A Gardener’s Selection of California Natives, Part 2

Guest Speaker: Kristin Jakob

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Phacelia californica California perennial phacelia

Last fall, Kristin began this presentation, but she has so much more to offer. This month she will continue, focusing on the plant selection we hope to offer at Marin Chapter’s Spring Native Plant Sale.

Kristin offers us a diverse palette of California plants, mostly Bay Area natives, that offer multiple seasons of interest, habitat value, structural character, or all three. Most are readily available from local nurseries and CNPS plant sales and are generally easy to grow. The plant selection includes trees, shrubs, perennials, groundcovers, vines, ferns, grasses, bulbs and annuals. Kristin will describe the plant communities in which they originate, as well as their notable characteristics and cultural preferences.

Kristin has been gardening for over 50 years, primarily in Marin County, where she first planted California native plants during her early teens. Natives remain a special interest, alongside other ornamental plants from around the globe. She has worked for Smith & Hawken nurseries and Green Jeans Garden Supply, conducts plant consultations and plant selection for residential clients, and has volunteered her expertise for public gardens.
Kristin is also an accomplished botanical illustrator; amongst her published commissions are the CNPS poster “Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada” and the Society’s set of grass posters/placemats. She both illustrated and co-edited the UC Press book Wild Lilies, Irises and Grasses – Gardening with California Monocots, and periodically illustrates new species descriptions for botanists.
A member of CNPS since the age of twelve, Kristin has served on the Marin Chapter board, as Program Chair and Plant Sales Co-Chair since the 1980s, and more recently also as Acting President, Co-President and currently, President.