Dear Friend of the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase, I’m writing to let you know that a Native Plant Extravaganza—with free Talks in the Nurseries—is coming up, as is the two-day annual online Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour. Plus, a new native plant nursery is opening this Saturday with a special one-day pop-up sale, and discounted memberships in the California Native Plant Society—with the opportunity to win a free front yard garden design—are being offered. Read on for details. ———- Saturday, March 16 10:00-4:00 Native Plant Extravaganza with Free Talks in the Nurseries Shop in-person or online during the Extravaganza, and a percentage of your purchases will go to support the Tour. Enjoy these talks in the nurseries! Oaktown Native Plant Nursery, 702 Channing Way, Berkeley 10:00 “Would you like to invite native bees and butterflies to your garden? Join me to learn about some easy plants for your garden that will support pollinators” by Suzanne Carter, owner of Oaktown. Annie’s Annuals and Perennials, 740 Market Avenue, Richmond 11:00 “Edible natives” by Christina Moss California natives provide food for thousands of insects, which feed birds and other wildlife. But many native plants also feed humans! Learn how to grow delicious native edibles that need little to no summer water and are happier without the fuss. Plus, planting natives will bring pollinators and other beneficial insects to your garden, which will make all of your plants happy and healthy. The Watershed Nursery, 601 A Canal Blvd. Richmond 12:00 “Creating the ultimate butterfly garden” by Jennifer Dirking Jennifer is the creator of those amazing Keystone Species signs; her engaging talk will help you choose the plants that will create a beautiful garden that attracts people, as well as butterflies. 1:00 “How you can help bring back the pollinators” by Natasha Granoff, Xerces SocietyAmbassador 11:30 – 2:00 Seed Giveaway: Jennifer Dirking will have native gardening information and free packets of Larner Seeds Pollinator Wildflower Mix, while supplies last.

East Bay Wilds, 2777 Foothill Blvd., Oakland; note that the entrance is on 28th Ave 2:00 “Choosing and caring for the right manzanitas for your garden” by Pete Veilleux, owner of East Bay Wilds Manzanitas are not only evergreen and stately all year long, they also provide nectar and pollen to specific bees that depend upon them, and to hummingbirds, which visit their delicate, urn-shaped blossoms during the winter, when they flower. Pete carries more than forty types of manzanitas. Join him to learn about ground cover, mid-size, and upright manzanitas, and how to successfully grow and care for these beautiful plants in your own garden. Or, shop online, either Saturday or Sunday March 16 & 17 Order online from Green Thumb Works on either Saturday or Sunday March 16 & 17, and a percentage of your purchase will also go to support the Tour. Save water, lower the amount of time you spend working in your garden (or the amount you pay for maintenance), invite birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects to your garden, support local ecology, and reflect the natural splendor for which California is known by gardening with California native plants from Green Thumb Works: browse Green Thumb’s online list of available plants here. No registration for the Extravaganza is necessary: see the Extravaganza page on the website for details. ———- Saturday, March 9 Special pop-up local native plant sale in Hayward Breaking news! A new native plant nursery that grows local native plants from the Hayward areas has been started! It’s first pop-up sale takes place this coming Saturday, March 9, from 12:00 to 4:00 at 2363 Catalpa Way, Hayward. About 40 species of plants will be available, including pink flowering currant, Western columbine, mules ears, fringecups, lady ferns, buckeye, toyon, oaks, and more. The sale will be run from Josh’s driveway: while you’re there, check out his and David’s garden, which will be on the Tour this spring, and was recently honored with the “Most Beautiful Garden in Hayward” award. ———- Registration for the free online and in-person Tour is open! (One registration covers you for all four days of the Tour.) Online Tour Saturday and Sunday, April 6 and 7, 2024 10:00-3:00 The agenda should be out.. any minute now! While it is being finalized, check out our YouTube channel, which contains more than 100 garden videos and green home talks that were given on previous online Tours. Subscribe to the Channel to be notified when new videos are uploaded. Register for the Tour here. ———- In-Person Tour Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5, 2024, 10:00-5:00 Sixty 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. In addition to the native plant gardens, homes with green home features such as heat pumps, induction stovetops, and solar panels, will be showcased. Register here. ———- 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. Please contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net for details. ———- Join the California Native Plant Society as a new member (at a steep discount) and you will be entered into a drawing to win a free front garden design Talented native plant garden designer Kelly Marshall, owner of Kelly Marshall Garden Design, has offered a free front garden design which will be awarded to a lucky, new CNPS member! Join CNPS and you will automatically be entered in the drawing. (Note, this discounted membership offer is limited to new members only, and for the drawing the member must live in Alameda or Contra Costa County. Drawing will take place in late May.) Here’s the discount part: wherever you live, you can join CNPS as a first-time member for just $30—this is 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. You’ll also be connected with your local CNPS chapter for field trip, volunteer, and other event information. This discounted offer is good through midnight on June 30, and does not apply to current or renewing CNPS members. Join here. ———- Videographers and electrification afficionados sought We are looking for volunteers to make videos of home gardens, and also videos of electrified homes: these videos would be shown during the 2025 Tour. Ideally, footage of the gardens should be taken fairly soon, and videoing would continue over the course of the year, so the gardens can be shown throughout the seasons. Please contact us if you can help make next year’s online Tour a success! We are also seeking volunteers who have some knowledge of, and affection for, heat pumps, induction ranges, solar panels, smart panels, or other electrification features, so we can open more green homes on May 4 and 5, the weekend of the Tour. We also need folks who are not so knowledgeable about electrification who will be stationed in the homes to ensure all goes smoothly. If you can help us open more green homes on the weekend of the Tour, please register here, and fill out the volunteer section of the form. Put a note in the Comments section of the form to let us know you would like to be assigned as an electrification volunteer to a green home. ———- Will you help support the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour? If you enjoy the Tour, please make a donation now; we rely upon contributions from people like you to keep going. You can help ensure the tour and our many native plant and electrification-promoting activities continue to run by making a donation with your credit card or PayPal here, through Venmo @BringingBacktheNatives, or you can mail a check to: Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour 1718 Hillcrest Road San Pablo CA 94806 ———- Wrapping up YouTube – Check out the Tour’s YouTube channel, which contains more than 100 videos on gardening with California native plants, as well as videos on green home features such as heat pumps, induction stoves, solar panels, and more. Subscribe to be notified when new videos are uploaded. Facebook—Visit and follow us on Facebook to see featured gardens, read about native plants (and more!) I hope to see you at some of these events. In the meanwhile, happy gardening! Warmly, Kathy

Kathy Kramer Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Coordinator (510) 236-9558 kathy@kathykramerconsulting.net www.bringingbackthenatives.net Visit the Garden Tour on Facebook YouTube 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