News Articles

Stay updated with the latest developments and discoveries in the world of plants and horticulture with our News Articles category. Here, you’ll find timely updates on conservation efforts, botanical breakthroughs, gardening trends, and industry news. Whether it’s a new species discovery, tips for sustainable gardening, or global botanical initiatives, this section keeps you informed and connected to the ever-evolving plant world. Perfect for enthusiasts, researchers, and nature lovers looking to stay in the know.

Newborns living near trees tend to be healthier: New data suggests it’s not because healthier people reside near parks

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The link between proximity to greenspace — including trees and parks– and healthy birth outcomes is well established. Now new data adds to our understanding of these health benefits, accounting for other factors that may influence this link, such as education, income and body mass index, but also taking the body of knowledge a step further by exploring the effect of residing near newly planted trees.

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The Desert Garden at Balboa Park

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I was surprised to discover I’d missed writing about the Desert Garden at Balboa Park, since I’d previously covered the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden and Palm Canyon, and the Botanical Building (aka the lath house), all of which we visited in mid-January of this year.

You reach the desert garden by walking across a pedestrian bridge at the far east side of the park. 

As we descended down into the garden I could see that the plants were suffering from the same lack of attention, care, and water that I saw elsewhere in the park.

Someone had a little fun with a dead barrel cactus.

The plants that were still looking good stood as a testament to the resilience of succulents.

Towering Euphorbia sp.

I don’t know palms enough to venture a serious guess as to the ID of this beauty. I mean if you made me throw out a name I’d say Bismarckia nobilis.

Puya sp?

It’s crazy to think there were aloes blooming during our visit in mid-January and still many blooming when I was in the Bay area at the end of March. You gotta love a plant that blooms for that long.

I love this yucca class photo. Or maybe it’s a family reunion?

The large trunk of their Brachychiton rupestris (Queensland bottle tree) has broken open.

Wow.

This opuntia looks like it’s melting.

Cochineal

Ah yes, there is nothing more stately than a Dracaena draco..

So dry…

These agaves (sorry, can’t venture a guess on the species) were all colored up with drought stress.

The Wiliwili tree (Erythrina sandwicensis) was blooming!

This tree in the pea family is native to the Hawaiian Islands. The colorful flowers were a stark contrast to the bare brown branches.

The blooms pictured above were way up over my head, but there were a few that had fallen to the ground.

Look at that adorable little baby cactus! Grown from a dropped seed? Planted by someone who is watching over it?

This one is not so lucky, it’s at the end of its life.

It’s still a visual anchor for this vignette within the garden, and no doubt providing shelter to small creatures.

As it breaks down I hope it will be allowed to stay in place and do so completely. What an interesting process to watch.

That’s a healthy Agave victoriae-reginae at its base…

A parting view. I still have a handful of San Diego gardens to share!

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Update on Adobe build

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People asked for updates, so here is a quick ramble. I tried to make a video, but today I messed up with the camera and nothing was actually recorded to the floppy drive. I’ll try again soon.

Biggest change is the stem wall. I had built an earthbag stem wall as an experiment a couple years ago. It sat out in the weather for too long, and a few of the bags developed pinhole leaks and filled with water and deteriorated.

So, we removed the earthbag wall and built a block wall on top of the stone foundation. CMU block is not very “permaculture”, but it makes the most sense for a lot of reasons and is a reasonable compromise.

I have a wrecked back and shoulders, so I’m not doing much Adobe laying. I hired some folks from a nearby farm. Their family has been building with Adobe since New Mexico was part of Spain. So cool to work with them.

So, a few more weeks of this to go. After that we move on to the bond beam.

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Ideas requested – New no-till bed with acidic soil

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Hi all – I just built a new no-till bed on top of some existing grass (cardboard + 4-5 inches of compost). I finally got my soil report back and it recommends I add dolomitic lime because my clay soil has a ph of 3.9. I hoped to get the report back before the compost came, but that didn’t happen. How do I do that with the bed? Mix it in? Hoping to begin planting this week. Thank you!

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