Episode cover
Native plant gardens: spring gardening tasks for native plants and wildlife
April 17, 2025 · 26 min

Episode 14

Gardening tasks in spring for a native plant garden keep in mind the other wildlife species that depend on the  native plant garden. These tasks are different from vegetable garden and non-native ornamental gardens. 

Included in this episode: 

  Growing new plants - add more plant diversity in the garden, looking for local native plantsWhen and how to pruneHow to mulch (not always necessary to buy mulch).  Grrowng ground coverFertilizing native plantsCollecting seedsIrrigation

Next episode will continue this series to include tasks specific to birds, pollinators, spiders, insects including butterflies and bees, lizards, toads and  small mammals

Native Plants mentioned in this episode (scientific names are in italics) 

Mexican gold poppy - Eschscholzia californica ssp mexicana 

One of the online native seed company for its seed :

https://www.nativeseeds.org/products/wf035?variant=40837419499674 

Native plants that easily reseed and are either aggressive or roots are difficult to pull out

Snakeweed : Gutierrezia sarothrae

Desertbroom - Baccharis sarothroides

Mexican feathergrass: Nasella Tenuissima

Chocolate daisy (chocolate flower, lyreleaf greeneyes): Berlandiera lyrata

Mexican evening primrose: Oenothera speciosa

Native plants that easily reseed but  are easy to pull out and  not aggressive 

Desert marigold - Baileya multiradiata

Ground cover:

Frog fruit - Phyla nodiflora : native ground cover, host to butterflies 

Apps mentioned in the episode:

 iNaturalist :  https://www.inaturalist.org/Photos  (Apple)

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