When I think of the Audubon Center at Debs Park, my first memories are actually of the Los Nogales nursery.

I volunteered in the summer of 2019 and vividly remember walking along the Flores Trail for the first time - smelling the mix of dew and Salvias - and getting acquainted with the purple and black sages that reached out into the path. At the end of the trail was the Los Nogales nursery, a small but mighty nursery that awed me with its many plants that were one day going to be used for habitat restoration.

So when I began my fellowship at the Center last year, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing the nursery again.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Los Nogales nursery looked vastly different than 5 years ago! 

The space had much less plants than before and as the new Community Conservation Fellow, I decided to make it my focus to regrow the nursery.

Near the beginning of my fellowship, I was introduced to Antonio Sanchez, who currently teaches Seedy Sunday at the nursery every month. He expressed that he wanted to teach a full-blown nursery class at the Center and together, we embarked on creating a course to teach people in our community about what a nursery is and how to grow and take care of California native plants in a nursery setting.

In the eight-week Sunday course, our cohort became acquainted with the plants at Debs Park. They learned about the differences between each species, their growth patterns, and needs. Together, we learned the best ways to propagate different plants by seed, cuttings and divisions. By accessing the California’s Botanic Garden germination data and John Macdonald photographs, we also learned how to identify and properly treat seeds to yield a higher germination rate. 

One of our interns took part in the class and it was her very first experience ever working with California native plants. Here is a snippet of something she learned!

I’m Nadia, an intern from HIRE LA’s Youth program. Lemonade sumac (Rhus Integrifolia) caught my interest when I participated in the Nursery workshop on Sundays at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. 

Lemonade sumac can be seen while walking through the Children’s Woodlands at the Audubon Center at Debs Park and can be seen in varying flowering and fruit maturation stages. The flowering bud stage before the fruit is formed is what caught my attention while doing a Plant ID activity for the workshop. The lemonade sumac I identified in November was barely budding and it almost looked horrifying, but that was also why it caught my attention!

During the nursery workshop, we were encouraged to eat the fruit and observe its seed. We had to pick the lemonade sumac fruit ourselves and it was my first time ever picking fruit this way.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but the fruit had a very waxy, sticky texture. Apparently, when it becomes this sticky, it indicates that the fruit is ripe and ready to eat. Anyone wanting to consume the fruit need only to look for the sticky residue around it to ensure its ripe and ready to taste. As for the taste, the fruit was sweet and sour in a citrus-y way, much like its namesake: lemonade! Not only does the fruit taste great on its own, it can be used create tasty flavored drinks and even used for medicinal purposes.

As the weeks went by, I could begin to see the old Los Nogales Nursery coming back and I felt great pride in knowing that I was helping contribute to its regrowth. Potted plants began to line the tables, crowding the surfaces with each passing week. By the end, we had so many that we ended up giving away a couple Hummingbird Sages during Winter in the Park! 

I also felt my own growth as I learned what it takes to run a program like this. Learning how to engage and reach out to the community, how to select participants and thinking about the goal of a program, and how to run a satisfying and fulfilling program in the nursery helped me grow as a leader. In a way, it felt as if the growth of the nursery was my own growth as a Community Conservation Fellow!

As the nursery flourishes, I hope that you will be able to participate in future nursery programs at Los Nogales Nursery!