SoCaLNativescapes Photos
click on photos to enlarge
Note: Click on the Blogs near center bottom of page to see pictures and descriptions of the plants mentioned below, and many more.
SoCaL Nativescapes is a focus of mine about creating attractive, congruent, soulful landscapes with the more interesting and colorful plants native to the Southern California region from south-central California through central Baja, with associated terrain elements, focusing on particular regions and habitats within this larger region for a given landscape composition character, such as a Southern California islands landscape, Coastal Chaparral/Scrub, Beach-scape, Foothill Chaparral, Oak Woodlands, Desert Landscape, Desert Transition, North/South/East/West exposures, Mesic, Riparian, etc.
The SoCaL islands have a particularly interesting assortment of endemic(or just 'native', also occurring on the mainland) shrubs and trees that do well in Southern California's mainland coastal climate, as you'd expect, and being that I live near the ocean in Pt. Loma/OB in foothill 'decomposed sandstone' soil, I have especial interest in these. The islands I include extend from the Channel Islands near Santa Barbara, through to Guadalupe and Cedros Islands in northern to central Baja, since they are all considered to share the same ‘floristic province’. Some examples of interesting plants from the islands(either endemic or varietals of species which are also native to the mainland) include the Guadalupe Island Palm(Brahea), Island Ironwood(Lyonothamnus), Island Bush Poppy(Dendromecon), 'Catalina' California Fuchsia(Epilobium), Island Snapdragon Bush(Galvezia), Island Tree Mallow(Lavatera a.), Ceanothus arboreus, Island Manzanitas, Island Cherry(Prunus)(also native to Baja Norte), Quercus tomentella(Island Oak), Island Morning Glory, 'Canyon Prince' blue rye grass (Leymus), Island Snowflake (Constancea), Pertiyle incana, some bush Buckwheats (Eriogonum)(such as species 'arborescens', 'grande rubescens', and 'giganteum'), and yes, even the Torrey Pine, which, besides being native to Del Mar / La Jolla, is also native to Santa Rosa Island, - the island originally named WI'MA by the Chumash natives. The northern channel islands were inhabited by the Chumash, and the southern channel islands were largely inhabited by the Tongva and Payomkowishum groups. Btw, the San Diego region was mainly inhabited by the Ipai and Tipai groups (together known as Kumeyaay).
Also, San Diego and the nearby foothills and lower mountains, and including similar habitat areas into northern Baja, have an interesting collection of native plants to build interesting landscapes with, such as:
Arctostaphylos glandulosa ssp. crassifolia (Del Mar Manzanita), Arctostaphylos glandulosa ssp. glandulosa, Arctostaphylos glandulosa blue-grey leaved variant,
Occasionally I will use regionally native plants to play a part in a non-native themed landscape as a matter of the color, structure, and/or textural presence it gives to the landscape design intent.
FOR THE RECORD, THE FOLLOWING ARE THE DOMINANTLY KNOWN LOCAL NATIVE AMERICAN NAMES FOR THE SoCaL ISLANDS. {Associated resident tribes were Chumash(northern islands), and, Tongva(aka: Gabrieliño)(southern islands) and Acjachemen/Payomkowishum(aka: Juaneño/Luiseño)(also southern islands). Alternative pronunciation spellings as well as different names by the different tribes are included. In addition to the tribes inhabiting their respective island groups, the mainland territory of the Chumash was from San Luis Obispo to Malibu, the Tongva throughout the Los Angeles area, and the Payomkowishum from the southern Orange County area to northern San Diego county. Btw, the Kumeyaay peoples(Ipai, Tipai,...)(aka: Diegueño), who populated the majority of the San Diego region and into Northern Baja, were not significantly present in the island populations, from what is known of the historical records (although they certainly knew about the islands, since on some clear-horizon days Pimu and Kinki (Catalina and San Clemente Islands) are adequately visible from the Pt. Loma ridge, Mt. Soledad, Cowles Mtn., Blacks Cliffs, and various other San Diego mounts)}{Btw, the Islas Coronados were apparently uninhabitated by aboriginal natives}:
TUKAN = SAN MIGUEL ISLAND, Chumash
WI'MA / WIMAT = SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Chumash
LIMU / LIMUW = SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, Chumash
ANYAPAX / ANYAPAH / ENEEAPAH = ANACAPA ISLANDS, Chumash
SIWOT = SANTA BARBARA ISLAND, Tongva
GHALAS-AT = SAN NICOLAS ISLAND, Chumash name, though inhabited by Tongva and/or Payom., (ATAUKI, possibly a name used by the inhabitants)
PIMU('Pipimar' - Payom.) = (SANTA) CATALINA ISLAND, Tongva
KINKI / KINKIPAR('Khesh' - Payom.) = SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND, Tongva/Payom.
At Torrey Pines, above; and South Miramar, below, near the 52 freeway, with a row of the San Diego native Silvery Felt Leaf Yerba Santa(Eriodictyon crassifolium ssp. crassifolium) in back, and the new SoCaL Nativescapes panel. Btw, Eriodictyon c. c. loves asphalt, and it'll even grow through it if it can find a crack, being that it's a tough, drought tolerant, rhizomatous 'runner'(like 'running bamboo') type of plant.
Fundamentally speaking, austral means south/southern. Southern California could also be called Austral California. The southern hemisphere could also be called the austral hemisphere, and the plant 'kingdom' of the southern hemisphere has been referred to as the Austral Floristic Kingdom, or Realm, from a global perspective, just as there is the Boreal Floristic Kingdom/Realm, which refers to plants native to the northern hemisphere, or, what could be called the boreal hemisphere. (Likewise, hence, the northern lights and southern lights also being known as aurora borealis and aurora australis, respectively).
And so my choice for this additional adjunct business name is to emphasize the focus and appreciation of plants that are typically associated with having a southern reference/association of native occurrence, whether it's Southern California, The Southwest, Southern Europe, and of course, the Southern Hemisphere taking center stage with the wonderful abundance of unique attractive plants native especially to South Africa and Australia(!), and to lesser degrees New Zealand and South America, all of which have climates/environments over substantial areas similar enough to Southern California's various climates such that many of the plants from these regions can grow well in Southern California outdoor landscapes.
Additionally, I have the especial interest, though not exclusively, of creating landscapes/plantscapes that create a geographical sense of place, such that only species of one of the geographical regions mentioned above is used. So that would mean, to give one example, a landscape composed of only South African plants(though further limitations of plant choices may be used within the South African region, since there are subregional plant palettes within that general region).
A combination of Botany and Horticulture. That’s what’s on my vehicle's license plate. I came up with this supplementary business name to reflect my appreciation for Botany and Horticulture. There’s much overlap in what Botany and Horticulture cover, but the main differences are that Botany is the science of plant biology, distributions, classification/taxonomy, and other related topics, and, Horticulture is the science and art of growing plants under human management, especially related to residential and ornamental usage, which also includes topics covered in botany, such as taxonomy, - the use of systematic scientific names. The usual application of taxonomy in Horticulture is with the genus, species, and family of plants and plant groups.
And what is Gardening?.... Well, what you've already associated with 'Gardening' your whole life is true enough. And with regards to what I'm stating here, Gardening is a big part of what Horticulture is.
The etymology/origin of the word Horticulture shows the root word 'Hortus' is the Latin word for 'Garden', so hence, we could also call it, in many ways, 'Gardenculture', which is akin to the Old English 'geard' and Old High German 'gart' which both mean 'enclosure/yard', from which we get the word 'garden'. And the etymology for Botany/Botanical shows the Greek root words 'botanikos' and 'botane' which refer to herbs, pasture, and broadly speaking, plants. And so, Bot-Hort can be interpreted as 'Plant Garden' (and btw, is basically a Greek-Latin conjugation/hyphenation). But of course a garden implies plants. But then there are 'rock gardens',.. and, if you so choose, anything else you can dream up with the word 'garden', - referring to a collection of something or things that has/have, more or less, a cultivated arrangement resembling a garden as we would typically think of, broadly speaking.
Arboriculture is Horticulture with a focus on trees primarily, and also shrubs and vines, with regards to their structure, utility, trimming management, ecology, and health. Bushes and shrubs are basically synonymous terms. Forestry typically includes a whole forest system, the whole ecology, watershed systems,... though largely focused on the trees. Agriculture is human husbandry of substantial food production for commerce and/or subsistence, whether plant or animal. The etymology of agriculture comes from Latin 'agricultura' which means 'cultivation of land', a compound of 'agri' and 'cultura'; 'agri' is a form of the word 'ager', which means 'field'. Culture comes from the Latin 'cultura', which means 'cultivate'. And so, agriculture, is 'field cultivation', or 'field culture'.
Another supplementary business name. A combination of ‘inspire’ and ‘landscapes’, with an ‘a’ in between: Inspirascapes. Landscapes that inspire. That’s my intent in making a landscape: that it inspires you.
Another supplementary business name. A combination of ‘theme’ and ‘landscapes’. Landscapes with a theme. A landscape style or focus is a landscape theme.
C27 893456
WE-8027A