GREENSPACE

During restoration of the Rancho Los Alamitos historic gardens in east Long Beach, the guiding principle was simple enough: Provide plant explorers with the same leafy, contemplative landscape of indigenous and imported species created in the 1920s by Florence Bixby.

But it wasn’t easy. Over the decades, the one-acre oasis with roots in the romance of early California had deteriorated into a mix of Bixby’s original glades and myriad invasive plants. A pumping system that supplied a rocky brook -- and serenaded the grounds with the soothing sounds of running water -- quit working in the 1950s.

Now, after 17 years of restoration work based on historic photographs, Rancho Los Alamitos is preparing to celebrate the opening of the renewed gardens June 6 with seminars, guided tours, live jazz and a native-plant sale.

During a recent tour of garden trails lined with sage, cactus, poppies and mahonia bushes laden with maroon berries, Rancho Los Alamitos Executive Director Pamela Seager said, “It was a very complicated effort, and it took a lot of time and patience to do it right.

“Restoration work proceeded incrementally,” she added. “We took the stream system apart and put it back together again, rock by rock. Many of the species we planted were allowed to grow back into maturity.”

Then there is the 6-foot-tall Texas Ranger sage planted near the gardens’ entrance between 1921 and 1925 by Bixby and her husband, Fred.

“It’s gnarled, old and magnificent,” Seager said. “We’re babying it along, like a historical figure deserving of respect.”

Admission to the gardens and activities for adults and children on June 6 are free, but four seminars require registration and fees. Individual seminars are $10 for Rancho Los Alamitos members and $12 for nonmembers; the fee for all four seminars is $40.

There is limited ticket availability, and advance reservations can be made online at rancholosalamitos.com.

Rancho Los Alamitos is owned by the city of Long Beach and operated by the nonprofit Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation.

-- Louis Sahagun

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Credit card bill also relaxes U.S. gun law

In case you didn’t have a chance to read the fine print in the bill passed by Congress last week that put some controls on credit card companies, here’s an interesting detail: A clause tacked onto the main bill will allow visitors to carry concealed, loaded guns and rifles in national parks.

It’s a last-minute Bush administration policy, written by lobbyists for the National Rifle Assn., that was pushed through the Interior Department as President Bush was leaving office.

The rule, now a federal law, allows the carrying of concealed, loaded weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges in states where people are legally allowed to carry concealed arms. Proponents argued that the policy would give weapons owners more clear rules, and it essentially allows guns in all but three of the nation’s 391 parks.

The gun rule was criticized by a broad coalition of groups, including law enforcement officers, park rangers and former Park Service directors. Opponents cited statistics showing that parks are among the safest places in the country and said the presence of guns would create a law enforcement nightmare and might lead to poaching.

Bill Wade, a leader of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Thursday: “Legislators who voted for this amendment now have to live with the fact that they have, in fact, increased the risk to visitors and employees, as well as the risk to wildlife and some cultural resources. Moreover, they’ve just contributed to diminishing the specialness of this country’s National Park system. We hope the American people register their disappointment in the actions of these legislators.”

The previous rule, in place since the Reagan administration, allowed registered gun owners to take non-concealed, unloaded weapons into parks.

-- Julie Cart

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For more environmental coverage, visit The Times’ Greenspace blog at latimes.com/greenspace.