Theodore Payne Foundation Eighth Annual Native Plant Garden Tour April 9 & 10

Imagine, if you will, an earthly paradise. Lush, rolling terrain, not unlike that of a Gainsborough painting. But this is no English landscape.  Think: Dorian Gray’s picture, changing magically into something freakish and so very wrong. Slowly at first, then, at bullet speed, the hillsides and lawns turning crackly brown with each toilet flush and dripping hose bib. 

Sound familiar?  It should.  This is your life, and you drive by it on the freeways, residential streets and San Gabriel Mountains every day.

While no single water fixture is to blame for the scarcity of water in LA county, droughts, building booms and residential water rate hikes over the past decades have helped today’s 10 million Angelenos begin to understand the climatic borders of paradise. Such as: LA is an arid desert much of the year, not the misty, English countryside.

Ironically, an Englishman is helping turn things around. Well, the foundation that bears his name is doing the heavy lifting for those who love pretty, practical gardens.  The Theodore Payne Foundation has been shouting from the rooftops since 1960 about sharing the California native plant love.  If seeing is believing, you’re in luck. April 9 & 10, 2011, 10 to 4PM, 35 gardens, featuring at least 50% California natives and no invasive plants, are open to the public. Ticket information is listed below.

The convergence of time, awareness, education, and that speeding bullet the water company delivers to your wallet each month have helped The Theodore Payne Foundation’s Native Plant Garden Tour, now in its eighth year, grow like a Matilija poppy after a rainy winter.  If that reference draws a blank, dude, this garden tour is especially for you. Ink it in your calendar. Nearly half of the gardens are on the west side of LA on Saturday, April 9; nineteen on the east side, Sunday, April 10.

Thanks to several trends attendance of the Native Plants Garden Tour has increased 650% over the past six years.  “We’re seeing a confluence of events,” says Keith Malone of the Theodore Payne Foundation. “The water crisis initially drove people to the Foundation, in search of drought-friendly plants,” he says. The next step, people started realizing so many of the California native plants are beautiful. 

The Theodore Payne Foundation has seen a big uptick in various class enrollments and visitors to their nursery. Water agencies have been promoting reduced water usage and the plants that complement conservation.  And the news media, especially, has caught on.  The message: California natives are a good investment for fragrance, habitat, history.

“I tried to convince my mother to plant natives,” Malone recalls.  “She thought I was a glassy-eyed cult member. I guess I’m a novitiate,” he laughs. “I like the history of the plants, and the fact that they belong here.”  And seeing people realize how beautiful these plants are in residential settings.  “The tour is about introducing the beauty of California natives to the curious. And promoting design to the converts."

Think all California natives are dusty, brown, tumbleweeds?  You haven’t done enough exploring.  There are 6,200 California native plants in species and subspecies, according to Horticulturalist Susan Jett of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Once established, usually a two year journey, natives can save water, money, maintenance time, attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and provide year round color.

Of the 35 Sunday gardens, nine are located in the San Gabriel Valley. All garden homeowners will be on hand to answer questions about plant performance, installation process, even what they’d do differently if they were in your shoes. 

The Monrovia garden was planned as a project by a married couple.  Homeowner Bernardine Mateer told Patch, “Two beautiful oaks were here when we bought the house, and they were covered with vinca and ivy.”  Mateer sighed, “ One tree fell.  Oh, that was  sad.  We talked about what to put in.  My husband said, ‘Natives.’  So we put in natives.”

Removing the ivy revealed a cache of boulder and river rock covering their Monrovia Canyon grounds.  These have been incorporated into paths and garden features. The Mateers added a drip system,  gravel pathways, and created an oak wood grove featuring spectacular, showy Ceanothus.  The granite-solid alluvial native soil has loosened over the years, become friable and rich thanks to the compost of self-mulching plants and a minimum of homeowner care.

Mateer does most of the maintenance herself, weeding, raking, mulching. She prefers California natives because of their natural growth habits. “You don’t have to do all this trimming,” she notes.  A bonus was bestowed when Mateer’s neighbor was ready to replace some shrubs.  “I asked what she was thinking about,” she says. “I said I could extend my garden section with similar plants. I was so pleased she took me up on my offer. Now it’s a very pretty, continuous stretch of native plantings between our two properties.  It’s really very nice.”

Still not sold? Tomorrow’s installment: A Pasadena lawn, gone, in one painless year. And an easy, affordable water catchment system designed into a native La Cañada garden. Both home gardens are on the Theodore Payne Native Garden Tour, Sunday, April 10, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.   

For ticket purchase information, go to: http://store.theodorepayne.org. Cost: $20 each, covering both days and admission to all 35 gardens. Tickets may be purchased up to the days of the tour at specific garden locations or by visiting the physical Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley, CA  91552, (818) 768.1802.