Membership Committee


Linda with her beautiful Carpenteria                                                    Photo by Phred Jackson

Meet Linda Newton here, and at our Plant Fair on October 16th and 17th.

My conscious interest in the natural world began when I was six years old and hiked with my older sister’s Girl Scout troop in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Slathered in green soap to protect against poison oak, I was, my mother said, the best hiker of the bunch. I became a Girl Scout myself and loved all the outdoor activities. As I moved on to junior high and high school, my old troops disbanded because the girls were getting to be too sophisticated for Girl Scouts. I was fortunate to find new troops for me to join in both schools. My high school troop was perfect for me since we went camping at least during the summer. We also took an extended camping trip in my senior year to many of our western national parks.

This love of the out-of-doors didn’t translate into love of native plants until I became an elementary teacher and moved to the Bay Area in 1967. Living in San Francisco and being so close to open space like Mt. Tam, I was out in nature as a regular course. Another teacher introduced me to the BAEER Fair, Audubon and CNPS. CNPS just made so much sense to me. Of course we should support our native flora to go along with our native fauna. So I paid my dues and bought plant books for identifying and drawing flowers on hikes.

When I exposed my classes to Mrs. Terwilliger and Slide Ranch, I learned a few plants. I cut out articles about plant families from the old CNPS newsletters. But it wasn’t until I bought my first house in 1991 that I went to the CNPS plant sale and bought natives for my garden. My backyard had an established big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllam) that dominated our view. I bought, planted, pulled out, mourned and was smitten. Only then did I respond to Shirley McPheeter’s postcards to help at a plant sale. She assigned me to work in the book booth with Elly Bade. I volunteered every year after that spending more and more time selling books with Elly. Then I volunteered during my summer vacations to help propagate on Tuesday mornings.

Upon retiring from teaching in 2001 I became a year round Tuesday propagator. My education in native plants really began then. How patient John Rusk and others were with me as I asked repeatedly what plant we were potting, where it grew and what its habits were. Coincidentally, I eventually took over the book booth, selling the books that Elly ordered. In addition, I did a few odd volunteering jobs for CNPS and attended a few meetings.

When Merritt closed our growing grounds, I stepped back from being actively involved as other demands in life took center stage. Now I have new gardens and much more experience with the natives. My goal is to have my gardens on the Bringing Back the Natives tour in another couple of years.

Linda Newton

New Members
Please join us in welcoming our new members for the May/June time frame, Karen Chu, Sasha Harris-Lovett, Patricia Moore, and Laura Tudor

As always, a huge thank you to our renewing members.

Think Globally, Volunteer locally
Native Plant Fair, October 16th and 17th www.ebcnps.org
Plants from Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Find your city and then your plants collected and grown right here at our EBCNPS Native Here Nursery.

Vendors, membership items and more, free admittance!

Elaine Jackson and Carol Castro

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Elaine P. Jackson elainejx@mindspring.com 925-372-0687

Carol Castro carollbcastro@hotmail.com 510-352-2382