Ceanothus of the Bay Area and Beyond
Guest Speaker: Jeff Bisbee
7:30 p.m. – Online Zoom Presentation
In this program, Jeff Bisbee will describe the two subgenera of Ceanothus, subgenus Ceanothus and subgenus Cerastes, but concentrate his talk on the Cerastes group. He will discuss the characteristics that separate these groups, mention some of the species from the subgenus Ceanothus that are found in the S.F. Bay Area, then devote some time to Cerastes. To conclude, Jeff will describe techniques for raising Ceanothus from seed.
Jeff was raised in Grass Valley, in a rural setting where he developed a passion for native plants. His father worked for the forest Service and inspired in the young Jeff an interest in trees, from where his passion grew to include a wide array of plants. He has long been documenting plants through photography, and many of his images have been published. Jeff travelled throughout Mexico photographing conifers in their natural settings for the book Conifers around the World. Mike Vasey sparked Jeff’s interest in photographing Arctostaphylos, leading to the book Field Guide to Manzanitas. Since then, he has moved on to other genera such as Ceanothus, Calochortus, Fritillaria, Lilium, Erythronium, and whatever else catches his interest. Jeff also enjoys cultivating many native trees and shrubs from seed and maintains an extensive collection of Mexican and western conifers on his family property in Colfax, in Placer County. He has contributed many Mexican conifers to the U.C. Santa Cruz arboretum. He is cultivating many Arctostaphylos and now Ceanothus. There were 4 native species of Ceanothus growing on the property, which has proven to be ideal for growing most species of the genus. Jeff now has around 30-40 species growing on the property. He and his wife Patty are currently living in Gardnerville, Nevada, which gives them easy access to many parts of California without traveling through city traffic.
Watch for an email from Marin CNPS on Monday, April 13 that will contain the instructions for joining this Zoom online presentation.