UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Events

Public Plant Sale:
Saturday, April 26th, 2008 (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
UC Berkeley's Botanical Garden is having a Public Sale Saturday April 26th, 2008, 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

Free Plant Clinic:
Saturday, May 3rd (9 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Free plant clinic. Find out which diseases ail your plants. Entomologists are also available to identify the pests that are living in your plants too! Please bring cover plants and disease samples in containers or bags before entering the Garden.

Native Plant Sale:
Saturday, May 3rd - Sunday, May 4th
On the weekend of May 3rd and 4th in cooperation with the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (www.bringingbackthenatives.net) UC Botanical Gardens will also release a special selection of native plants for their native plant sale extravaganza. Their native plant propagators and California area horticulturist Ken Bates will be on hand to answer questions.

Bug Exhibit:
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Thursday, May 15, 2008 (9 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
Walk through the Garden to see a variety of original sculptures by local artist Patrick E, including antlion larvae, a dragonfly, the golden orb weaver spider Argiope and a scattering of ladybugs along with a special new giant insectivorous insect member of the Garden.
The Bug Exhibit is free with Garden Admission.

Propagating Succulents is Easy

Photo of Mature Black Aeonium and its new babies

My mature black aeonium sprouted baby aeoniums, and it's time for me to find these babies a new home. Propagating succulents is easy. I used a sharp pair of shears to cut the baby succulents from the mother plant. Then I removed the leaves from the base of the stem to expose about 2-inches of the stem.

Photo of Black Aeonium Cuttings

Then I dipped the tips of the stems in some inexpensive rooting hormone, and stuck the cuttings in the ground. I'm giving the succulent cuttings a good watering once every morning. So far everything looks good. I'll give you an update in a month or two.

Note: I have successfully propagated some succulents like jade and christmas cactus by skipping the rooting hormone and just sticking the cuttings in the ground. I chose to use the rooting hormone with the black aeoniums because I'm not sure how hardy black aeoniums are.

Photo of planted Black Aeonium cuttings

I tried this method with an aloe cutting I took a while ago. As you can see in the photo above, the aloe cutting has developed a beautiful root system.

German Chamomile

German Chamomile Seedlings as of 02-24-2008

Common Name: German Chamomile

Latin Name: matricaria recutita

I started some German Chamomile seeds indoors in Dixie cups in January. I planted about 5 seedlings in a 6” standard flower pot. All but one of them are growing at a steady, decent rate. I’m going to pull the center plant out and give it away to one of my friends. The plants are about 4-inches tall now, but should grow up to 2-feet tall.

As soon as the chamomile plant matures, I’m going to harvest the flowers and make my own tea. I’ve heard that chamomile tea can calm the nerves, help you put you to sleep, and ease stomach pains, but I was surprised to learn that drinking hot chamomile tea can also help stop allergies.

If you’d like to make your own chamomile tea, make sure you choose German Chamomile (an annual plant) and not Roman Chamomile (a perennial plant) because Roman Chamomile can produce allergic skin reactions in a few rare instances. Pick the chamomile flowers when they are in full bloom. Gently rinse the flowers (without bruising them), and then allow them to dry in a cool, dark place. Store the dried flowers in an air tight container, in a cool, dark place until you are ready to use them. When you are ready to drink some tea, boil a cup of water. Place about 1 teaspoon of crushed chamomile flowers in a tea ball strainer and steep it in the water for 5 to 10 minutes before drinking your tea.

Chamomile has antianxiety, antihistamine, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antispasmodic properties. It also contains natural blood thinners. The chemicals in chamomile is similar to a prescription drug warfarin (Coumadin). So if you are taking warfarin you should avoid drinking chamomile tea.  If you are presently taking any medication, you should consult your doctor to rule out any potentially dangerous reactions to using the herb in question. 

Source: Balch, Phyliss. Prescription for Herbal Healing, New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 2002.