Go native!
For any native of California, or a naturalized Californian, little vexes more than the decrying of the lack of seasons. P’shaw! Head out into the wild and you’ll see the beauty of the changing seasons, subtle to be sure, but present all the same. Summer brings long, arid days with the crisp smell of sun-warmed soil as the native plants hibernate. Fall typically blazes in with hot Santa Ana winds before mellowing to cooler temperatures. In a good year, winter rains plump up the flora and tantalize the nose with the satisfying scent of wet earth. And then comes spring, when the brown landscape explodes into a show of wildflowers: orange poppies, purple lupines, and the red blossoms of the well-named firecracker penstemon. And where to best see this in action? The Theodore Payne Foundation, in the canyons of Sunland.
Theodore Payne was a British expatriate brought up in the Victorian horticulturist tradition, which involved painstaking plant pressings, Latin identification of plants, and pretty hand-lettered herbariums documenting it all. Young Theodore Payne, parentless by 12, immigrated to the United States at the age of 21, stepping off the SS New York to pen his occupation in the ledger at Ellis Island as “Seed Trade.” He headed straight for Los Angeles and spent hours outdoors exploring the wild canyons, accessible year-round thanks to the mild seasons. He fell in love with the native plants and considered them California’s greatest asset.
Info
Address Theodore Payne Foundation, 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352, +1 818.768.1802, www.theodorepayne.org, info@theodorepayne.org | Getting there Free on-site lot | Hours Nov–June, Tue–Sat 8:30am–4:30pm, closed Sun & Mon; July–Oct, Thu–Sat 8:30am–4:30pm, closed Sun–Wed| Tip Hike the Wildflower Trail north of the nursery and keep an eye out and ear cocked for the abundant California quail in the area hills.
The Theodore Payne Foundation demonstration gardens honor his legacy by growing a living catalog of the exquisite and well-adapted plants of the region, including the Lupinus paynei, which Payne identified as a new species. Plants and seeds are available for purchase through the foundation’s retail nursery, but the delicious scent of native chaparral is free.
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