Dear Gardeners, Plant Lovers, and Viewers.
We are letting you know that our club website will shut down later this month (March 2026). Residents of 92131 can check the SRSRC magazine, or the Scripps Ranch News, or the Library website for updates on the club.
Our garden club remains alive and well.
Sometime in the future we plan to start a Facebook page.
We hope you have enjoyed the content over the last 6 years.
Adieu
Recently seen in Scripps Ranch and probably from the rain a few weeks back this mushroom is Coprinus comatus. It is edible when newly emerged but will turn black, sticky and unappealing soon after being picked.
photo courtesy of A. Jones
In full flower for the second time this year is Lyciainthes rantonnetii, a stalwart of color for San Diego gardens. Native to South America.
photo from C. Fitzgerald
This is Quercus x munzii, an unusual and poorly understood hybrid form of California Live Oak. It is also very rare with between 1 and 5 specimens found (depending on the reports) and all around the same range of hills in Joshua Tree N.P. and near Anza CA. The tree is tall, with a broad leaf cone, beautiful white bark and in healthy shape. In location it is very distinctive because in the Mojave desert there are no other trees of this shape and form for miles and miles. The experts disagree on its hybrid origins (what species are the parents?) and how it situated itself here?
Growing in the cleft of the rock in Joshua Tree N.P. is this young cactus, possibly Echinocactus polycephalus. The reddish hue is less commonly seen but may have been due to a recent rain and fresh growth.