Upcoming CNPS SCV Events and Activities - May 27, 2025

[CNPS-SCV News]

Dear friends,
Check out our chapter's upcoming events:

[1] Tonight! - Native Plant ID
Tuesday May 27, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Peninsula Conservation Center (first floor), 3921 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307622684/

This session will focus on Salvias. If you have any Salvia samples, please bring them with you to the meeting.

Native Plant ID is a Chapter group that works together to learn plant identification using botanical keys and other resources. Join us as we look at plant samples collected from local gardens and practice methods of identifying the native plants of our region. Bring in plant samples if you have some from a property where you have permission to collect or just come and work with the materials provided. The group meets at 7:00 PM on the fourth Tuesday of each month. For more information please contact Janet Hoffmann at janet @ cnps-scv.org.

[2] Open Now! Online Plant Sale
Starts Tuesday May 27
Location: Online Sale - Pickup in Los Altos Hills or Palo Alto
https://www.cnps-scv.org/events/calendar/eventdetail/11709/-/online-native-plant-sale/

Our CNPS SCV nursery’s online plant sale at https://california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter.square.site/ has started. The store will close when we reach our pickup capacity or at the end of the day on Wednesday, May 28 – whichever comes first.

In addition to plants, the nursery’s online store includes books, labels and plant signs. There is a minimum order of $40.

Pick your plants up with a scheduled pickup between 1pm and 3pm at the CNPS SCV Nursery on Friday, May 30 or the Exchange at the Peninsula Conservation Center on Saturday, May 31. No drop-in pickups or sales.

[3] Seed and Cutting Exchange & Plant Sale Pickup
Saturday May 31, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Location: Peninsula Conservation Center (first floor), 3921 E. Bayshore Road, Palo Alto
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307798571/

This free event provides an opportunity to share and receive both seeds and cuttings of native plants. Browse the diverse offerings, ranging from easy-to-grow to hard-to-find, and go home with seeds and cuttings of new native plants! We will provide coin envelopes for seeds but bring containers to carry cuttings home.

If you have native plant material from your own garden to share, please bring some. Label your cuttings to make them easy to browse – some gardeners attach helpful hints about growing; others display photos of plants in bloom.

[4] Conservation Committee Meeting
Monday June 2, 7:00 PM
Location: Zoom
https://www.cnps-scv.org/events/calendar/eventdetail/11605/-/conservation-committee

This committee covers many issues affecting native plants: conservation, advocacy, legislation, habitat restoration and rare plants. The committee meets once a month to provide information and support for these conservation issues and efforts. Members of our committee work on projects throughout the Chapter area, coordinating with our state CNPS program staff and other conservation organizations. Please join us in our important work!

[5] California's Vegetation Communities Through Time, a talk by Dr. Katie Glover
Thursday June 26, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Los Altos Library Orchard Room, 13 S. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307845059/

Note: This talk is in-person only.

California's iconic landscapes and vegetation communities have long been shaped by dynamic climate and terrestrial processes. Often, changes in these forces are what can push an ecosystem to transition to a different, yet stable, state. In this talk, I will draw upon my research in paleoecology that used California's fossil record from lake cores and the La Brea Tar Pits to show how ecosystems shifted in response to climate change and fire during the last Ice Age. The tools and botanical evidence used in these studies are powerful to help us understand landscape response before human-induced impacts, and to inform the changes we can expect in a warmer world. Yet one doesn't have to be a trained paleoecologist to imagine – and teach about – past worlds. We live in a time and place with rich educational resources and access to natural spaces, which can help teach the next generation how to spot the evidence for ecosystem transitions.

Speaker bio:
Dr. Katie Glover has a lifelong love for lakes and landscapes, which led to many years teaching environmental science curriculum, and researching Ice Age landscape change in North America. During her Ph.D. in Geography at UCLA, she developed a 120,000-year environmental history from lake sediment cores in the San Bernardino Mountains and worked with the La Brea Tar Pits fossil plant collection. Katie is the Associate Director of Environmental Education at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), and is grateful that she can highlight the beauty and complexity of California's native ecosystems every day to students, docents, colleagues, and visitors.

[6] Greeters needed for Chapter talk
Thursday June 26, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Los Altos Library Orchard Room - 13 S. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f49a9a729aafd0-library#/

Dr. Katie Glover will be speaking at the Los Altos library on "California's Vegetation Communities Through Time". We need two greeters for this event.

This is a great opportunity to learn about what our chapter does. Worry not, if you are new to doing this! You will have an experienced volunteer with you to assist you. The responsibilities of the greeters are - staff the welcome table and answer basic questions about CNPS, if attendees have any. Tables, chairs and CNPS literature will be provided.
Please sign up on the link above if interested. Questions? Contact Priya at: priya4cnps @ gmail.com.

[7] Chapter Restoration Activities
RSVP is required for all Chapter restoration activities, along with signed waiver forms. Please see the individual Meetup listings for details.

[a] Habitat Restoration at Lake Cunningham Park
Saturday May 31, 8:00 am - 10:00 am
Location: Native Garden Parking Lot, Lake Cunningham - 2305 S. White Road, San Jose
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307768438/

Join us to restore habitat (weeding and mulching) in the Native Garden at Lake Cunningham Park.

[b] Community Work Day at Kirk Park
Saturday May 31, 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Location: Kirk Park Native Garden - Briarwood Drive at Wawona Drive, San Jose
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307556874/

Volunteers meet at the garden on Saturdays, weather permitting, for weeding, watering and other maintenance activities. Occasionally there will be other tasks such as mulching and planting.

[c] Habitat Restoration at Cataldi Park
Saturday May 31, 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Location: Cataldi Park - 1797 Bethany Ave, San Jose
https://www.meetup.com/california-native-plant-society-santa-clara-valley-chapter/events/307769446/

Join us to restore habitat in Cataldi Park, San Jose. We are planting and maintaining native plants in a 1/4-acre area of the park off Bethany Ave. We planted more than 100 native plants last winter! Activities this spring include weeding, sheet mulching, watering, irrigation setup and general maintenance.

[d] Fountain Thistle Work Party
Saturday May 31, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Near intersection of I-280 and Hwy 92
https://www.cnps-scv.org/events/calendar/eventdetail/11711/-/fountain-thistle-work-party-may-31

Fountain thistle (Cirsium fontinale var. fontinale) is a federally endangered plant species that grows in an unusual specialized habitat, serpentine seeps, and is only found at our work location and in a few other nearby locations on the Peninsula. Fountain thistle’s recovery here is a restoration success story. Once almost completely displaced by jubatagrass (Andean pampas grass), it has largely recovered here, as a result of the work done by CNPS volunteers. However, fountain thistle is still under threat from invasion by non-native and woody plants. In addition, the bordering dry serpentine zone is habitat to another rare plant, Crystal Springs lessingia (Lessingia arachnoidea), which is also threatened by non-native plants. We should be able to observe some late-flowering spring wildflowers.

[e] Friday Edgewood Restoration
Friday May 30, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: Varies - join the email group to receive weekly notices
https://www.cnps-scv.org/events/calendar/eventdetail/11413/-/edgewood-restoration

Help restore habitat at Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve, known for fabulous wildflowers and amazing diversity. To participate, join the email list and sign the electronic volunteer agreement, by sending an email to weed-warriors-coord @ friendsofedgewood.org.

Here are some events from other chapters and organizations:

[8] Morning Meander: Ridge Grasslands to Oaks - by Midpen
Wednesday, May 28, 9:00 am - 11:30 am
Location: Russian Ridge Preserve, Redwood City
https://www.openspace.org/events/guided-activities/morning-meander-ridge-grasslands-oaks

Meet for a short, mid-morning hike in a preserve famous for its display of spring wildflowers. Docent Naturalists Laura Levin, Marie-Anne Neimat, and Emma Finter will help you identify exquisite blooms in a variety of plant habitats along the Ridge, Bo Gimbal, and Ancient Oaks trails. You’ll stop frequently on this leisurely-paced hike to talk about your observations and take in expansive views.

[9] Morning Hike at Bear Creek Redwoods - by POST
Friday May 30, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location: 19350 Bear Creek Rd, Los Gatos
https://openspacetrust.org/event/morning-hike-at-bear-creek-redwoods-7/

Join POST for this guided, strenuous but mostly shaded 5.4 mile hike with ~900 feet of elevation gain at Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve! In one of the county’s best preserved, second-growth coastal redwood forests, we’ll also pass extensive areas of Douglas fir and oak woodland, as well as a few remaining old-growth redwoods. The proximity to the San Andreas fault results in a unique geology and landscape.