California Native Plant Week will take place this month during the third week of April (April 17 - 23) but we'll be celebrating California's beautiful, wildlife friendly, drought tolerant plants the whole month of April! In celebration of this first acknowledgement of California's native flora we will be offering a 10% discount on all online Special Orders plus we'll donate $0.50 to the San Diego Chapter of CNPS for each plant ordered online. You can support a great organization and get a great deal on plants with this online opportunity. Go toMoosa Creek, place your order online and your discounted plants will be delivered to the local Retail Partner of your choice.

On April 16th you can 'Celebrate Native Plant Week' at Riverside Metropolitan Museum with a native plant hike, display and Native Plant Sale. Many other special events are being organized to celebrate Native Plant Week. Visit a local botanical garden, take a walk in a preserve, join a native garden tour, or plant your own native garden! Get ideas and details about local events at the Native Plant Week site.

 

Photo: Stan Shen

  

Franciscana Manzanita is an evergreen groundcover manzanita with dark green foliage and red bark that has surprised us with its hardiness in inland conditions. Originally native to the San Francisco Bay area, this manzanita was thought to be extinct in the wild, until a recent exciting discovery of one stand in a freeway median. The stand was rescued and relocated shortly before the median was due to be destroyed! Franciscana appears on the CNPS list of rare and endangered species List 1A. Fortunately, cutting stock was saved by botanic gardens and we are now able to offer this terrific plant. This manzanita seems to tolerate a wide range of conditions, looking good whatever the challenges. We have been constantly impressed by the reliability and hardiness of this groundcover. This vigorous manzanita will spread to 8'-10' but stay lower than 2'-3' high.

 

Every purchase of our "Plant of the Month" at our retail nursery partners will generate a $0.50 donation to PLANT WITH PURPOSE to help poor villages in third world economies restore farms, plant trees and create local jobs.