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My Time with Back to Natives Restoration

By Crystal Sayphraraj My name is Crystal Sayphraraj and I am a senior about to graduate California State University, Fullerton. My experience with Back to Natives Restoration was truly incredible and an amazing self-learning experience. When I first started this internship, I was a bit skeptical on what I can do or learn from the organization. For example, what are native plants? How does working for a native plant restoration non-profit help me in pursing and gaining…

Native Plant Books

Folks often ask us about our favorite native plant books. There are so many! Here is a list of a few. I’m sure we’re forgetting some. We’ll add them as we remember them. A Natural History of California by Allan A. Schoenherr Living Wild: Gardening, Cooking, and Healing with Native Plants of California by Alicia Funk & Karin Kaufman California’s Changing Landscapes: Diversity and Conservation of California Vegetation by Michael Barbour, Bruce Pavlik, Susan Lindstrom, Frank Drysdale California…

How to Remove your Lawn

The best practice for removing lawn, in my experience, is either using a sod cutter or a flat shovel to cut under the rhizomes. If you spray with chemicals then you just have dead grass that you now have to handle directly with the cancer causing chemicals on it. However it does not kill the rhizomes! Only…

The Spring Garden Show is right around the corner!

The Spring Garden Show transforms South Coast Plaza into a gardening sanctuary, featuring inspiring display gardens created by local landscape designers. The event from April 28 – May 1 also showcases a diverse and outstanding selection of garden tools and art from California vendors, children’s programs, an informative speaker series as well as an extraordinary floral centerpiece. Back to Natives will promote native plant landscaping once again at the Show…

Native Garden Tour coming soon!

Back to Natives will be showcasing a drought tolerant native plant landscape on the 2016 California Native Plant Society Garden Tour on April 23 from 10AM to 4PM. The garden is located in Santa Ana’s celebrated Floral Park neighborhood. According to CNPS it is “one of 15 outstanding, successful, beautiful Orange County gardens on the tour.” Visit occnps.org to purchase tickets ($10), which include a guidebook with information and directions to all of the gardens. The Back to Natives native garden is also being…

I don’t want my kid to volunteer…he should be studying!

Guest blog by Allison Henderson from The All About College Blog A few years ago, I was chatting with a family about a student’s  ‘brag sheet’ or ‘resumé’. When I asked whether the student had participated in any volunteer activities, the Mom shot back “you know, I don’t understand why everyone thinks volunteering is so important….we never got any help from anyone. Everything I have I…

Spectacular Service Learning Program!

Back to Natives has a highly successful service learning program, which includes numerous internship opportunities to help students prepare for a career in the “green collar” field. Available internships include Horticultural Intern(Nursery Assistant), Landscape Design Intern, Habitat Restoration Intern, Communications Intern and Administrative Assistant Intern. Here is a little info about the great Interns who are working with us right now: Trina: “I am a graduate from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Arts in…

What I Learned from Back to Natives

My time as the communications intern for Back to Natives was well spent. It gave me insight in things I had no previous knowledge of; habitat restoration, biodiversity, invasive plants, etc. BTN also taught me how diligent you have to be to successfully run a non-profit organization. Both Lori and Reginald are incredibly dedicated to BTN. They showed me the effort one has to put forth if they really want to see things change for the better. My favorite part of working with BTN was getting to see…