The Olea europeaea is a member of the Oleaceae family known as the common olive. It is a slow growing evergreen tree or shrub with a reflective soft gray foliage and is known for its beautiful gnarly trunk, also known for it is drupes which yield oil and marketed as table or pickled olives.
PLEASE NOTE-part one was posted on 2/23/23. You might have missed it! Back in Kansas from Mexico, Sara Dykman author of Bicycling with Butterflies, stops at her parents' home to get ready to continue her journey following the Monarchs.
My friend Ann invited me to the go with her to the scion exchange in Santa Rosa. The annual event was put together by the Redwood Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG). I've heard about this event for many years but this was the first time I've attended.
One of the responsibilities of being a UCCE Master Gardener is to obtain 12 units of Continuing Education each year. Some of this is accomplished on our own by researching answers to gardening questions the public brings us.
Pesticide use. Climate change. Habitat destruction. Scientists report all these factors result in declining insect populations in general and in colony collapse for honeybees. As backyard gardeners most of us are observing fewer butterflies both in numbers and varieties.
