Author Archives: Arvind Kumar

Leah Moffatt has been volunteering at the Native Garden for over a year. She is a birder and a photographer too. On volunteer workdays, she makes time to go birding around the lake. Over time she has captured photographs of … Continue reading →

The 2021 Going Native Garden Tour kicked off today with a virtual tour of all publicly accessible native plant gardens in the area. The virtual event included a special focus on the Lake Cunningham Native Garden. The presentation starts with … Continue reading →

You may be wondering what is happening at Lake Cunningham Park and its Native Garden since the shelter-in-place order took effect in California. The park remains open 8am-half hour after sunset. SIP and social distancing guidelines apply: wear masks, maintain … Continue reading →

Volunteers from the California Native Plant Society and Silicon Valley Volunteers planted 30 more native trees at Lake Cunningham Park in San Jose on Saturday, November 9, 2019. A total of 32 volunteers (17 from SVV, 16 from CNPS) worked from 9am to … Continue reading →

Say the words “California native plants” to a fellow gardener and sometimes the response is, “No, thanks. I’m not into the cactus look.” Many people are unaware that here in Northern California, there are no native cacti! What we have instead … Continue reading →

Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens) is an oily, sticky, intensely fragrant plant from southern Europe that has invaded California in recent times (since the mid-1980s). It is an annual plant that grows during the long dry summer. It is now rapidly expanding … Continue reading →

Today, we were joined by a father-daughter duo, Patrick and Jane, who drove across the valley to help with summer maintenance tasks in the native garden. On a hot day like this, the shade of trees and shrubs was most welcome … Continue reading →

With the abundant rainfall this season, native plants have thrived but so have invasive annuals and perennials. The native garden is regrettably teeming with Russian knapweed, perennial pepperweed, and drying stands of invasive annuals like slender oats, red brome, and … Continue reading →

California has seen many cloudy and wet days this winter. Some weekends the rain came down so hard, we had to cancel the volunteer workday. But not today. Wispy clouds dotted the azure sky, and sunshine moved across the landscape. … Continue reading →