- Author: Dustin Blakey
With irrigation season now here, it's a good idea to give a sprinkler system a thorough inspection. We've just reviewed the system here at the garden to make sure it's operational.
While running and checking all the parts is a good idea, you have to know where all those parts may be! It's common in Owens Valley to have "improvised" irrigation that years down the road makes little sense, even if during installation it seemed like a perfectly logical thing to do.
It a very good idea to document your system. Make notes about how it all works, where things are, settings that work, and parts used. We've just completed this task at the garden and have placed our notes here for posterity. Maybe someday in the distant future a gardener will wonder what was going on. Perhaps this will help, if there is still an internet!
Irrigation Map Document
ESVC Irrigation System Overview
- Author: Edie Warkentine
- Author: Erich Warkentine
After spending more than a year working at the native plant garden, Master Gardener volunteers have successfully “conquered” the intrusion of weeds, death through over-watering of cacti, overgrowth of ambitious native plants, decline of fragile plants, and other challenges of maintaining a demonstration native plant garden in a somewhat hostile environment.
At our most recent work party, we took advantage of the annual native plant sale conducted by the Bristlecone Chapter of the Native Plant Society, and the generous grant of the Eastern Sierra Land Trust through its Eastside Pollinator Garden Project, and planted over 25 new plants. Many of the plants, such as milkweed, datura, and silver cholla were replacements for plants that had died. Others, such as columbine and mountain mahogany, were new natives introduced to bring color and additional diversity to the garden.
Anyone who has an opportunity to visit the garden at the Eastern Sierra Visitors Center in Lone Pine should be sure to stop in and see how diligent maintenance is paying off. Bring your phone and aim the “camera” feature at the QR codes posted on the signs to help identify plants and link to the native plant society's website for more information about each plant.
We all have our fingers crossed and look forward to the new plants taking root and growing healthily and happily into the future.
- Author: Edie Warkentine
We're Certified!
The native plant garden at the Eastern Sierra Visitors Center (ESVC) is now a Certified Pollinator Garden!
The Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT)'s Eastside Pollinator Garden Project encourages the creation of pollinator-friendly gardens in Inyo and Mono County. To become certified, the garden must feature:
- Three "food" features
- Both of 2 "water" features
- Two "shelter" features
- Plants native to California (preferably the Owens Valley) make up 50% of the Pollinator Garden space
- Minimal artificial lighting unless illuminating a structure or hazard
These are described below.
On August 27, 2021, Master Gardeners Edie Warkentine and Joanne Parsons met with the ESLT's Americorp Volunteer in charge of the Eastside Pollinator Garden Project, and received the official certification plaque, which we now proudly display at the entrance to the native plant garden.
Food Features
Clump plantings: plant each variety in groups of three (excepting trees)
Seasonality: The garden has three different bloom times
Diversity: The garden has three different scents, three different flower types, and/or three different flower shapes
One bird or butterfly feeder, such as:
- Thistle feeders for Goldfinches
- Fruit feeders for Orioles
- Nectar feeders for Hummingbirds
- Rotting fruit set out during butterfly migration
Larval host plants, such as: Milkweed, Indian Paintbrush, Mallow, Hollyhock, Dill, Sunflower, and more
Water Features
One water source:
- Wet irrigation ditches
- Bird baths
- Natural water features (pond, creek, etc.)
One water conservation measure:
- Mulching
- Lawn removal
- A drip irrigation system
Shelter Features
One natural shelter:
- Bare ground
- Dead wood
- Brush piles
One constructed shelter:
- Bird nesting boxes
- Bat houses
- Bee boxes
- Bee nesting logs
The original interpretative plan for the garden included:
- Developing a brochure providing the visitor with basic orientation and interpretation of the garden and encouragement to visit the garden.
- A mural on the back of the restroom building, featuring some of the native plants in the garden and the relationships of these plants with insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and the importance of these plants to the various cultures that have inhabited the Great Basin.
- Interpretive panels to provide visitors with some basic concepts that apply to all native plant species like pollination and water saving strategies.
- Garden tours when time and staff allow.
- Creating special events centered around the garden.
- Using the garden as a focal point for lectures, programs on growing native plants as well as the arts. Using arts to interpret the garden.
This plan remains a great vision for the future and a challenge to the ESVC staff and Master Gardener volunteers. Due to changes in technology over the past ten years, in lieu of a paper brochure, the Master Gardeners will be hosting information about the plants on its website, available to the public. Information about the garden and the plants will posted on the Master Gardener's website and linked through QR codes accessible on visitors' cell phones.
The original vision for the garden was summarized in an essay entitled “Native Garden Rejuvenation at the Interagency Visitor Center,” (authored by anonymous), as follows:
- To help visitors discover the unique flora and different plant communities that call the Eastern Sierra home. A sampling of what they might see as they travel through the region.
- To enable visitors to connect physically and emotionally with the gardens using their senses. A space to relax in for a short time before resuming the journey.
- To create a simple understanding of the ecology of the garden; the relationships that exist between these plants and other living organisms.
- To educate visitors to the benefits derived from incorporating native plantings into their ornamental landscape in respect to water and resource conservation, also luring birds, insects, and wildlife into the garden.
- To grow links between the garden and the community of Lone Pine. The garden becomes a source of pride, education, and inspiration for the community.
Although it has been several years since this vision was articulated, the vision remains a vibrant and appropriate one. The garden was planted in three distinct zones, representing the areas attracting visitors to the ESVC: (1) the Mojave Desert, (2) the Owens Valley, and (3) the Sierra Foothills.
The garden contains benches, inviting visitors to spend time in the garden and to learn about its ecology and benefits of a water-conserving landscape.
As the involvement of the Master Gardeners grows and becomes systematic, we hope to provide some of the education and inspiration envisioned for the local community.