Native Plants

  Soap Root (Chlorogalum sp.) is a native San Francisco Bay Area, California plant that has many uses.

materials

Field Guides

Native Plants and/or Seeds

methods

Do some research (local nurseries and gardeners, park sites, and the internet are all useful). You can consider that if a plant is native to your area you should be able to grow it easily in your environment. Plants in containers need more water than usual, and in a garden environment the plants do need more water than they would in a wild area... Counterintuitive, but true!

Use native plants as opportunities to speak with the children about ecology and the importance of providing local fauna with local flora, using examples as you see them.

California Poppies, Eschscholzia californica

Resources

California Native Plant Society has a lot of information about California's native plants along with memberships and classes.

Native Here Nursery specializes in the flora of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties is located within Tilden Regional Park in the East Bay hills of the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Threatened, native California grasses with native California gooseberries. Both sourced at a native plants nursery.

Lesson plan by Heather Taylor, teachoutside@gmail.com. You are welcome to share all materials with credit to her.