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| FEBRUARY 2020 CHAPTER NEWSLETTER |
Jepson Scholarship Awarded to SCC StudentSierra Mejia, a student in the Horticulture Sciences program at Solano Community College (SCC), was awarded the Jepson Chapter's student scholarship for 2019. At $500, this is the largest student scholarship ever awarded by the Chapter. Sierra accepted the scholarship at a joint meeting of the Jepson Chapter and the SCC Horticulture Club on January 13. Sierra is Secretary of the SCC Horticulture Club and a member of the SCC Sustainability Committee. She volunteers for Sustainable Solano and occasionally picks up litter in the area in her free time. Sierra also holds a Work Study position in the SCC Horticulture Department. She lives in Fairfield with her father. [READ MORE]
Steven Goetz, Jepson Chapter President, awards the 2019 Jepson Scholarship to Sierra Mejia, SCC Horticulture Program student. |
GREEN LIGHT FOR THE 25th ANNUAL FLYWAY FESTIVAL IN VALLEJO
The Flyway Festival, a fixture on Mare Island for the past 25 years, will be moving to the Vallejo Veteran's Memorial Hall at 420 Admiral Callaghan Lane, for the 25th gathering. The Festival's sponsor, Mare Island Preservation Trust, sent a notice to prospective exhibitors on January 25th announcing that they had secured the Vet's Hall as the venue for exhibitors and presentations. The Vet's Hall will be put into service for the opening reception on Friday, February 8th, with food and drink in their classic 50's bar from 5:00 to 9:00 PM. The Wildlife Expo exhibits and presentations will occur on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Regional outings and hikes are scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Jepson Chapter will have a table at the Wildlife Expo. We are seeking volunteers to help staff the table and share information about native plants with the public. "Our goal is to schedule two people to our table at any given time to provide mutual support and to give each other breaks," said Mary Frances Kelly-Poh, Jepson Chapter Vice President. You can inquire about volunteering via email to k.catton@comcast.net. [READ MORE] |
JEPSON BOARD SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR OPEN POSITIONSThe Willis Linn Jepson Chapter is shaped by the people participating in it and your Board strives to always maintain an open, welcoming, and helpful attitude toward all our members. Although our chapter is small, it offers activities such as hikes, programs, plant propagation, and special events. The more people participate on the Jepson Board, the more we can do for our members and the community. There are several opportunities here to help shape the chapter: Step out! Step up! Step in! Email us at contact@jepson.cnps.org and we'll take you to lunch (or give you a call - your choice) to talk about any of the following vacancies: Outreach Chair - Do you enjoy arranging the written work and images into electronic formats? Would you like to research an issue of potential interest to Chapter members and tell a story about it? Then you may be interested in the Board's Outreach Chair. This position is responsible for publishing Chapter newsletters, attending public events to promote participation in our activities, and keeping our membership and the public aware of native plant issues through our website, Facebook and media releases. The CNPS state office provides training in WordPress (for website) and Luminate (for newsletters/emails). Knowledge of social media and publishing/graphics software helps, but is not required. [READ MORE]
Jepson Chapter Membership Chair shows off CNPS collateral at an Arbor Day event. |
JEPSON MEMBERS INVITED TO HERBARIA TALKLearning about climate change and habitat conservation from dead plants is on the program for the Solano Community College Horticulture Club meeting on Monday, March 9th, and Jepson Chapter members are invited to attend. The program features Hannah Kang, a herbarium curatorial assistant at the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity. The talk is titled: "The Importance of herbaria for Research, Climate Change, and Conservation." Herbaria are collections of dried plant specimens stored in a location for ready reference. The plants are usually collected where they grow in nature, identified by botanists, pressed and then carefully mounted to archival paper in such a way that all major morphological characteristics are visible (i.e., both sides of leaves and the floral structure). The mounted plants are labeled with their proper botanical names, the name of the collector, and usually, information about where they were collected, how they grow and general observations. [READ MORE]
Hannah Kang works with a dried and pressed specimen at the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity |
PLANT OF THE MONTHTrichostema lanatum (Woolly blue curls)This evergreen shrub is from the mint family, reaching 3 to 4 feet tall and as wide, with very narrow leaves that thickly cover each arching branch. When the foliage is brushed it releases a surprisingly strong scent. In April, long sprays of deep blue or violet flowers suddenly appear and provide a spectacle that is almost comical in their extravagance. These flowers last until the end of the summer. It prefers full sun and good drainage. The roots are very sensitive to transplanting, so get the smallest specimen you can find and treat it very gently when planting. It grows fast and needs no summer water. T. lanatum often only lives a few years, so be sure to start new plants periodically from cuttings. Deer resist this plant while hummingbirds, bees butterflies are attracted to it. T. lanatum is native to the coastal scrub and chaparral communities below 3,500 feet of elevation from Monterey and San Benito counties south to northwestern Baja California.
Trichostema lanatum, (Woolly blue curls) |
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