Borderlands Restoration Network is leading a local effort to combat Yellow bluestem, an invasive grass spreading along roadsides and across rangelands, and buffelgrass, an invasive weed found in the lower desert.
Francesca Claverie
Posted inCommunity
Borderlands Plant, Seed Sale a Success
Shoppers look over the wide assortment of native plants available at the Borderlands native plant sale. The Borderlands Restoration Network’s (BRN) Native Plant Nursery was open on May 1 for a spring plant sale event that was a roaring success. Almost 400 people came out to Patagonia to shop at the nursery and came away […]
Posted inCommunity
Meet the PRT Writers
Introducing the writers who regularly contribute articles and columns to the Patagonia Regional Times. Look for more profiles in upcoming issues. Francesca Claverie Hello, my name is Francesca Claverie and I write native plant-related content for the Patagonia Regional Times. I grew up on an alfalfa farm in Calexico, CA where my family has strong […]
Posted inColumns
A Cliffrose by Any Other Name
Spring is cliffrose season in our corner of Santa Cruz County, and this year’s bloom did not disappoint. 2020 was a rough year for the native flora. Native plants haven’t been dealing with a virus, but they have been dealing with one of the driest years on record in over a decade. The lack of […]
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Sowing Native Seeds
Native plant seeds are stored in bags and refrigerated in preparation for planting at Borderlands Restoration Network’s seed lab. There are many ways we can start afresh in 2021. In the plant world, rebirth isn’t visible until spring, yet the time for preparing and sprouting often happens unseen, when everything seems the most quiet and […]
Posted inLocal News
2020 A Year of Accomplishments for BRN
Randi Trantham and Zach Farley plant native grass plugs as part of the restoration work BRN is doing in Smith Canyon outside Patagonia. This has been a busy year for Borderlands Restoration Network (BRN). The organization has had great success with its Agave for Bats program (highlighted previously in the PRT), is working on watershed restoration […]
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Native Grasses in Our Landscape
Cane Bluestem is one of the native grasses to look for in the Patagonia/Sonoita area. Photo courtesy BRN Southwest desert grasslands are rare ecosystems abundant with biodiversity. Arizona is home to mountains, plains, and desert grasses which used to cover one-quarter of the state. Today, due to historic overgrazing, climate change, and invasive grass, roughly only […]
Posted inOpinion
Protecting Our Watershed
2020 brought with it quite a few surprising changes that have preoccupied our minds and our lives as we try to focus in this rapidly changing world. We came close to World War III, Australia caught fire, Coronavirus has made its way out of China. One event that probably didn’t change your day much, but […]
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From Little Acorns Grow
Emory oak trees, common in our region, produce tasty bellotas and play a significant ecological role in our landscape. How can we help them survive?
Posted inColumns
Wild Crop Plants in Southern AZ
Have you ever thought about where your food comes from? When most people think of food and the plants that produce it, agriculture and row cropping comes to mind. Rows of uniform plants that fruit and are harvested all at the same time. Even if you grow all your own food, and have mulched garden […]