Fram Kathy Kramer:
Dear Friend of the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase,
I’m writing to let you know that registration for the Twenty first Anniversary online and in-person Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase is open!
In addition, coming up are four free events: another Native Plant Extravaganza, a native plant propagation workshop, a native seed and cutting exchange, and a talk I’ll be giving this on my own garden.
Last, the Tour has arranged for new members to the California Native Plant Society to join CNPS at a significant cost reduction: they’ll then be entered in a drawing to win a free front yard garden design.
Read on for details
1) Online Tour
Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6, 2025 10:00-3:00
This year’s two-day, online Tour includes a keynote talk by Doug Tallamy, and a presentation from Berkeley Fire Chief Colin Arnold on how to protect your home from fire, followed by a talk on fire-resistant native plants given by our very own Jennifer Dirking.
Over the course of this event we’ll also tour six home gardens (one of them is a rental); and learn how to prune natives from Tour host and aesthetic pruner Lesley Buck. There will also be talks on gardening for native bees, the amazing Skyline Gardens Restoration Project, and how to prevent bird/glass collisions.
You can also learn about Assembly Bill 1572—which does not apply to single family homes—but beginning in 2027 (and being implemented in stages), will prohibit the watering of non-functional turf at schools, HOAs, libraries, universities, and city, county, and state-owned land. (This presents a fabulous opportunity to create native plant gardens for wildlife in what are now ecological deserts! Join us to find out what you can do to help transform these lawns into beautiful native plant gardens.)
View the online Tour’s agenda here, and register for it here.
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2) In-Person Tour
Saturday and Sunday, May 3 and 4, 2024, 10:00-5:00
More than fifty beautiful bird- and butterfly-friendly gardens will be open at various locations throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties over the course of the first week-end in May. Thirty talks will be given during this year’s in-person Tour, and music will be performed at the Hillside Club in Berkeley and the Sorenson garden in Orinda. In addition, twenty-five homes with green home features, such as heat pumps, induction stovetops, and solar panels, will be showcased. Register for the Tour here.
Can you help promote the Tour? Text for Facebook, NextDoor, and X
See Your Neighbors’ Native Plant Gardens and Electrified Homes!
21st Anniversary Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase. Online Tour April 5 & 6, 10 am-3 pm. In-person Tour May 3 & 4, 10 am-5 pm. See how 50 of your neighbors have greened their gardens with California native plants, and learn how 25 of them have electrified their homes. Free. Registration is required here.
If you can distribute them, the Tour flier is here, and the press release for the Tour is here.
3) Saturday, March 15, 10:00-4:00, Native Plant Extravaganzas—support the Tour while you shop!
Two nurseries are offering talks; a third is offering free seeds
Shop in-person on Sat. March 15 at Down by the Bay Native Plant Nursery (2363 Catalpa Way, Hayward—plant list here): at East Bay Wilds (2777 Foothill, Oakland—plant inventory here): or at The Watershed Nursery (601 Canal Blvd., Richmond—see their plant inventory here) or…
shop on-line on either Saturday or Sunday, March 15 or 16 at Green Thumb Works— see their plant list here, or at Down by the Bay (see their plant list here and…
A percentage of your purchases will go to support the Tour.
Talks and Free Seeds in the Nurseries
East Bay Wilds, 2777 Foothill Blvd., Oakland: note that the entrance is on 28th Ave.
12:00 “Gardening for birds, caterpillars, and other insects: These are the plants that will bring them to your garden” by Pete Veilleux, owner of East Bay Wilds.
Down by the Bay, 2363 Catalpa Way, Hayward
1:00 and 2:30 “Great plants for sunny and shady areas” Down by the Bay owner Josh Cheng-Rubietta will discuss beautiful hardy plants for your garden.
Watershed Nursery, 601 A Canal Blvd. Richmond
All day: The Watershed Nursery will be giving away a free 2-gram seed packet containing a mix of native annuals and perennials with each purchase (limit one per customer).
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4. Saturday, March 22, 10:00-1:00, Native Plant Propagation Workshop in Livermore - free (registration required: limit 45)
Would you like to learn how to propagate native plants? You’re invited to attend a free native plant propagation workshop lead by native plant expert Laura Cornett, and held at Las Positas College in Livermore from 10:00-1:00 on Saturday, March 22. Bring your own picnic lunch and drink to enjoy at the break.
The natives you propagate will be grown out in Las Positas’ green houses and provided to groups doing native plant restoration projects, but you are welcome to take home some plant material to propagate at home (since you’ll know how!).
To register for this event (and receive the address), join the Native Plant Resource Teams—it’s free to join the Teams, and free to attend our events. After you have joined, check the calendar (which shows event details to members) to sign up for this workshop. (Note, when joining the Native Plant Resource Teams you can keep your emails to a minimum by selecting the Digest.)
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5) Saturday, March 22, 1:30-3:30, Native Plant Cutting and Seed Exchange in Crow Canyon Gardens, 114 Park Place, San Ramon - free
Join us for this free event, where you can share and receive both cuttings and seeds of native plants. We’ll have many options, and can help you find plants that are easy to grow, or unusual offerings that are hard to find. We will provide coin envelopes for seeds, but please bring plastic bags and paper towels (in which to keep your cuttings moist on the way home), and containers in which to carry cuttings home.
The Native Plant Resource Sharing Seeds and Plants Team is hosting this event and will have information sheets to help you grow your seeds and cuttings. Join the Native Plant Resource Teams here to learn about our other events.
Talks will start at 2pm
Long-time garden Tour hosts Danny Galindo and Eugene Shabelyanau will discuss “California Native Seed Collecting for Beginners.” Danny and Eugene own CaliforniaNativeSeeds.com, and sell a wide variety of seeds collected from plants grown on their property in Castro Valley. They will have a selection of seeds for sale. Read more about them here: About CA Native Seeds
Jennifer Dirking will give a talk on “Starting Milkweed from Seed.” March through June are ideal times to start some perennials from seed. Jennifer will demonstrate how to start milkweed from seed, and share packets of native Narrowleaf Milkweed for attendees to plant at home.
Registration: Register for this event here, and let us know what seeds or cuttings you are bringing. If you don't have any to share, come by anyway and browse the offerings!
Want to Invite Friends? Here's a link to a postcard you can send to friends: Seed & Plant Sharing March 22.
We're grateful to Native Plant Resource Team member Alyse Lightfoot for helping us coordinate this event!
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6) Tuesday, March 25, 5:30–8:15 “Bringing Nature Home: Join us in reimagining the places where we live”Place: Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church, 22577 Bayview Avenue, Hayward - Free
I hope you’ll join me at what promises to be a fun evening!
We’ll start at 5:30: come pick up free native wildflower seeds, and browse the native plant cutting and seed swap tables. Sign in to be entered in a drawing to win a free native garden design consultation. Light snacks and drinks will be provided.
At 6:30 I’ll be giving a talk on how my husband and I transformed our garden from a scruffy lawn, blackberry and non-native ornamentals into a beautiful native plant garden, and the wildlife we have since seen in it. Following the presentation will be a discussion on gardening with native plants.
If you have them, bring labelled native plants, seeds, or cuttings or edibles for the exchange area. (No non-natives besides edibles, please.) Also, bring envelopes to take seeds home in, and plastic bags with paper towels in them keep damp the cuttings you have picked up. Contributions to the refreshments table are welcome.
Seating is limited and every attendee must register. Please register early at https://tinyurl.com/SKUUC-BNH1. You can also watch this talk, live, on Zoom; you will receive the link after registering.
Questions? E-mail Sandra Nevala-Lee at <greenthumbworks@hey.com>
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New members can join the California Native Plant Society at a discounted rate—and be entered in a drawing to receive a free front yard garden design!
Join the California Native Plant Society as a first-time CNPS member for just $30—that’s 40% off the regular price of $50! As a member, you'll receive the beautiful Flora magazine, filled with native gardening tips, inspiring interviews, and photo essays. And you’ll be connected with your local CNPS chapter for field trips, workshops, volunteer opportunities and more. This offer is good through midnight on June 30, and does not apply to current or renewing CNPS members. New members can join CNPS at the discounted rate here.
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Can you help support the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour?
If you like what we do, please make a donation now to help support the Tour.
You can do so with:
Your credit card here
Venmo at @BringingBacktheNatives
or mail a check to:
Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour
1718 Hillcrest Road, San Pablo CA 94806
Major donations to the Tour are now tax-deductible
The Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour has set up a partnership with the nonprofit Golden Gate Bird Alliance: donations of over $500, or from donor-advised funds or retirement accounts, can be made through a dedicated fund that will support the Tour. The Alliance’s federal tax ID number is 94-6086896. Please notify Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net if you donate through the Alliance, or email if you have any questions.
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Can you volunteer some time to help us out? We need:
Someone to keyword the videos on the Tour’s YouTube channel
If you can help with this task, would you e-mail Kathy at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net?
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That’s it for now: I wish you a happy and healthy 2025, and look forward to seeing you at some of the upcoming events!
Warmly,
Kathy
Kathy Kramer
Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Coordinator
(510) 236-9558
kathy@kathykramerconsulting.net
www.bringingbackthenatives.net
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I hope you enjoy this article as much as I have:
The Chickadees Guide to Gardening: In Your Garden, Choose Plants That Help the Environment
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