For many years mulching practices at the Arboretum were carried on only to a limited extent. One reason was that since the Arboretum is adjacent to the Santa Anita Race Track, a great number of residents in the immediate area have always been conscious of flies and have related any kind of mulching and composting with fly infestation. Many times in the past, the Arboretum has been able to obtain manure as well as bedding material from race tracks, yet, despite thorough inspections by the County Health Department, the fly problem has been erroneously blamed on the Arboretum.
Author Archives: LA Arboretum News
Out of Our Past
03.29.2009 – 19:13
Thirty years ago there was a fire in the historical area . To quote a photo caption in Lasca (Los Angeles State and County Arboretum) Leaves, May 1973, “On December 26, 1969, a fire swept by 70-mile-per-hour winds cut through the center of the Arboretum producing scenes like these in the vicinity of the Queen Anne Cottage which, fortunately, escaped with only blistered paint.” The trunks of Washingtonia robusta palms in the area still show scars from the fire.
Some Outstanding Shade Trees for Southern California
03.29.2009 – 19:06
Southern California gardeners are fortunate in having a wide variety of trees available to them. Making a choice in this situation is sometimes difficult. Aside from such horticultural considerations as location, soil, and exposure there is the attitude of the person making the selection, perhaps the most important consideration of all.
Plant Portraits
03.29.2009 – 19:04
It is somehow fitting in this bicentennial year for a plant- portrait article to highlight a species in a distinctive genus of ornamental fan palms named after the “father of our country”. The genus is Washingtonia; it is comprised of just two species: W. filifera, the only palm native to the western United States, and W. robusta.
