Helping to Save Disappearing Native Flora
It’s beautiful, it’s dusty, it’s hot but very cool. The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants, tucked into a northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley, is a gardener’s paradise, where hardy souls go to climb Flowerhill Trail for a glimpse of lupines, then relax under an elderberry tree, deciding whether to bring home a pail of poppies or a mound of manzanita.
The Payne Foundation is also a second home to Linda Conlon, a teacher and foundation volunteer whose passion is preserving local native habitats and her West Hills garden, home to a number of California native plants and thriving bird and insect populations. “Gardening gives me exercise, and I get to be outdoors,” said Conlon, 58. “I love starting fresh--planting seeds and watching things grow. I don’t watch TV, so this is what I do. It’s a piece of heaven.”
The piece of heaven Conlon refers to is a 22-acre plot near La Tuna Canyon in Sun Valley, with a bookstore and nursery. The foundation holds educational programs and seminars to teach gardeners to landscape with native plants, about 600 of which are sold there yearly.
The foundation also provides a living seed collection, with field-collected specimens that are available for sale and exchange.
Although the foundation is busiest in the fall and spring, when the wildflowers are in bloom, the nursery and bookstore attract horticulturists and preservationists year-round.
“I see so much destruction of native habitats in the Santa Monica Mountains,” Conlon said. “Every time these areas are developed, the animals and plants disappear. They can’t relocate. My goal is to help preserve them.”
That was Theodore Payne’s goal too. The British native arrived in Los Angeles in 1893. Determined to help preserve California flora, he opened a nursery and seed business in 1903, specializing in native wildflowers and landscapes. He helped plant wild gardens in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park and at what is now Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge.
The Theodore Payne Foundation was established in 1960 to preserve California’s natural habitats and provide a place for native-plant lovers to acquire and share knowledge of the area’s flora.
Conlon, a married mother of two grown children, became interested in native-plant gardening in 1964, when she and her husband, John, moved into their Valley home. The previous owners had removed every flower, shrub and other plant from the property when they moved, so Conlon, who had spent her childhood summers gardening at her grandparents’ Texas farm, began planting with a vengeance.
The Balboa Gifted Magnet Elementary School teacher read about the foundation 10 years ago and visited in the spring, when she was overwhelmed by the riotous wildflower display at the Sun Valley nursery.
She devoured books on local flora, then signed on as a volunteer at the foundation, where she helps propagate plants and collect and sort seeds.
The foundation was recently honored with The Los Angeles Times Valley and Ventura County editions’ 1998 Community Service Award for environment and ecology services.
“People like Linda keep the foundation’s door open,” said Dustin Alcala, the nursery manager.
“I believe that the more people know about native plants, the more they’ll try to save them,” Conlon said. “That’s my hope.”
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