The Budding Botanist

By: Michelle Cyr, Youth and Family Programs Manager

Spotting changes from season to season can be challenging in sunny Santa Barbara. However, plants provide us with clues that can reveal some of these subtle seasonal changes if you know what to look for. For example, many native plants become dormant to avoid the summer heat, transforming our green hills into a golden landscape. Can you think of other ways plants tell us that seasons are changing?

Plants are closely tied to seasonal climate patterns. For instance, after a dry season, the first rains may trigger a seed to sprout. Or, increasingly hot weather may cause a plant to drop its leaves to save resources. By observing and writing down how plants respond to these patterns, we can better understand how they will react to a changing climate.

Search your backyard, neighborhood, or local park for a handful of plants. What seasonal stages are they experiencing today? Use the table below to record your observations:

New leaves emerge from tiny buds along stems. Do you see leaf tips poking out of buds?

Do you see any leaves on a plant that are turning from green to yellow or that have fallen to the ground?

Can you find any flowers? How many do you see? Are they all open or are some still growing?

Indicators of ripe fruit could be changes in color, splitting in half to reveal seeds, or simply falling to the ground. Present? o Yes o No

Return to these plants in one month. Are these plants still in the same stage? How have they changed? How much do you think these plants will change in two months?

You can help! Join the California Phenology Community Science Project to help study seasonal changes in our native plants. Visit https://cpp.usanpn.org/ for more information.