During the shelter-in-place, Sutro Stewards with partnership from Handson Bay Area created Nature in you Neighborhood a virtual volunteering experience where we challenge volunteers to go out into their backyard and neighborhoods to see what plants they can find near them! Below is one submission from our project with the youth from Handson Tomorrow. We hope you enjoy their discoveries!
By: Rishi Sinha
This right here is an Autumn Sage. They are nonnative to California but are native to Mexico and Texas. The Autumn Sage is pretty low maintenance. Once you have established them in fresh soil, they are pretty much set. They don’t require a lot of water throughout the summer and they can survive some pretty harsh conditions such as extreme heat.
One of the plants that I discovered was an Agapanthus. It can also be known as The Lily of the Nile. It belongs to the Agapanthoideae subfamily. The Agapanthus is non-native to California and it originated in South Africa. It gets it name because it grew on the side of the Nile River. Once you plant an Agapanthus, they aren’t very hard to maintain their health. Normally, when you see agapanthus, it will probably be in clumps with the others next to it. So, you should divide your Agapanthuses every 3 years. All together, Agapanthuses are native to South America. They are easy to grow, low maintenance and you can find them in round clusters of bright colors.
This beautiful plant is called a Mexican Marigold. The Mexican Marigold is nonnative to California and is native to Mexico. It can also be known as the Aztec Marigold. This flower first appeared around the time of the Aztecs(hence the name). Like all of the other flowers, the Mexican Marigold is easy to take care of. The only thing you need to worry about is malign sure that you let the soil dry up a little bit before you water them again.