Garden Activities: February 3, 2026
- Conejo Valley Botanic Garden
- Feb 5
- 2 min read
Tuesday was a particularly productive day in the garden. We introduced new volunteer Susanna Mac to CVBG, and she pitched right in from the get go. Welcome Susanna! On hand to greet her were; Bill Dobner, Dale Harshberger, Beverly Kemmerling, Katie Shank, Nancy Taylor Walker, Anna Wiktor-Becker, Ann Wright, and myself.
At the beginning of the morning, I asked the group if there were any areas of the garden that were in need of some TLC. Katie mentioned the waterfall, and that is where we focused our attention. On the way to the waterfall we traveled the zig zag trail up to where the side path wanders down to the waterfall. On the way we paused beside the knife-leaf wattle, an Australian native, which is in full bloom (and listed below in Steve Davis’s listing of what’s blooming).
When we got to the waterfall, we focused on removing grass from the bee’s bliss sage, trimming the rush stems encroaching on the path, removing seedling meadow rue from the path on the right of the falls, and miscellaneous deadheading.
Anna tackled the rue on the right-hand path. Below is the “after” picture (no before picture.)
Across from the pool at the base of the waterfall, there is a sage with a lot of dead “wood.” It is sort of off by itself in the sense that it isn’t represented in the salvia garden or the native sections. It is an example of a true surviver given the gnarled woody “trunk” (see below) the supports the growth.
The reason I suspect it having been there for a long time is, in addition to the woody base, it is labeled with a plastic label that we, for years, have reserved for trees.
The sign is unfortunately broken, but enough is there to identify the plant as Salvia brandegeei (Santa Rosa Island sage) that is endemic to the CA Channel Islands — specifically Santa Rosa. The flowers are small and pale blue and on this specimen aren’t too showy.
While the rest of us were immersed in the waterfall garden area, Katie went to the top of the hill and single-handedly tackled some of the rampant man root (aka wild cucumber) that is present on the back of the area on the north west side.
Lately the green waste bin has been full when we arrive so it is difficult to add anything. Katie, being game for tasks requiring the suppleness of youth, solved the problem by getting in the bin and stamping it down to accommodate the green waste of the morning.
Plants in bloom this week curtesy of Steve.
Many thanks to Dale, Beverly and Nancy for their images.
Enjoy the garden! KMM
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