Let nature guide you

RE “Winter? To Natives It’s Spring” [Dec. 2]: Orange County and Southern California enjoy a unique heritage of habitats, from coastal sage scrub to Mediterranean to oak woodlands to chaparral. The more opportunities there are to buy and grow these plants in our home gardens, the more we can understand the true beauty of California.

Two local nurseries, Roger’s Gardens and Armstrong, are expanding their selections of California native plants in response to gardeners’ interests. They provide a great opportunity for local gardeners to get more information on how to landscape with and care for these plants.

Laura C. Curran

Newport Beach

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EMILY GREEN’S article about native plants for the serious gardener invites those with a more casual green thumb to ponder a new planting season -- winter -- that may take a little getting used to.

As the native plant movement blooms from its own 50-year dormancy, retail plant centers for the first time are increasingly featuring California-friendly choices far beyond cactus. A list of large and small retailers carrying native plants can be found at www.bewater wise.com, along with a catalog of plants.

Additional retailers such as Green Thumb stores in the San Fernando Valley and Pasadena’s Burkard Nursery also have been enthusiastic supporters of the Metropolitan Water District’s bewaterwise.com campaign, expanding product lines and distributing educational material on natives and efficient watering.

Adan Ortega Jr.

Los Angeles

Ortega is a vice president of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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