California Horticultural Society has been dedicated to bringing together gardeners and garden professionals, through meetings and other events, to share their experiences since 1933.

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May 2024

Introduction to Ethnobotany

with Dr. David Pepper
May 20, 2024 – 6:30 p.m. in-person

From childhood and family custom, Dr. David Pepper was destined to dabble in herbs and other plants, an orientation which found resonance in his medical practice. Many, even most of the drugs we use arise from plants’ roots, leaves, and shoots, along with such organisms as molds and fungi. Even more broadly, for both our ancestors and ourselves, these same non-animal life forms are the source of food, shelter, and well-being, including the current resurgence of interest in psychedelic compounds.

With so much of modern life finding its origin in plants, Dr. Pepper will discuss indigenous American practices—today, at our remove, categorized as ethnobotany—along with current practices to provide benefits to our lives from botanical sources.

David Pepper is a semi-retired Family Physician who for more than thirty years practiced and taught Family Medicine with UCSF. From delivering babies to assisting hundreds at the end of their lives, with a vast variety of medicine—ER, Obstetrics, Hospital and Clinic Medicine—always with a bent toward prevention and Community Medicine. His “end game” combines his interest to help people die well, where most want to be (at home) and in relative tranquility.

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June 2024

The Secret Season
or Year-Round Food Gardening

with Pam Pierce
June 17, 6:30 pm, on-line

When Pam Peirce created a plan for planting a year-round food garden, she realized that gardeners often miss one of the resulting four seasons—January through March. She named it The Secret Season. It’s a time in which rain will supplement or replace your watering efforts and when pests are least active.The resulting harvests will give you delicious garden produce long before your summer harvest is underway. Pam will show you what to plant (including some unusual choices), how to avoid having to garden on cold, rainy days, and special tips for the best use of our region’s Secret Season.

Based in San Francisco, Pam Peirce is a gardener, author, photographer, and lecturer. The fourth (30th Anniversary) edition of her classic regional gardening book, Golden Gate Gardening, was published in August 2023. It teaches year-round food gardening in mediterranean California from the foggy coast of Eureka to San Luis Obispo, to hot inland climates like Walnut Creek or San Jose. Her book Wildly Successful Plants covers botany and best use of 50 plucky, historic, mid-California ornamentals.
Pam earned a BA in plant science, taught horticulture at City College of San Francisco for nearly 30 years, and lectures and writes widely on gardening and food issues.

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July 2024

Herbal All Stars for Every Garden

with Rose Loveall-Sale, owner Morningsun Herb Farm
July 15, 2024, on-line

Herbs can be the workhorses of our gardens, not just looking pretty but adding function to every aspect of our lives. This talk will introduce some new and fun herbs to add to your herb garden to spice up your cooking, bar, and medicine cabinet, as well as to entice the birds and the bees to visit. We will also revisit some classic herbs with some growing tips to maintain and extend their life in the garden, with some ideas on using them in unusual and fun ways.

Morningsun Herb Farm is a family-owned nursery with display gardens that have been in operation since 1995. Owned by Rose Loveall-Sale and her husband Dan Sale, Morningsun has grown from the ground up in the beautiful west valleys of Vacaville in Solano County. Rose has a background in Forestry and Horticulture, and has been propagating and growing herbs for more than thirty years.

Morningsun Herb Farm grows over 500 species of herbs and vegetables, along with unusual and drought-tolerant perennials and pollinator plants. We specialize in a huge selection of lavenders and Salvia, propagating over 90 varieties in our greenhouses. Our display gardens, located in our family walnut orchard, are wonderful teaching tools for gardeners, chefs, herbalists, and crafters. Bring a picnic to relax in the gardens, and some extra treats to share with our donkeys!

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August 2024

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Supporting Each Other

Plants do not recognize race, economic condition, or social class. Plants can take root in any spot where they can find sufficient sunlight and moisture. Appreciating and nurturing plants can reduce stress, provide food, and promote community.

Nurturing plants can be for everyone, everywhere. Spending time around plants—gardening, spending time in a park, hiking through trees, or playing in a meadow—is good for mental health, promoting relaxation and relief from stress and worries. There are physical benefits to sunlight, fresh air, soothing scents. 

Whether you have a full garden, some house plants, or a few herbs on your windowsill, we encourage you to take time to appreciate the colors, textures and smells, and to share your interest with others. Share photos and web links, offer horticultural help and advice, talk to young people about gardening, growing food, and the role plants play in our world. We can all help shape the future for good. 

A day trip to find and identify some of the many types of Calochortus in California. Led by Kipp McMichael as a follow-up to his in depth presentation at our March meeting (available on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@CaliforniaHorticulturalSociety)

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