- Author: Loren Nelson
Succulents are beautiful and easy plants to grow, both in the garden and in containers. Join Master Gardeners of Orange County to learn about succulent care and feeding, design, and propagation.
Click the image to learn more and visit our Classes and Events Calendar page.
/h2>The Nutrition Policy Institute is seeking to hire data collectors to contribute to a study in childcare centers across San Jose and Gilroy, Calif. The study consists of a multi-level intervention to promote healthy beverage intake through childcare—Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures or Bebidas Saludables, Futuros Saludables. Data collectors will observe and measure the amount of water and food children consume in one day at child care. They will need to: have the ability to sit/stand for at least 4 hours; be patient, detail-oriented, and observant; have relevant experience in the field of nutrition and dietetics; candidates with an interest in pediatric nutrition are preferred; have the ability to use scales, calculators, and are familiar with the rigor needed to perform quality research. Opportunity to participate in further work, such as data analysis, data entry, and manuscript publication is an option. This study will begin in late August or September 2024. Data collection will occur between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a two-hour lunch break. We are seeking those available to work one to four days a week for three to four weeks. The rate of pay for a Survey Worker is around $28 per hour. Travel costs are covered. To apply, please email Reka Vasicsek at rvasicsek@ucanr.edu by September 1, 2024. The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Monarch butterflies seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth around here.
And since hens have no teeth, that's pretty scarce.
And then it happened.
A late in-star monarch caterpillar appeared on our milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator-predator garden on the very last day of July.
We watched it munch the wilting milkweed leaves in the triple-digit temperature.
For one day.
The next day, Aug. 1, it vanished, never to be seen again. Did it pupate? Did the California scrub jays get it?
The scrub jays nesting in our cherry laurel hedges are prime suspects. They devour everything in the garden, from honey bees, longhorned bees and dragonflies to assorted butterflies, lygus bugs and praying mantises. Happy meals. If they eat a monarch caterpillar, that makes for an unhappy meal, the vomiting kind. It's about the naturally occurring toxins (cardiac glycosides) in the milkweed that the 'cats ingest that serve as predatory protection. That's why scientists say "I bet you'll eat only one."
Just one. The one we were watching?
"Known bird predators include brown thrashers, grackles, robins, cardinals, sparrows, scrub jays and pinyon jays," Wikipedia says, but notes that "Several species of birds have acquired methods that allow them to ingest monarchs without experiencing the ill effects associated with the cardiac glycosides (cardenolides). The black-backed oriole is able to eat the monarch through an exaptation of its feeding behavior that gives it the ability to identify cardenolides by taste and reject them. The black-headed grosbeak, though, has developed an insensitivity to secondary plant poisons that allows it to ingest monarchs without vomiting. As a result, these orioles and grosbeaks periodically have high levels of cardenolides in their bodies, and they are forced to go on periods of reduced monarch consumption. This cycle effectively reduces potential predation of monarchs by 50% and indicates that monarch aposematism has a legitimate purpose. The black-headed grosbeak has also evolved resistance mutations in the molecular target of the heart poisons, the sodium pump. The specific mutations that evolved in one of the grosbeak's four copies of the sodium pump gene are the same as those found in some rodents that have also evolved to resist cardiac glycosides."
- Author: Sherry Blunk
When offered the opportunity as a Master Gardener to be trained and unleashed on CA to ID and log sighting of the Tree of Heaven (TOH) (Ailanthus altissima), I jumped at the chance. TOH is an invasive, wildly hearty, rapidly growing deciduous tree native to China and Taiwan. Additionally, TOH is the preferred host plant of the dreaded Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) (Lycorma delicatula), a large planthopper (adult ~1” long) that can successfully feed on over 100 different plant species, including grapes, stone fruits, and hardwoods. Like aphids, the SLF has a hypodermic needle-like mouth which punctures the plant's soft tissue to feed; while their bodies excrete a sticky, sugar-rich fluid (honeydew) that promotes sooty mold and other plant diseases. Currently, the Spotted Lanternfly has been identified in 18 states on the East Coast and has the potential to spread rapidly and cause severe damage to many different crops.
Agricultural and Wildlife organizations have been studying and following the progression of the SLF since it was first introduced to the US a decade ago. Research-based maps now show nearly continuous pathways of Tree of Heaven collections existing from the East to the West Coast. These could provide the SLF a natural migration “road” to CA, where previous SLF introduction was expected to be limited to imported goods, which are heavily screened- You may recall that earlier this year, CA inspectors found viable SLF eggs on an art piece that was being transported to a Sonoma County gallery from the East coast. In preparation for the inevitable SLF arrival in CA, efforts are being made to ID and map the Tree of Heaven collections on public lands- to determine where to concentrate TOH removal efforts and best disrupt and contain the SLF movements within the State.
I foolishly envisioned traversing off-beaten paths to score my first TOH worthy sighting, but I barely had to step off the sidewalk to inspect the 30+ sapling strong grove thriving in the middle of a cultivated and mulched area of a public park! Yep, once you start looking, TOH can be found almost everywhere- roadsides, levees/ bike paths, among mixed species tree groves, and even within well-maintained city parks.
- Author: Lanie Keystone
Traveling is always an eye-opening experience; we learn so much and gather so many new and inspiring ideas. Our summer in British Columbia continues to be filled with such eye-opening surprises.
We are staying in a lovely area of Surrey, BC called Ocean Park/Crescent Beach. The city of Surrey is the fastest growing city in BC, outpacing its neighbor, Vancouver, and now reaching over 500,000 people. But it still feels like a quiet, much smaller town. My hunch is—it's the trees! And more importantly, it's the urban forests.
Many cities boast beautiful tree-lined streets or parks with lovely trees. Many cities and towns have laws or organizations that either protect existing trees, require permits for taking down trees and replacing them with new ones, or mandate that new developments have a certain minimum number of trees planted per each new home. That law is true for the whole state of California.
But Surrey, Vancouver, Toronto and many other Canadian cities go an amazing leap further…they provide for actual forests within the city! The town of Surrey has over 20 urban forests—including one that is just 15 steps out of our front door. It's a bountiful 128-acre resource for all to use. Picture Central Park in NYC. Now fill that space with mature, second growth trees and endless winding trails, ponds and meadows carved right in the middle of an area of homes, businesses and busy streets—and you have an urban forest.
These forests have multiple entries off of numerous streets and are created within a variety of neighborhoods and mix of socio-economic strata. Here, dogs are walked, school kids explore, elders stroll and thousands take advantage of this amazing resource filled with trees, ferns, ground cover, downed moss-covered logs, birds, and forest critters—all in a natural setting with a dizzying array of winding trails.
Urban Forestry has become such an important part of the Canadian culture and environment, that the University of British Columbia has an entire major and department designed to encourage future generations to research and develop new ways of using the natural environment for the greater good. And that includes creating more urban forests.
As Master Gardeners, we know the importance of such spaces—for the health of the planet, for the health of our communities and for our own health. Each time we take one of our daily walks into one of the vast urban forests, we feel renewed, refreshed and re-created. It's as if we are walking into a fairyland or onto sacred ground. Both, I believe, are true.