© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) growing in the Prisk Native Plant Garden in Long Beach. The park is open to the public on March 26 and April 2. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)In 1995, when most people thought native plants were weeds (if they really were), wilderness enthusiast Mike Letteriello peered through a chain-link fence on a bare patch of land and discovered a fragrant appreciation for California's diversity. local plant community.
Nearly 30 years later his dream has come true with cascades, streams and ponds along winding paths lined with rocky desert, thick capers, flower beds, and even flower-filled bushes and trees native to the Channel Islands. .
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Mike Letteriello surrounded by lupines at Prisk's native garden in Long Beach. He is the creator and servant of the garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)It is still largely visible through the fence as it is on the grounds of William F. Prisk Elementary School in Long Beach and is open only to students and teachers. But during Southern California's annual spring garden tour season, the doors to Prisca's native park will open to the public on March 26 and again on April 2 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but "donations are gladly accepted." Leterello said.
The Prisk Native Garden tour is the first of more than 16 annual Southern California private garden tours running through May, which are often fundraisers for nonprofits. Below is a list of other tours, but if you have a free day and are interested in creating native plant habitats or just strolling through the beautifully manicured gardens with over 300 species of mature plants native to California, this is a boon. worth your time.
It was Candy Jennings, a science teacher at Prisk Elementary School, who first thought of creating a 7,500 square foot native plant garden from weeds and soil in the southwest corner of the school's campus at East Los Arcos Street and Albury Long. Beach. He sought advice from the Theodore Payne Foundation, then known as the Theodore Payne Wildflowers and Native Plants Foundation, and from an association of foundations named Letteriello, a Long Beach painting contractor with a passion for native plants and passionate volunteers.
"They basically said, 'Mike, can you handle this girl? So Candy and I got together and it was the most life-changing encounter imaginable," Letteriello said.
"I was looking through a flat earth fence - a big empty pallet. The only plant was white alder - Alnus rhombifolia - and I thought, 'How can I do this? I didn't have a master plan at the time and I'd never put a big garden out there. I had just cleared out my front yard and planted some native plants in it...but I said, "Let's do that and I'll design it while I'm gone."
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) A swallow butterfly rests on an apricot mallow in the Prisque Native Plant Garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 
© (Denmark Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Priska Native Plant Garden is located on the grounds of Priska Elementary School. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)And the designs he came up with. She and Jennings, her husband Alan; and Jennings' neighbor Frank Duroy took it upon himself to turn the mud into the colorful blanket of habitat it is today. In addition to helping with physical labour, Duroy became a benefactor of the garden, providing money for materials, a storage shed, and a "sports arbor" in the garden, a dedicated outdoor activity area that Long Beach had recently rebuilt. so letteriello. Eagle Scout Kai Kobabe, Graduate of Prisk.
According to Letteriello, designing a garden is very easy once they find a theme.
"The idea was to set up a plant community garden," he says, "kind of like walking across California from ocean to desert, through all of the native plant biomes and communities — beaches, coastal sage, capers, upland prairies, creeks, and swamps." " Sweet, shady gardens, deserts...we've even included plants from the Channel Islands."
Duroy helped pay for most of these inputs, including a large fish pond that he and Leteriello had dug themselves. In 2017, Letteriello received a $7,000 grant from the South Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society to build a waterfall and creek that flows into a pond and back into the waterfall using the power of trees and solar panels. By then, Duroy had died and Candy Jennings had retired, so Leteriello did most of the work, again as a volunteer, and his friend Joey Vanoni helped him dig holes and rocks to build the river.
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Salvia 'Bee's Bliss' (hybrid sage) on left and pollinator bee Ceanothus 'Joyce Coulter' on right in Prisca Native Plant Garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Dudley Lime (Dudleya pulverulenta) at Prisca Native Plant Garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)The resulting waterway resembles natural piles of logs and rocks created by a small, rapid tide, with defined steps cleverly hidden by the abundance of native grasses and shrubs along the banks. Leteriello received permission from the state wildlife agency to move two dozen Arroyo minnows native to the San Juan Creek Basin along the Ortega Highway. The chickens thrived, but Leteriello had to put up a net "so the raccoons wouldn't spoil the pond". There is also a frog in the pond that Letteriello hopes to mate with when he brings in the hatchlings in the spring.
Prisca's gardens cover less than a fifth of an acre, but there is so much to do that time seems to slow down for visitors to Letteriello, for he has a personal history of nearly every plant and is obsessed with detail. The Latin names of the plants he liked slipped off his tongue as easily as the stories, which floated as beautifully as his garden paths.
For example, one of the low-growing varieties of sage, Artem i sia californica 'Canyon Grey', has been found on the island of San Miguel, Letteriello said, where it has adapted to strong offshore winds. the bottom is shallower than the normal upright Artemisia californica . But the silvery green leaves of the Canyon Gray sage make a great cover for a garden, especially because it has the same pungent smell as the larger plants, and you know, she says breathlessly, "Make it a little Southern." California natives wrapping branches around their necks to act as a sort of insect repellent?
Plus there's the sprawling island oak that Letteriello brought home from the Catalina Reservation as a seedling in a gallon jar in the front seat of his truck, or the hilly area he created in the middle of the garden from donated suggestions and stuff. Material. The cliffs are "my tribute to Vazquez Rocks," he says, an iconic jagged rock formation near Agua Dulce in the high desert off Highway 14 that has been featured in numerous advertisements and television shows.
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) A plaque commemorating garden founder and manager Mike Letteriello at Prisca Native Plant Garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 
© (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) An island of oak dominates Prisk's native grove. Co-creator and park manager Mike Letteriello recalls a time when a tree was small enough to climb into the front seat on a trip to the park. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)It was this desert landscape that drew Letteriello to native plants in the first place. He likes to walk on the desert lava. especially in the Mojave desert and I'm trying to create this effect in my garden as well as in the desert biome in Prisca. Many people have helped create and maintain this garden, but it continues to thrive because Letteriello made it his life's work. He wasn't paid as a gardener, but when the children came running, fighting over the rocks he had placed around the river, or squealing with joy when they saw a lizard – there were lots of them in the garden – he felt he was well paid.
“The girl opened her arms and said, 'I just want to live here.'” Another boy looked at me happily and said, “This is my happy place. They make everything fast - I can't get a comment like that even if I try and when." "I do my job," he says.
"And it's not just a garden, it's a zoo with cubs and frogs and lizards and all the birds..." Leteriello paused as the swallow butterfly flew just in time and landed on the purple lupine in bloom, and she laugh. in joy, in disbelief.sy. It's so perfect.
One day, he says, he wants to expand Priscus' garden into a large paved area behind the school to create a large garden and river. Most importantly, Letteriello wanted to make known the advantages of the school garden. He started a nonprofit called Wild for Schools to try and plant more local garden gardens in schools because he believes they bring something rare and valuable to students.
“[Los Angeles Unified School District President] Alberto Carvalho said, “So many kids are stuck in the concrete jungle; we have a moral obligation to remove it, "and I completely agree," he said. Immersing children in nature has a therapeutic effect. It calms them down and brings them into the present, not the past or the future. If you take the kids out they get very attentive. You start asking, "What is this?" What's that?" and look at everything with interest. Looking at a computer is not the same as children surrounding children with smells, butterflies and lizards, fish and moving water.
© (Denmark Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Mike Letteriello surrounded by green-skinned ceanothus (Ceanothus spinosus) in the Prisca Native Plant Garden. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)Now its mission is to convince funders and school leaders that these native botanical gardens should be an integral part of every school. There's so much to learn here about plants and biology, studying the importance of habitat, animals, and drought, and how native Californians use the plants around them for food, shelter, healing, and spirituality, he says.
"It's very educational and connects us to our Californian heritage," he says. “I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Italian immigrants and moved to California as a child. I've never been to Italy and I don't want to go there now. I love our mountains and deserts. My favorite place to visit is California because it's my home and I'm proud to live there. I want these kids to know that we are unique, that this is part of their heritage and I'm just getting started."
Of course, gardens can be very personal creations, so whether you're looking for inspiration or just looking to indulge your inner voyeur, there are plenty more Southern California garden tours to come this spring. Here is a list of upcoming events:
March 26 and April 2
Prisca's Native Plant Garden Open House offers free tours of the Native Plant Garden, which is normally closed to the public. 13.00 - 16.00 two days at 2375 Fanwood Ave, William F. Prisk Elementary School. on Long Beach. The park is behind the school on the corner of East Los Arcos Street and Albury Avenue. facebook.com/prisknativegarden
April 15-16
The Theodore Payne Foundation's 20th Annual Plant Garden Tour features 37 parks throughout Los Angeles of which at least 50% are dedicated to native plants. Ticket holders receive tickets for self-guided tours of Los Angeles Park's West Side on April 15 and East Side on April 16 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both days. A single ticket gives you access to all of the gardens on both days and has the opportunity to see the extensive spatial gardens as well as residences including the Kuruwungna and Tongwa Sacred Springs, Ballona Discovery Park, Manhattan Beach Botanical Gardens, Gottlieb's Home Gardens and the Native Plants Sale in large number. Daycare in Los Nogales. Participants will receive a card in the mail upon purchase of a ticket for $45 ($40 for participants, children under 16 do not require a ticket). nativeplantgardentour.org
April 16th
Art of the Garden Tour 28 from Creative Arts Group includes self-guided tours of four gardens in the foothills of Pasadena, San Marino, and Sierra Madre from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $40 if purchased before April 16 and $45 on the day of the tour. The tour is the largest annual fundraiser for the group, entering its 63rd year as a nonprofit community organization. Managing Director Gwen Robertson said the tour aims to include at least one successful estate and a small but inspiring garden designed by the owner. Photography, pets and children under the age of 12 are not permitted on the tour. The Creative Arts Group Gallery will be located on N. Baldwin Ave. 108 opened. in the Sierra Madre for people who want to buy tickets in person and see the work of more than 25 local artists. CreativeArtsGroup.org
April 23
Claremont Eclectic: Tours of six local gardens from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the city of Claremont, plus two visits per day to the Claremont California Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden in the state dedicated to native plants of California. Tournament and again in May. Self-guided tours depart from the Botanical Gardens parking lot at 1500 N. College Ave., where ticket holders with a receipt can pick up their map and tour brochure. Proceeds support Claremont Garden Club. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased directly from Claremont Heritage at Memorial Park, 840 N. Indian Hill Blvd. or at Rio de Ojas, 250 N. Harvard Ave. as well as online. www.clarremontgardenclub.org
April 22-23
The Redlands Gardens Tour , sponsored by the Redlands Horticultural and Ornamental Society, features six private gardens of various landscape designs, including a hillside garden, a courtyard with colorful mosaics and other artwork reused, a 5-acre duck feeding garden, and the Kimberley The magnificent Cross Gardens surround the manor house dating back to 1897. Self-guided tours are available from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on both days. Tickets cost $15 (children under 13 are free) and must be purchased in cash or by check from Asistencia, 26930 Barton Road in Redlands. redlandsgardenclub.org
April 23
Pasadena Open House Tour : Explore the four ornate private gardens of this historic Pasadena home. Tickets cost $10 to park ($5 for members) and are only available online. Children under 12 years old are free of charge when accompanied by an adult. gardenconservancy.org
Morongo Basin Conservation Association. The desert landscape tour is scheduled from 09:00 to 16:00. The event features self-guided tours of five water features of the Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Morongo Basin Landers, as well as docent-led tours of the Mojave Desert Land Trust and the Joshua Basin Watershed demonstration park. Tickets are $10 ($5 for members) and can be purchased online. The site also features videos of "desert" landscapes from previous visits. mbconservation.org
April 29-30
Riverside Community Gardens & Flower Show Tours The Diamond Jubilee celebrates its 75th anniversary with self-guided tours of all nine Riverside Gardens from 10:00am-5:00pm daily and a complimentary floral show at Elks Lodge, 6166 Brockton Ave. , from 9am to 5pm with displays of flowers, crafts and garden art for sale. Wristband entry costs $10 and children 16 and under enter free. riversideflowershow.com
The 30th Annual Santa Ana North Flower Garden and Home Tour features tours of historic homes and gardens dating from the 1920s to the 1950s daily from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The tour also includes a vintage car show, food from local restaurants, a beer and wine garden and shopping. Revenue supports public grants and non-profit organizations. Tickets are $45 if purchased online before April 24, or $50 if purchased on the day of the event. floristic parkhometour.com
May 6th
Дни открытых двери The Garden Conservancy Los Angeles в Санта-Монике : стростувайте четери частных сады в Санта Монике: городскую среду обитания диких животные, сад Едны Май, сад нанцина и сад семи Адамс. Tickets are $10 per park ($5 for attendees) and are only available online. Children up to 12 years old are free of charge when accompanied by an adult. gardenconservancy.org
The 18th Gate and Laguna Beach Park Club Garden Tour begins at the Bruce Scherer Fire and Water Resistant Park in the Laguna Beach District Water District at 306 3rd Street in Laguna, with a special bus carrying ticket holders to visit the seven parks in the Lagoon area. . Mexican dishes and artisan margaritas can be purchased along with free homemade cookies. Artists will paint canvases in several gardens, and visitors in "garden party hats" will enter a touring headwear competition. Proceeds go to schools, local scholarships and community projects; Previous events raised over $40,000. The excursion runs from 10:00 to 16:00, with last entry at 14:00. Sea is not allowed. Passes purchased through April 28 are $60 or $80 to enter anytime between 10:00am and 2:00pm, as well as food and drink tickets. lagunabeachgardenclub.org
6-7 Maybe
Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden will offer self-guided tours of 43 gardens, 14 of which are new to tours, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. over two days, from Long Beach to San Clemente. A list of parks and their addresses can be found on the Mary Lou Heard Foundation website, but plan ahead as some parks are only open to visitors for one day. Entry is free, but there are pots of donations in the garden to support La Bergerie, the Orange Women and Children Crisis Center, which has long benefited from annual tour funds. heargardentour.com
May 7th
25-й Мемориал Ливингстона Ассоциации патронажных сестер. & Hospice Camarillo Gardens Tour includes art exhibitions and performances, live music, refreshments, and a garden shop, as well as a tour of all five Camarillo Parks from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. Artists from the Society of Pastels of the Golden Coast appear in every park. Tickets online are $30. Proceeds go to the Palliative Care Association program at Camarillo. lmvna.org
May 11th
The 26th Annual Newport Harbor Home and Gardens Tour includes stops at seven homes and gardens near Newport Harbor High School, as well as lunch, a home furnishings store and props dealer, and an afternoon reception at Barclay Butera Interiors from 9 a.m. to 8 a.m. :00 pm 5:00 pm house and garden tour from 10:00 to 15:00 Мерориятие представление сбор средство д Febl. Tickets can be purchased online for $100 ($110 after April 28 if available). newportharborhometour.com
May 13th
West Floral Park and Jack Fisher Park Neighborhoods Open Garden Day will feature eight garden tours in two tree-lined neighborhoods of historic homes north of Santa Ana, as well as live music, art exhibitions, garden talks and demonstrations, culinary demonstrations, and vendors selling food and produce. garden. From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale online March 27 for $20, or $25 if purchased on the day of the event, at West Santa Clara and North Westwood Avenues in Santa Ana . opengardenday.com
May 20
The 2023 San Clemente Garden Club Garden Tour offers self-guided tours and performances in five of San Clemente's gardens from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online before the event for $35 ($30 per person if you buy four or more tickets). Tickets for the day cost $45 and must be purchased in person at the location announced on the website after 18:00 on May 19. Proceeds from the tour are used to support San Clemente Garden Club College scholarships and programs for young gardeners, as well as organizations and projects to improve the city of San Clemente. saclementegardenclub.com
May 21
19-й тур по саду женского клуба Россмур offers self-guided tours of six private gardens in Россмур-Los-Alamitos Raion, Orindzh District, north of Sil-Bich from 10:00 to 16:00. The ticket price is $20. They can be purchased online at some area stores after April 15 or at the club's outdoor market on visiting days, selling music, food, crafts and plants at Arbor Village, 10651 Los Alamitos Blvd. at Los Alamitos. You will find a lot out there. www.rossmoorwomensclub.org
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
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