plants can reclaim any space, anywhere as biodiverse habitat. This is the message Doug is spreading and one of the reasons we are delighted to be recognizing him with the 2026 John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award.
Doug will join us at the Garden for the 13th annual Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Conservation Symposium in January, but I got a head start on highlighting his amazing work in a recent interview. During our hour-long discussion, I had the honor of talking with him about his childhood interest in the natural world, steps that we can all take to protect wildlife and enhance habitats, his nonprofit program Homegrown National Park, and much more.
Keith:
Hi Doug and thank you for taking this interview. It’s great to see you again! I read that you became a young conservationist when you discovered pollywogs in a pond by your house, but the pond ended up being filled in when they started building new houses. Can you tell us more about the young Doug?
Doug:
That was a transformational event in my life. It was a little pond in the lot right next to us that wasn’t developed. I visited pretty much every day to watch what was happening for a year. I watched the male toads come and sing and then the females come and the males “hugged” them and then they laid eggs and pollywogs developed. It was my first intense interaction with nature — I was enjoying watching little toads come out by the hundreds, and then a bulldozer came and buried the whole pond, including all the little toads. And what’s interesting to me, looking back on that, is that my reaction was the same as everybody else’s: “We’ve got to save parts of nature that are not already destroyed.” And of course, we do need to do that, but also we can put back an awful lot of what we have destroyed. I could have gone over to my backyard and dug another pond.
My parents probably would have helped me. The shift from conservation to restoration didn’t occur to me, and it didn’t for another 40 years. But I was born loving nature, and I spent my entire youth in any kind of natural setting that I could find.
Keith:
You’ve been telling the public about steps that we can all take to promote conservation. With regard to our more arid conditions here in the west, what measures do you recommend people embrace to protect wildlife?
Doug:
You do have arid conditions, but I don’t think the general principles are any different. There are four things every property needs to do. One is to manage the watershed in which it lies, and every property is in a watershed. Two is to support pollinator communities — not for agriculture, but because they’re pollinating 80% of all plants and 90% of all flowering plants. Three is to support a food web. If you don’t support a food web, you don’t have any animals in your local ecosystem. If you don’t have any animals, you don’t have a functioning ecosystem, which means it’s not producing the life support that we humans need. And the fourth and final one is to sequester carbon. One-third of the carbon in the atmosphere now has come from us chopping down trees. So, wherever it’s appropriate, we want to put plants back. Even if it’s too dry to support trees, the meadows and the prairie plants have deep roots; they’re sequestering almost as much carbon as a forest.
Keith:
When presenting the topic of food webs and native plants to kids, how do you adapt to ensure that they understand your takeaway message.
Doug:
One thing we did was to rewrite “Nature’s Best Hope” for middle schoolers. It’s 100% the same content, but it is rewritten in the language of middle school. You’d be surprised how sophisticated young minds are if you don’t load them down with jargon. If you say, “What do you need to save the monarch?,” they will tell you it’s milkweeds (Asclepias spp.). They already know
this. That’s host plant specialization. These concepts are not difficult, and I think it scares adults a whole lot more than it scares our kids.
But in terms of getting immediate action, it’s not going to be the kids. It’s going to be their parents and retired baby boomers. They’ve got the money, they’ve got the time, and they’re looking for something to do. They own the property too. They’re the ones who can really address this immediately.
Keith:
What is the most motivating factor to get people engaged with using native plants in their home landscapes?
Doug:
I think a feeling of empowerment. I show them the simple things one person can do and the difference that it makes. That’s the key, because people want to help, but it’s easy to say, “Well, you know, what can one person do to help the earth?” So, in my talks I outline very clearly what one person can do. You can alter your nighttime lighting, you can shrink your lawn, you can fire Mosquito Joe and the barrier sprays they use. You can do a bunch of things to really improve the ecosystem right on your little piece of the earth, and people get excited about that.
Keith:
From all your talks to native plant societies around the U.S., is there something that you’ve learned from those passionate groups?
Doug:
One thing I’m learning is how much they’re doing. I talked to the Native Plant Society of Texas recently. They’ve got wonderful things on their website. There are 600 species of native plants in Texas that are commercially available. Who knew? And they’ve got them all listed and who you can buy them from. These native plants societies are addressing the next steps locally. If you don’t want to garden at all, they are supplying information about who to hire. That’s what has impressed me the most — the fact that they’re supplying expertise about local plants and partners.
Keith:
Here in California, are there particular species that we should focus on and encourage people to plant?
Doug:
Oaks (Quercus spp.) are a number one keystone species in 84% of the counties in which they occur. We’re finishing a paper going into the American Entomological Society journal looking
Blue Jay (Photo: Doug Tallamy, Ph.D.)
at the power of oaks. We have about 1,100 species of caterpillars recorded on oaks across the country. Dave Wagner, Ph.D. (professor of ecology and evolutionary behavior at University of Connecticut), thinks it’s going to be around 1,300. That means oaks are supporting about 10% of all the Lepidoptera in the country. California lilac (Ceanothus spp.) is a great ornamental that is also great for caterpillars. It’s also great for pollinators. Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus spp.), that’s another one, very powerful. Buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.) are really important host plants. Finding powerful plants that support the pollinators and caterpillars and are beautiful is key.
Keith:
You’ve had a long career in academic entomology. What spurred you to start researching and presenting on the subject of insect use of native plants and their importance in feeding songbirds and supporting the web of life?
Doug:
In graduate school we studied plant-insect interactions for a long time. The major takeaway was that most insects that eat plants are host-plant specialists. Just the way the monarch (Danaus plexippus) is a specialist on milkweeds, about 90% are specialists. When I got a job at University of Delaware, I started looking at insect behavior, parental care, how cucumber beetles chose their mates, things like that. But then in 2000, my wife and I moved to a farm property in Oxford, Pennsylvania. When we moved in, it was a jungle of invasive plants
from Asia. Our goal was to restore this property, but we couldn’t walk through it. I cut trails and I would look for insects. And it occurred to me one day early on, there are no insects on these nonnative plants. I thought this would be a good project for an undergraduate, to measure insect use of native and nonnative plants. In the literature, there was a long list of why invasive plants are a problem but wrecking the food web was not on that list. I said, “Well, gee, this might be a research opportunity.” We got the funding to do a bunch of research, but it was that one day of walking through our property and saying, “Hey, look, the insects are not eating these plants,” that changed the direction of my research. I gave up on how cucumber beetles choose their mates, and I’ve been doing this ever since.
Keith:
You’ve written six books so far, continue to lecture to students, give 200 presentations a year ... you’re doing a lot. On the topic of native plants and the web of life, what are some of the projects you’re currently working on?
Doug:
I think the most important thing that we’ve been doing recently is looking at how we landscape under trees. If we’ve got oaks and other trees making a lot of caterpillars, most of them (like 90% or more) don’t complete their lifespan on the tree. They drop from the tree and they pupate underground, or they pupate in the leaf litter that’s under the tree. However, our horticultural practices don’t allow that leaf
litter; we rake it up or we blow it away or we have grass. We have lawn right up to the tree. Grad student Emma Jonas found that caterpillars had a tough time burrowing down through the thatch of grass. They do go down and they do pupate, but it’s right at the surface. What does that mean? It means we walk on them when we mow, and we squish them. We have shown that the pressure from a single footfall is enough to kill 40% of the caterpillars that pupate under a tree, and mowing a lawn kills 50%. So, the object is to create “no-go zones” under trees that are landscaped. This is where we can create healthy ground covers. All the research isn’t done, but if you don’t pupate caterpillars successfully, then you don’t have adults and then you don’t have bird food and on it goes. I know that when it’s really dry that’s tough, and I know you’ve got fire issues, so nobody wants any leaf litter on the ground. So, the challenge in California is to design a landscape under trees that is not a fire hazard but can still promote caterpillar survivorship.
Keith:
Understanding that there are a multitude of issues for the public to feel engaged on, how do we at the Garden continue to elevate our mission to conserve native plants and habitats for the health and well-being of people and the planet?
Doug:
I give a talk and people say, “What is the single most important thing somebody can do?” I say it’s vote. The people we vote for are making huge decisions with huge implications. It’s not trivial. We have more people on this planet than it can support. We’ve got to raise the carrying capacity of the planet by putting the stuff back that creates the carrying capacity, and that’s the plants. Getting that message to everybody who visits the Garden, everybody period, is really, really important. We need air, we need water. We need life support. It doesn’t matter what your political views are. Everybody needs a healthy environment. It’s not just for tree huggers. Every single person absolutely requires healthy ecosystems, because that’s what keeps them alive on the planet.
Keith:
Can you tell us about Homegrown National Park?
Doug:
We’re in a biodiversity crisis: global and national. We’ve lost 22% of our butterflies since 2000. We’ve lost one-third of our bird population in
the last 45 years. Even though we have parks and we have preserves and land conservancies, it’s not good enough. What’s between those parks and preserves? It’s our private properties. It’s where we live, it’s where we work, it’s where we play. It’s 135 million acres (54 million hectares) of residential landscapes in the U.S. — a huge opportunity for the private landowner to participate in conservation. Homegrown National Park was designed to tell private landowners that they have that responsibility. It’s a hub where people can get information about their responsibility and do it right where they live to address this biodiversity crisis. It also divides the conservation responsibility up into something that’s doable. Don’t worry about the entire planet; just worry about your piece of that planet. Remove the invasive plants that we use as ornamentals. Put in those keystone plants. We give private property owners a mechanism to become part of this movement, and they register their property on our biodiversity map and the amount of area
Zebra swallowtail (Photo: Doug Tallamy, Ph.D.)
that they’re actually conserving — you reduce the area of lawn, maybe you planted a tree, maybe put an aster (Family Asteraceae) in a in a flowerpot. This gives us a quantitative measure of our progress toward restoring that 40 million acres (16 million hectares) that’s now lawn. Then your little piece of your county is represented with a firefly emblem. The object is to get the whole map to light up with fireflies so we can see how we’re doing with conservation on private property. It’s free because we’re not trying to pull membership away from other conservation groups. We’re not competing. We want to unite all the conservation groups.
To learn more about how you can join the native plant movement and make a difference in your community and to hear more from Doug, join us on January 31, 2026, for the Garden’s 13th annual Conservation Symposium. Registration is now open for free online access (SBBotanicGarden.org/symposium-2026), or you can join us in person and have a chance to meet Doug personally. Also, check out Homegrown National Park at HomegrownNationalPark.org and register your land today. O
Native bee (Photo: Doug Tallamy, Ph.D.)
From the Ground Up: Planting for Birds and Birding for Plants
By Zach Phillips, Ph.D., Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist
“I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.”
—Walt Whitman
Birdwatching (or “birding”) is a popular activity. Grass-watching, not so much. People from all walks of life rise at dawn to go birding. Naturalist societies gather on weekends to go birding. My mom goes birding; your mom goes birding. Nobody says they’re going “grassing.” If somebody does say, “I’m going grassing,” watch out. That person might be a snitch — an incredibly tactless snitch.
In the past year, I’ve spent more time watching grass than I ever expected to, and it’s thanks to the birds. Since February 2025, I’ve been conducting surveys of bird-plant interactions at Elings Park, where Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Channel Islands Restoration have transformed an acre (.4 hectares) of weeds into a coastal sage scrub habitat dominated by native shrubs. Giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus), one of the grasses planted at the site, has been a major draw for a variety of birds (Figure 1; Collage on page 12), and has thus become a focus of these surveys.
Leaves of Grass, Seeds of Grass, Stems of Grass ... and Other Bird Resources
Documenting bird-plant interactions can help determine which plants are key resources for birds, and what kinds of resources they represent (e.g., food, nesting sites, chill hangout spots). From small private yards to large public
Figure 1, left: Giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus) at the Elings Park site (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Figure 2: A Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) perched on the snag at the site of the Elings Park Landscape Transformation Project (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
spaces like Elings Park, this information is useful for choosing bird-friendly native plant palettes and habitat structures (Polan, n.d.). Ultimately, conserving, managing, and creating habitat for birds can mitigate habitat loss and degradation that threatens species around the world (Lees et al., 2022, 231-260).
Most of the interactions between birds and plants, including birds and giant wildrye, can broadly be categorized as foraging or non-foraging behaviors. On a finer scale, I’ve characterized these interactions by behavior type (e.g., bill-rubbing, singing, just chilling) in relation to where on a given plant species these behaviors are expressed (e.g., stems, leaves, seeds). These details can be important for understanding a bird’s ecology, conservation requirements, and basic life history, including its diet. For example, it’s difficult to identify insects as they’re captured and eaten by a bird; however, many insect species only occur on certain parts of plants, so if you can identify the place on a plant where such a bird is capturing bugs (e.g., the undersides of leaves), that can significantly narrow the range of possible prey.
Non-Foraging on Giant Wildrye
Giant wildrye is no lawn or similar grass of low reputation. It grows tall and in bunches, with stems reaching up to 8 feet (2 meters) high. At the Elings Park site, giant wildrye has outpaced the upward growth of the rest of the plants it was introduced with, like coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis), California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), and white sage (Salvia apiana). This probably explains why so many birds favor it as a general perch at Elings — and as the first perch they land on when entering the habitat. The two other prime perches are the only tall snag available (Figure 2) and the site’s perimeter fence (Figure 3).
A perch is a stage for performing a variety of behaviors. Some are conspicuous, like singing, and others are less obvious, like bill-rubbing, feather-ruffling (Figure 4), and surveying for predators. Birds generally rub their bills on surfaces to clean them (a behavior called “feaking”), and in some cases to shape them or even as a method of communication (St., n.d.). While most billrubbing I’ve seen at Elings Park has been done on harder surfaces, particularly on exposed wood and the fence, I’ve observed Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) and Anna’s Hummmingbird (Calypte anna) using the stems of giant wildrye as a feaking substrate (Collage). Some plants like white sage, which the hummingbirds frequently visit for nectar (Figure 5), may present unsuitably sticky and messy surfaces for bill-rubbing. This possibility even inspired changes to
my own personal hygiene. At Elings, I no longer try to clean my mustache on white sage stems — now I go straight for the fence.
Figure 3: A Cooper’s Hawk (Astur cooperii) perched on the fence at Elings Park (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Figure 4: A Yellow-Headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) ruffling its feathers on a coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) at Elings Park (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
For some birds, giant wildrye also appears to serve as a useful lower vantage point. During a few weeks this summer, a pair of Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) parents (Collage) frequently and frenetically exited dense shrubs like coyote bush — where they were often foraging for insects — to alight on more open giant wildrye stems and leaves. The parents seemed to move to these more exposed perches to check on their young fledgling, a confused-looking youth bumbling around the site (Figure 6).
During surveys, I’ve also observed multiple species of Tyrant Flycatchers (Family Tyrannidae), using lower giant wildrye perches as launch pads to capture insects midair, grab them from the ground, or hover-glean them from nearby plants (bird collage
on page 12). For instance, during a warm day this spring, a thin cloud of crane flies (Family Tipulidae) emanated from a group of shrubs. A couple of Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis) made a meal out of them, repeatedly sallying from their low-bent wildrye perches to hover beside the shrubs, grab at the corona of flies, and return to their wildrye perch or a nearby one.
Foraging on Giant Wildrye
Finches are known to be grass seed eaters, and Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) and House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) have been two of the most frequent giant wildrye seed eaters at Elings (Figure 7; Collage); the House Finches, however, have more frequently foraged seeds from California encelia (Encelia californica). Other species I’ve observed feeding on giant wildrye seeds this past year include American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), the finchlike Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena) (Collage), and the nonnative Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata).
Native plants also provide food to birds by supporting communities of herbivorous insects, spiders, and other arthropod prey. Caterpillars are especially important prey for birds during their breeding season (Narango et al., 2020, 5751). For part of the summer, adults of the brown ctenucha day-flying moth (Ctenucha brunnea) were common at the Elings site. These moths use giant wildrye as their larval (i.e., caterpillar) host, but only adults were observed at Elings, not caterpillars (Figure 8). While some birds like Wrentits (Chamaea fasciata) gleaned insects from giant wildrye (Collage), I didn’t see any clear instances of caterpillar capture. Instead, most foraging for caterpillars appeared to occur on coyote bush, a plant species that hosted an abundant population of moth larvae during spring and summer surveys.
Bird-Plant Gallery Exhibit at the Garden
Birding is a gateway activity for viewing and appreciating other facets of nature, including plants. Sure, I’ve seen plenty of grass in my life, but until now I’ve never really seen it. (What I’m trying to say, giant wildrye, is that I’m falling in love with you.) The upcoming exhibit, From the Ground Up, at the Pritzlaff Conservation Center Gallery offers a chance to see plants through a bird’s gaze, and the space should serve as a kind of primer for observing bird-plant interactions on your own. Kevin Spracher, the Garden’s interpretation and exhibitions curator, is currently gathering artistic and scientific forces to display birdplant interactions based on the Elings Park surveys (opening in December 2025). To properly view this art, binoculars are recommended. O
Figure 5: An Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) foraging on a white sage (Salvia apiana) (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Figure 6: An immature Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) on the ground at Elings Park, with both parents nearby (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
“Over the white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and buzzer there with the rest, Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze.”
—Walt Whitman
Acknowledgements:
Thank you for all the bird talks and consulting: Conor McMahon, Hugh Ranson, Scot Pipkin, and Mark Holmgren. Thanks to Elings Park Executive Director Dean Noble, to the ecology team for early morning plant talks and pollinator observations, and to Kevin Spracher for being a great art-bird-plant collaborator.
CITATIONS
Lees, A. C., Haskell, L., Allinson, T., Bezeng, S. B., Burfield, I. J., Renjifo, L. M., Rosenberg, K. V., Viswanathan, A., & Butchart, S. H.M. (2022, October). State of the World’s Birds. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 47, 231-260. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/ journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-112420-014642
Narango, D. L., Tallamy, D. W., & Shropshire, K. J. (2020, November 13). Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species. Nature Communications, (11), 5751. https:// www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19565-4
Polan, J. (n.d.). Plants For Birds. National Audubon Society. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.audubon.org/plantsforbirds
St., K. (n.d.). Outside My Window | A Blog of Birds & Nature with Kate St. John. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2022/04/09/feaking/
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Figure 7: Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) on giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus) at Elings Park (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Figure 8: An adult brown ctenucha day-flying moth (Ctenucha brunnea) visits a
buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) at the Elings Park site.
larvae
moth
on giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus). (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
The birds in this collage were observed interacting with giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus), a native plant addition at the Landscape Transformation Project site in Elings Park.
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) foraging on seeds (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) leaning into the wind (Photo: Zach Phillips, Ph.D.)
Get Horticulture’d: Cultivating Community Through Native Plants
By Alejandro Lemus, Horticultural Educator
The beautiful part of working in a botanic garden is having the privilege to experience the seasonality of plants. In the two years since I made the move to Santa Barbara and joined Santa Barbara Botanic Garden as the horticultural educator, I’ve seen amazing displays of native habitat. From the showstopping flowers in the spring to the subtle beauty of fall dormancy, I’m reminded that the plants are the teachers. One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned is that a plant’s own cycles of change are similar to a human’s own periods of change, dormancy, and bloom. Through my role at the Garden, I enthusiastically foster these types of connections between people and our plant teachers.
Working in the world of native plants has taught me the ways in which humans are very much part of the web of life. In the face of a changing climate, habitat loss, and destructive wildfires, we, as a species, have the power to help our plant and animal cousins. When we collectively harness the power of our front yards, container gardens, and hellstrips (the narrow space between the sidewalk and street curb), we can create vital habitat that supports the web of life and makes our communities resilient. Anyone and everyone can be a part of environmental conservation through habitat gardening. As an organization at the nexus of conservation, horticulture, and education, the Garden is committed to empowering our community to participate in and to grow the native plant movement.
Alejandro Lemus explains how to care for newly planted native plants at Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden (Photo: Kristy Gump)
Gardening Is a Relationship
I remember the first native plant I ever planted in a garden. I can still smell it, actually. Its arrow-shaped foliage perfumes the air with a musky but oddly sweet aroma. Its pagoda-like inflorescences brighten the understory of oak (Quercus spp.) woodlands with brilliant shades of magenta. The unmistakable sound of a hummingbird captures you, fluttering from flower to flower in search of its sweet nectar. If you guessed that I’m describing hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), we’d be fast friends. If you aren’t familiar with this plant but were captivated by my ode to its beauty, you may have already formed your first connection to this woodland character. I like to think of hummingbird sage as my gateway native plant. Once I inhaled its saccharine scent, I never looked back. I found myself visiting the plant on a weekly basis to water and check for pests, but most importantly, to say hi. To me, it was akin to visiting a friend, checking in with them, assessing their needs, and watching them grow. Through my weekly visits, I realized that gardening is a relationship. Just as human relationships require care, patience, and nurturing, so too do plants. I encourage you to seek out gateway plants that inspire you to engage in acts of reciprocity with a garden. It all begins with forming a connection to our plant kin.
Grow With Us
Once you’re ready to take the first step in your native plant odyssey, I’d like to extend an invitation to one of our many horticulture classes. Through sharing our horticultural know-how, the Garden staff are inspiring and training advocates for native plants. Since I joined the Garden in 2023, we have been ramping up our horticultural classes each season and have welcomed over 500 participants. Whether led by me, colleagues in our talented Horticulture Department, or other experts in the field of native plant horticulture, our classes are great for native plant gardeners of varying skill levels. By growing native plants, not only are we restoring habitat, but we are also cultivating a resilient community of advocates.
Certified Landscapers Cultivate Even More Native Plants
An integral part of the native plant community is professional landscapers. As we encourage the shift from turf to native plant habitat, it is vital that the workforce have the knowledge to successfully grow and tend to native landscapes. In 2023, the Garden began teaching the California Native Plant Landscaper Certification (CNPLC) program, a native plant horticulture certification codeveloped by Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s Grounds Manager Stephanie Ranes leads a seasonal native plant maintenance class. (Photo: Alejandro Lemus)
and California Native Plant Society. Over the last year alone, we have certified over 100 gardeners, including landscaping leaders in homeowner associations (HOAs), city/county parks staff from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and professional landscapers.
Ensuring that our professional workforce is educated in native plant horticulture promises a future where we are in conversation with the plants, engaging in acts of stewardship that promote biodiversity.
Access our list of certified professionals here: SBBotanicGarden.org/gardening-resources.
Rooted in Community
I’ll admit that moving to Santa Barbara was quite an intimidating experience. I was new to the community, an uprooted plant anxious to find the right soil. Like a newly transplanted plant, it took time to root in my new home, and I appreciated the assurance that those established around me would be there for support. From our talented staff members to passionate community gardeners, I’m incredibly
grateful for all the connections I have made. I’ve cultivated relationships with the people around me, just as plants in a garden do — by being attentive to my needs, asking for support, and experiencing growth and setbacks. Specifically I think back to the very special experience with students of the CNPLC program as we worked to install a native plant demonstration garden at Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden in downtown Santa Barbara. In the process of getting our hands dirty and shoveling mulch, we became an intrinsic part of a community. I’m thankful to homeowners who trust the Garden and allow us to visit their home gardens through our landscape consultation services. With each home that we visit, we seed beauty in native plants and further our mission. I have tremendous gratitude also for the families who participate in our youth horticulture programs, allowing young people to get their hands dirty and grow our propagation efforts in the Garden’s Backcountry. As we sow plants, plants sow community. We are all always growing, shedding old leaves, and awaiting reinvigoration and our spring bloom.
It’s been a year already since the summer 2024 cohort graduated and moved onward to leverage their California Native Plant Landscaper Certifications. (Photo: Michael McCracken)
Be Part of the Solution
From backyards to business parks, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is on a mission to cultivate landscapes that sustain all life on Earth. The Garden’s goal is to achieve 30% native plant
The Garden Nursery
Visit our Garden Nursery, open daily to members and the public. Explore the largest selection of California’s native plants on the central coast, with hundreds of varieties to choose from.
Garden members receive 10% off every purchase!
Scan to shop Nursery Hours
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MEMBERS’ HOUR 9 to 10 a.m.
coverage in developed areas. Reaching this crucial milestone will help protect the health and well-being of people and the planet for generations to come. Through our horticultural education programs, we are increasing the use of native plants, working toward achieving a minimum of 30% coverage of native plants in the places where we — as a community — live, work, and play.
We welcome you to be part of the solution. Studies show that there are detrimental effects to biodiversity when we fall below 30% plant coverage. I encourage you to think about ways you can achieve 30%. Maybe for every 15 plants you buy, five are native. Or, if you have the space, consider adding an oak tree that will grow and contribute 30% coverage in your garden. While we recognize this goal won’t be achieved overnight, we hope you are empowered to take the pledge and join us in growing the native plant movement. Let’s all get growing together! O
City of Port Hueneme maintenance staff plant native plants at Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden. (Photo: Scot Pipkin)
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a place of refuge and wonder, a living laboratory, a leader in conservation, and a sanctuary for California’ s native plants. With your steadfast support, we continue to expand our reach, deepen our impact, and remain firmly rooted in our mission: to conserve native plants and habitats for the health and well-being of people and our planet.
This growing impact is reflected in our vibrant community of members, volunteers, and program offerings. In particular, our education programs — spanning school visits, public classes, family events, and Summer Camp — ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds can connect and become lifelong stewards of the natural world. Thank you for your support!
$6.3 Million
Helped secure funding to collect, certify, and seed bank native seeds gathered directly from wild plant populations for research and restoration statewide.
1,301 Species
More than 20% of California’s native taxa have found refuge in our Conservation and Living Collection Seed Banks.
200 Native Trees Planted
We’ve planted wildfire-resilient coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) on the Garden grounds to study wildfire resilience and habitat restoration strategies.
4 Elings Park, Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, Shalawa (Hammond’s Meadow), and the Cuyama Valley are transforming through native plantings.
220,000 + Specimens
The Herbarium and Lichenarium collections are the starting point for critical research and our understanding of California flora.
100 + Grads & Growing
As residents and businesses reimagine landscapes across the central coast, the Garden’s California Native Plant Landscaper Certification program graduates are ready to serve.
49 Discoveries & Updates
In the last decade alone, the Garden has broadened scientific records through numerous native plant discoveries and nomenclatural updates.
4-Part Miniseries
The Garden launched a video series in 2024 showcasing the real-world impact of native plant restoration through our Elings Park Landscape Transformation Project.
350 + Residents
We provided fire-safe strategies and resources to hundreds in the community to help build resilience at their home, in their landscape, and around their neighborhood.
85,000+
Visuals
We’ve digitized images, artifacts, and archives from our past century, which will soon be publicly available through the Garden’s new web-based digital portal.
10 + Million Views
Every year, millions of researchers utilize our data online via herbarium platforms.
325+
Citations
The Garden’s research is being leveraged by a growing number of scientific publications.
50 Conservation Projects
Since 2010, we’ve gone from two projects to 50 (and counting) across California.
737+ Checkouts
Free Garden admission from our public libraries has expanded access to hundreds more in our community.
3 New Playhouses
With more submissions received than ever before, we partnered with our community to build three amazing casita designs, which are now open in the Backcountry.
40 Regional Partners & Growing
Spearheaded by the Garden, partners have signed the Community Vision and Policy Platform while we continue to co-chair the Biodiversity Working Group, addressing critical biodiversity issues in our region.
Planting for Monarchs: A Garden Guide to Recovery
By Sarah Cusser, Ph.D., Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist, and Stephanie Clark, Ph.D., Applied Ecologist
Each fall, the arrival of western monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) back to California’s coast from their migration marks a moment of quiet wonder. Clusters of orange and black wings cling to cypress (Family Cupressaceae), pine (Family Pinaceae), and other coastal trees, where the butterflies will rest and conserve energy for winter. These overwintering gatherings, once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, have declined in recent decades, and with them, a part of our region’s ecological and cultural heritage.
The Status of Monarchs in Central California
Western monarch populations peaked in the late 20th century, particularly in the 1980s. At that time, over four million monarch butterflies overwintered at hundreds of coastal sites from Mendocino to San Diego. Today, their numbers have plummeted. The annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, coordinated by the Xerces Society and partners, documented fewer than 2,000 individuals in 2020, a decline of 99.4% since the 1980s. Since then, the population has rebounded modestly, reaching nearly 230,000 butterflies in 2023. While this increase is encouraging, monarch populations remain dangerously unstable and vulnerable to extreme weather, habitat loss, and disrupted migratory cues linked to climate change.
logarithmic scale estimates the overwintering population
from 1980 to 2022 (Chrone & Schultz, 2021, 1533-1538).
Central California, including Santa Barbara County, remains critical to the monarch’s overwintering strategy. Sites like the Goleta Butterfly Grove at Ellwood Mesa Open Space, the Monarch Butterfly Grove at Pismo State Beach, and scattered groves along the Gaviota Coast serve as essential refuges. Yet many of these habitats are threatened by tree senescence*, development pressure, climate change, insecticide use, and altered microclimates.
*Senescence is just a fancy word for aging. It describes the gradual process where living things, like animals, plants, or even single cells, wear out and become less functional over time.
Planting the Right Milkweed at the Right Time
Monarchs depend exclusively on milkweed (Asclepias spp.) as the host plant for their caterpillars. However, not all milkweed is equally beneficial, particularly in California’s Mediterranean climate. A common yet problematic choice is nonnative tropical milkweed (A. curassavica), often found in garden centers and local hardware stores. Unlike native species, tropical milkweed can remain green and flower all year, disrupting the monarch’s natural life cycle by encouraging them to breed late into the season when they should be migrating. Even more concerning, a year-round milkweed such as this can constantly harbor spores of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), a protozoan parasite that weakens monarchs, reduces their lifespan, and impairs their ability to fly.
In Santa Barbara County, native species like narrowleaf milkweed (A. fascicularis) and woollypod
This
of western monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) along the California coast, based on survey efforts
This monarch (Danaus plexippus) goes in for nectar on the narrow leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis).
milkweed (A. eriocarpa) are best suited to support healthy monarch populations. These perennials are adapted to our local climate and go dormant in the fall, helping to signal the end of the breeding season and prompting monarch migration. Gardeners can support this natural cycle by cutting back native milkweed stems to 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) above the ground in October. This practice not only simulates natural senescence but also helps eliminate any OE spores that may be lingering on the foliage, reducing the risk of parasite transmission the following year. It’s also important to avoid overwatering or fertilizing milkweed late in the growing season, as this can prevent it from going dormant. Letting the plant follow its natural rhythm is essential for maintaining the delicate timing of monarch migration.
Beyond choosing the right species and supporting it properly, when planting milkweed, a good strategy is to establish it in small, connected patches rather than scattering individual plants. Monarchs are more likely to find and use clusters, so planting at least 10 to 20 milkweed plants together in a patch increases visibility and availability. Ideally, each patch should cover approximately 10 to 15 square feet (.9 to 1.3 square meters), with multiple patches spaced throughout a garden, park, or open space to create a “steppingstone network” for monarchs. Grouping plants also helps support healthier growth by maintaining soil moisture and providing shade to young seedlings, while ensuring there are enough stems to sustain monarch caterpillars once eggs are laid.
Supporting Adults With Nectar Plants
While milkweed is essential for larvae, adult monarchs need diverse nectar sources to fuel their journey and reproduction. In Santa Barbara County, native plants
blooming late into the summer can provide critical nourishment. Here are great options:
Incorporating these species into your garden not only supports monarchs but also benefits a wide array of native pollinators, from bumblebees to hummingbirds. Even small gardens and patios can serve as refuges in supporting monarchs.
A Community Effort
Saving the western monarch is not a single-solution story; it is a network of connected actions across gardens, wildlands, and communities. At home, planting and caring for native milkweed and a variety of nectar plants creates vital breeding and feeding habitat. Observing monarchs and recording sightings of caterpillars, chrysalises, and adults on community science platforms like iNaturalist or Journey North helps researchers track population health and migration patterns. Community members can also join efforts such as the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count each November, when volunteers survey overwintering sites up and down the California coast. Collectively, these actions — gardening with purpose, sharing observations, and contributing to long-term monitoring — form the backbone of monarch conservation in our region. O
CITATION
Chrone, E. E., & Schultz, C. B. (2021, June 10). Resilience or Catastrophe? A possible state change for monarch butterflies in western North America. Ecology Letters, 24(8), 1533-1538. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13816
This monarch (Danaus plexippus) was infected with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) which caused the mutated wings; Mason Neck, Virginia, October 10, 2021. (Photo: Judy Gallagher)
Flowers such as this giant coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea) offer the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) a welcome pit stop.
(Photo: Kevin Spracher)
Sowing Seeds of Connection: A Local Home Garden Blossoms on Tour
By Allie Mandel, Donor Relations Manager
Just as springtime reached its peak, when the flowers were blooming and the birds were singing, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden volunteers and (for the first time) members welcomed other Garden volunteers and members to visit their beautiful native plant gardens and yards at homes across Santa Barbara County. Each home garden was unique, showcasing how California’s native plants can be seamlessly integrated into your outdoor space and why they are essential. The hosts shared their inspirations behind their gardens and the knowledge they’ve gained from years of growing native plants.
Sharing the Bounty of Beauty
Christian Stepien and Melissa Riparetti-Stepien were two such hosts, who’ve “been working really hard on [their] garden for a long time and wanted other people to enjoy it.” I was lucky to take a closer look
at the magic and to listen to their tips and stories. So even if you couldn’t attend the Home Garden Tour in person this year, read on to get inspired for next year!
When I asked Christian and Melissa why they decided to open their garden to visitors, their answer came from the heart: “There has been a ton of love and care that’s gone into it, and we love to share it with people.” Their garden is truly spectacular, offering sweeping views of the Santa Ynez Mountains and even glimpses of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden itself.
Starting From Scratch
Melissa explained the garden’s origin: “After the 2009 Jesusita Fire that burned down everything including our house, we had a blank canvas and could create from scratch. We worked with Carol Bornstein, who was the former director of horticulture at Santa
Below: Visitors were able to take in the breathtaking view of a local native garden and the Santa Ynez Mountains at this year’s Home Garden Tour. (Photo: Christian Stepien)
Barbara Botanic Garden, to help us create our garden.” The collaboration with Carol has been ongoing and meaningful. Melissa elaborated, “Carol still comes by occasionally to see what worked, what plants thrived, and what didn’t. She wanted to support all the wildlife and botany of the area. We let her run with it!”
Even before the fire, Christian and Melissa had been interested in native plants. They wanted to support pollinators like bees and butterflies, and because of climate change, they felt it was important to do their part for biodiversity. “We wanted to make a space where wildlife would feel at home.”
Keeping the Garden Wild
So, “I have noticed climate change affecting the landscape and wildlife, especially because I grew up here,” Melissa observed. But they keep at it, applying a practical approach to gardening: “We use no pesticides, so what doesn’t work, doesn’t work.” Over the years, they’ve documented the wildlife that visits their property in photo albums filled with images of bobcats, roadrunners, foxes, and, most recently, a badger, just to name a few.
Christian and Melissa credit the native plants for the remarkable biodiversity they now see in their garden: “There are so many animals that come to this property.” Melissa noted, “I love the birds, and the Santa Barbara Audobon Society. My favorite are the woodpeckers (Family Picidae) and the Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana). We’ve actually raised quite a few over the last five years, and most years they come back. They know my whistle.”
They shared a memorable story about their dog Cody chasing a mountain lion up into a tree. They hired an expert and learned that mountain lions often escape threats by climbing into oak trees (Quercus spp.). “Always look up,” is the advice they were given, which certainly gives all of us something to think about during our own garden walks.
A bobcat (Lynx rufus) noses around California flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum). (Photo: Melissa Riparetti-Stepien)
This gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) pauses near a manzanita shrub (Manzanita sp.). (Photo: Christian Stepien)
Their property includes some very rare native species, including a Kinsel oak (Quercus x kinseliae) growing just outside their fence. “It’s a really rare oak that only grows in Mission Canyon,” Christian explained. “Ours burned in the fire but has since grown back.”
When asked about their favorite plants in their garden, Christian reflected, “It depends on the seasons. Up in the meadow we have a lot of soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). They only open up at sunset and all of the bees gather around them. They weren’t planted; they were here and survived the fire. We walk around there every day.”
Lessons Learned
“With planting natives, I think it takes people awhile to get used to them, especially if they are used to more curated gardens. The garden has kind of a wild look,” the couple explained. Letting the plants grow as they please is part of the charm of Melissa and Christian’s garden. “We know it is helping the environment and integrating into nature.”
They’ve also become accustomed to rolling with the experimental nature of California’s native plants. It’s taken years of work in their own yard, but Christian and Melissa eventually “learned which species
An abundance of California’s native plants is on full display in this Mission Canyon garden. (Photo: Christian Stepien)
work where. It’s likely about the light and soil, but it’s definitely an experiment. We’re learning all the time."
When asked what inspired their garden, they laughed and said, “Well your Garden, of course — Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.” We at the Garden are just as inspired by them. Their garden demonstrates how native plants can create thriving ecosystems that support local wildlife and integrate easily into the already existing beautiful natural landscape. The Home Garden Tours allowed our members and volunteers to absorb new inspiration outside of the Garden, connecting with others who may have similar questions, desires, and thoughts around planting natives. This is how community blooms — through shared knowledge and deep curiosity, and by working with nature instead of against it. O Save the Date:
Beer Garden March 14, 2026
Raise your glass as we kick off the Garden’s next century together. General admission tickets will be available Jannuary 14 at 9 a.m. PST.
Dappled sunlight adds even more magic to this garden of California’s native plants.
(Photo: Christian Stepien)
The Giving Guide
Leave a Legacy That Grows for Generations
At Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, we know everyone has different priorities and different ways they choose to give back to their community, which is why we have a variety of opportunities for you to make an impact.
Beyond traditional cash donations, here are a few popular giving options to consider that are mutually beneficial. This means by choosing one of these giving methods, you can make your gift go even further than with cash alone. We encourage you to consult with your financial advisor or tax professional to better understand the benefits specific to your circumstances.
Gifts of Stocks or Appreciated Assets:
If you own securities or other assets that have appreciated in value, gifting these to the Garden can provide significant tax advantages. When you transfer stocks or assets, you may avoid capital gains taxes and receive a charitable deduction for the full, fair market value of your gift.
Grants From Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs):
If you have a DAF, you can recommend a grant to the Garden. This allows you to receive an immediate tax deduction when you contribute to the DAF and then grant funds to the Garden over time. This is an efficient, sustained way to both manage your giving and support the Garden’s mission to conserve native plants and habitats.
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs):
If you are 70½ years old or older, you can give up to $100,000 from your individual retirement account (IRA) directly to a qualified charity such as the Garden without paying income taxes on the contribution. This method, also known as a QCD, can satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year.
Every gift, be it big or small, supports the Garden’s ongoing conservation, education, and horticulture programs. With your support, we’re creating a world where nature thrives and our children and grandchildren can revel in the wonders of a rich and diverse ecosystem.
As a cherished member of the Garden community, we are grateful for your generosity in whatever form it takes. Thank you for considering the Garden in your planned annual giving.
Please hold on to this as a guide for your future giving. For more details on how you can help further our mission, please visit us at SBBotanicGarden.org/ support/. O
We Appreciate You
Thank you for joining us at one of our many Free Senior Days in 2025, thanks to our generous sponsor.
Growing Our ‘‘Ex Situ’’ Conservation Plan, One Grove at a Time
By Christina Varnava, Living Collections Curator
It’s very easy to appreciate a tree. They make shade (which is very cool — and cooling — of them), and they even create their own microclimates that help buffer temperature extremes. Trees also provide habitat and shelter for creatures of many sizes, from the tiniest insect to larger beasts like bobcats and red-tailed hawks. They provide food for so many animals, including us humans. Trees really do a lot for us, and it’s important for us to return the favor. That is one of the goals of botanic gardens in general and Santa Barbara Botanic Garden specifically. Our Living Collection is intended to conserve and protect tree species from across California. The trees in the living collections of botanic gardens and arboreta are becoming increasingly valuable, not just for their beauty but their immense “ex situ” conservation value.
Helping Outside a Habitat
What is ex situ conservation? Essentially, the best strategies for conserving threatened wild plants take a two-pronged approach: protect plants and the wild habitats where they grow (aka “in situ” conservation), and safeguard plants outside their habitat (aka ex situ conservation). Ex situ conservation can help protect plant species from going extinct in the wild on unprotected land or from stochastic (i.e., random) events like wildfire, novel diseases and pests, or severe storms. Threatened plant species may have very limited geographic ranges, making them even more vulnerable to these types of habitat-destroying events.
Ex situ conservation includes both systematic seed banking efforts and the living plant collections in botanic gardens. Plants that are protected outside of their habitat in seed banks or living collections can then be cultivated, used to bulk up seed reserves, and reintroduced as part of restoration efforts. Botanic gardens and arboreta are increasingly recognizing the power of their living collections to do this type of work, since these collections are backed by provenance information, essentially cataloguing location and other details each time seeds or plants are gathered for propagation. There are now global networks and conservation strategies in place that allow institutions to collaborate to protect rare and threatened plant species by sharing information about their plant
collections, and the Garden is an active participant in these groups. There are also coordinated efforts to collect new material for threatened species that are underrepresented in these collections.
There are a variety of reasons to grow tree species in living collections as part of a larger conservation strategy. Trees generally have much longer generation
Opposite: Santa Rosa Island Torrey pines (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis) grow on the coastal bluffs of the island. (Photo: Christina Varnava)
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden staff climb up steep slopes to map a Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis) in order to collect pinecones later. (Photo: Christina Varnava)
times than herbaceous or annual plant species, so growing mature trees is a more expedient way to collect and generate seed for restoration efforts. In contrast to their long generation times and lifespans, tree populations in the wild can be destroyed quite quickly, in the event of a wildfire or an invasive insect pest, making it even more important for land managers and conservationists to act nimbly. Additionally, the seeds of tree species are generally not easy to store long term. Trees tend to have larger seeds with much higher fat content than herbaceous or annual plants, and that means they cannot be stored in a freezer. This is especially true of acorns, which have a very short life in storage as the high fat content means they can become rancid quickly (making oak trees [Quercus spp.] great candidates for ex situ conservation in living collections). Finally, trees in living collections can also be advocates for their own conservation, simply because people connect with trees instinctually. We can stand in their shade, we can appreciate their beauty, we can bird watch, and more. All of these experiences make it more likely that we will speak up and take action when trees are at risk.
Growing Groves for Good
As part of enhancing our living tree collections, the Garden will install two new tree-focused gardens on
the grounds this winter: one for the Santa Catalina Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus) and one for the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis).
Meet the Catalina Ironwood
The Catalina ironwood is a small tree species in the rose family (Rosaceae) endemic to Catalina Island. They are close relatives to the Santa Cruz Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius), which is a bit more widespread and found on the three northern Channel Islands (and likely the subspecies you may have seen in a nursery). Catalina ironwoods are unusual, resilient trees, seldom found available for purchase in the nursery trade. They are a small-statured tree, often developing multiple trunks with beautiful peeling reddish-brown bark and lovely sprays of white flowers in late spring. They grow in groves consisting of identical clones. Some of these groves can have over 100 individual trunks and span over large areas. Catalina ironwoods are highly threatened in the wild because the island still has populations of deer and other large herbivores, which graze and trample young trees. Garden staff visited in 2018 and collected seed from nearly 30 groves all over Santa Catalina Island. The seeds from these groves have been grown into trees in our Living Collection Nursery, and this winter it will be time to plant the grove. That will be located on slopes to the east of the Pritzlaff Conservation Center (PCC).
Meet the Torrey Pine
Torrey pines (Pinus torreyana) are the rarest pine species in North America. They are only found in two places on Earth: on the northeastern edge of Santa Rosa Island, where you’ll find the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine and in coastal northern San Diego, where you’ll see a different Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. torreyana). Each of these populations represent their own subspecies with distinct appearances. However, both subspecies grow on steep coastal terraces where they can benefit from coastal fog. Torrey pines have large cones and seeds that must be distributed by animals, especially the Island Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma insularis). Both subspecies have endured massive declines in their wild habitats. The Santa Rosa Island population was heavily impacted by cattle ranching operations, and the San Diego population is still struggling under pressure from drought and bark beetle (Family Scolytidae) infestations. Staff from the Garden visited Santa Rosa Island in 2022 and collected seeds from 45 individual trees across the population there. We also collaborated with San Diego Botanic Garden in 2023 to help collect seeds from 40 trees in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, which have been distributed
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden staff collect material from a Santa Catalina Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus) for cuttings in 2018. (Photo: Garden Staff)
Above: Christina Varnava uses a pole pruner to collect a pine cone from a Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis) in 2022. (Photo: Katelyn Miller)
Inset: Seeds of the Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis) are large and a great food source for birds. (Photo: Christina Varnava)
to botanic gardens across California. Our planned grove of Santa Rosa Island Torrey pines will feature trees from each of the 45 maternal lines collected on Santa Rosa Island. We’ve been growing these from the seeds we collected, and the trees are ready to be planted this winter on the slope to the west of the PCC.
These new Santa Catalina Island ironwood and Santa Rosa Island Torrey pine groves will continue to enhance our ex situ tree conservation efforts here at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. We are very excited that visitors will also be able to stroll through groves of these incredible, rare tree species someday. Funding from two Tree Gene Conservation Partnership grants provided by the American Public Gardens Association and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as support from the Alice Tweed Tuohy Foundation, has made this possible. Through continued support from innovative
partnerships and members like you, the Garden plans to continue to advance tree conservation projects for more shelter, more shade, and more beauty across the central coast.
Christina Varnava takes extensive field notes for a new maternal line collection of Santa Rosa Island Torrey pines (Pinus torreyana ssp. insularis). (Photo: Katelyn Miller)
Santa Catalina Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus) grows here on steep slopes. (Photo: Garden Staff)
From the Archives: Bringing Nature Back to Mission Canyon
By Hannah Barton, Archivist
Since opening its doors in 1926, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has stood as a living example of how care, commitment, and community can transform a landscape, and, in turn, ourselves.
These early photos reveal a highly graded hillside, once overrun with nonnative weeds — a space that would become the foundation for California’s first botanic garden dedicated to native plants. Now, nearly 100 years later, the transformation is still awe inspiring. What was once sparse terrain now flourishes with the biodiversity that defines the Garden’s mission: to conserve native plants for the health and well-being of people and the planet.
Every trail and garden section tells a story of regeneration and resilience, proof that when we nurture nature, nature nurtures us in return. As we approach our centennial, these images remind us how far we’ve come and inspire us to continue cultivating a more vibrant, resilient future for this generation and all the generations to come. O
Clockwise from lower left: Panoramic view northward, across the future site of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden; the original Santa Barbara Botanic Garden site in Mission Canyon, looking south, to entrance boulders and the Blaksley Boulder, circa 1926; this photo highlights what is the present-day Meadow Section and the Meadow oaks (Quercus spp.), circa 1926; looking north, you can see two entrance boulders and the Blaksley Boulder in the background.
Field Notes: Poetry Inspired by the Garden
By David Starkey, Founding Director of Santa Barbara City College’s Creative Writing Program, and Enid Osborn, author and 2017 to 2019 City of Santa Barbara Poet Laureate
Enid Osborn, a 44year resident of Santa Barbara and City of Santa Barbara Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019, has long found inspiration in the natural world. Her book of poems, “When the Big Wind Comes,” reflects on her childhood in southeast New Mexico.
Within her book you’ll find “Lizard Tales,” a poem born of her lifelong kinship with lizards. To this day, her heart leaps at the sight of one. Whether sunning themselves as she gardens or spying her on hikes, lizards often linger by her, much to her delight. When asked to write a poem for this issue of Ironwood, she thought of her friendly companions and the quiet joy they bring when they find her in Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. O
The Not-Blue Bluebelly Lizard
As a child of the Pecos Valley, I spent part of each day chasing blue racers and horned toads. I housed them briefly in shoebox terrariums, then my mother insisted they be freed. Lizards need sun, she said, but softened her decree by noticing their fancy habitats, each furnished with live insects, plants and a drinking hole.
As a testimony of my evolvement, I report that, here in Santa Barbara, the western fence lizard, aka “bluebelly,” does not run away when I step into the Garden but holds her place beside the trail and trains her beady eye upon my face. Or she may go unhurried before me on the path, then veer into the weeds. I call this a blessing.
Ornate as a hand-painted animalito, her pattern blends exactly with the bark of a live oak.
As she ascends the trunk, she does not flash blue or bother with little pushups of dominance, but bolts straight upward in quick spurts, devouring a line of ants. I lose sight of her halfway up the tree. Likewise, she stymies a nearby crow.
With my third eye, I tell her: Live long. Keep your tail. — Enid Osborn
Enid Osborn finds inspiration at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
(Photo: Sara Patchen)
The Book Nook | Get Inspired With These Staff Favorites
“Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law”
Mary Roach
Located less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a space where human infrastructure and natural habitat combine to create an urban-wildlife interface. These fascinating, dynamic zones are a natural feature of our world, but the relationship between the two parties can become uneasy when conflicts of interest emerge. “Fuzz” describes some of the many ways that humans living in these boundary zones have tried to control the wildlife that encounter them. Alternately sobering and comical — and always interesting — popular science author Mary Roach asks readers to consider the needs of every resident in these zones.
Recommended by Cynthia Hannahs, Gardener O
“Nature’s Best Hope (Young Readers’ Edition): How You Can Save the World in Your Own Yard”
Douglas W. Tallamy
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden staff have long admired Doug Tallamy’s original book “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard,” and this young readers’ edition beautifully extends those lessons to the next generation of conservation leaders. Doug distills big ideas — like planting native plants, supporting pollinators, and reimagining our yards — into clear, approachable language. With age-appropriate explanations, practical steps, and engaging illustrations, the book makes complex concepts accessible. Readers will come away feeling empowered to make a difference in their own backyards and inspired to take action for the planet.
Recommended by Jaime Eschette, The Gerry Rubin Director of Marketing and Communications O
“How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy”
Jenny Odell
I was surprised at how often I caught myself thinking about the transformative power of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden while reading this book. Jenny Odell writes about how becoming a bird watcher at a public garden helped focus her attention away from all the beeping, blinking things trying to steal it away. Using examples from nature like Old Survivor (the grandfather coast redwood tree [Sequoia sempervirens] in Oakland) to performance art pieces, Jenny makes the case that “rerouting and deepening one’s attention to place” leads to an awareness and participation in the “morethan-human community.” This is an incredibly important idea as we restore our place in the web of biodiversity.
Recommended by Kevin Spracher, Interpretation and Exhibitions Curator O
“The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate ― Discoveries From a Secret World”
Peter Wohlleben
This book is an invitation for us to see forests in a completely new way. Throughout each chapter, Peter Wohlleben shows how trees communicate, share resources, and even protect one another, turning the forest into a living community. The writing is clear and often poetic, so even the science feels approachable. At times it’s more impressionistic than technical, but it pulls you into the mystery instead of bogging you down in data. It left me looking at every tree with more curiosity and respect.
Recommended by Lindsay Dill, Social Media Consultant
The Budding Botanist: Pollinator Paradise
By Michelle Cyr, Youth and Family Programs Manager
Native butterflies of our region bring beauty and life to any garden, from their bright colors to their graceful flight. They’re also essential to the ecology of the central coast, as pollinators and a food source for other animals. To create a space where these winged wonders can thrive, consider these key ideas for building a butterfly-friendly garden.
Create a Caterpillar Corner
Most Californians know that caterpillars (larvae) of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) can only eat milkweed (Asclepiadoideae ssp.), but they aren’t the only ones! Most butterfly species are specialists that depend on a native host plant. By planting a diversity of host plants, you can welcome a wider range of butterflies.
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
Like monarchs, common buckeyes prefer plants with bitter chemical compounds that, when ingested, allow it to incorporate the plant’s toxins into its body and act as a defense mechanism.
California Native Host: Seep monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus)
Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon)
Preferring plants in the rose (Rosa spp.), birch (Betula spp.), and buckthorn (Family Rhamnaceae) groups, pale swallowtails use a variety of native shrubs as viable host plants.
California Native Hosts: Bigpod ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus), hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia), California coffeeberry (Frangula californica)
California Sister (Adelpha californica)
This beautiful butterfly relies on oak trees (Quercus spp.) as its host plant, causing it to be distasteful to many predators. As a result, many species mimic this butterfly to avoid predation.
California Native Host: Canyon oak (Quercus chrysolepis), coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia)
Plant for the Seasons
Once butterflies emerge from their chrysalides, they need an abundance of nectar to sustain themselves. You can provide a steady food source by planting a variety of flowers that bloom throughout the seasons. Some seasonal favorites to consider:
Fall
California Goldenrod (Solidago velutina ssp. californica)
Even after the flowers fade, this plant’s seeds provide valuable food for birds.
Winter
Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum)
Add a splash of color while providing food for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
Spring
Sages (Salvia spp.)
Treat visiting pollinators and your nose by filling your garden with aromatic bliss.
Summer
Buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.)
With a wide range of sizes and colors to choose from, buckwheats serve as both a nectar source and host plant to a variety of butterflies and moths.
Top of page: Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus)
Left: Seep monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata) (Photo: Charlotte Grenier)
Create a Welcoming Garden
Incorporate these tips to help promote a more butterfly-friendly space.
Plant in Patches
To better support caterpillars and butterflies, plant large groupings of one species rather than a few of multiple species.
Provide Water
Butterflies need water too. Add a shallow dish to your garden to provide water to pollinators, especially during the dry season.
Garden Mindfully
Avoid using pesticides that may harm caterpillars and butterflies. O
Bigpod ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus) (Photo: Keith Nevison)
California coffeeberry (Frangula californica)
Top of page: Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) on narrow leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
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