At Dusk, Locals Talk Butterflies, Native Plants

Lake Forest residents Mike and Cathie Field pulled the plug on their lawn in August, redid the entire yard the next month and set new native plants into the ground in October.

"All of our neighbors kept saying, 'Why do you want a lawn that looks like Arizona?' Now that the landscaping has filled in, we don't hear much of that. And our water bill is half of what it used to be," Mike said Thursday from inside the sales room at the , sheltered from the summer sun as it dipped near the horizon.

It was after attending discussions held at the San Juan Capistrano nursery, like the one that took place Thursday, that the Fields decided last year to change their landscaping.

“Now it looks like California,” said nursery employee Debbie Cressy.

Those discussions are now being held in the evenings during educational programs from at 6 p.m. on Thursday evenings in July and August. The nursery is also open later this summer until 8 p.m. on Thursdays and offering discounts on merchandise between 4 and 8 p.m.

The twilight summer sun streamed through the open arched doorway of the Tree of Life Nursery’s straw bale and plaster sales building, “Casa La Paz.” Inside the naturally cool building, California native plant enthusiasts casually sat and discussed their gardening hobby while sipping on lemonade and eating cookies.

Upcoming Thursday night topics include birding, moths and butterflies, edible and useful plants, children’s books, hiking and photography.

On Thursday evening, Tree of Life owner Mike Evans hosted the discussion. He encouraged guests to “come and share pictures, successes, challenges and questions” of and about native California plants.

“We started coming here regularly last summer,” said Cathie Field. “We went through all the workshops. We bought the books and took notes and we tried to learn as much as we could.”

She said that in their new garden, they planted a little milkweed, which lures Monarch butterflies. "It's so much fun to see them go through their life cycle in our garden," she said, describing their former yard as  a sterile, green carpet they didn't interact with.

"Your garden is alive," said Evans.

After the group discussion, Laura Childers and Jerry King shopped at Tree of Life Nursery for the first time. They were visiting a friend in San Juan Capistrano and found out about the extended summer twilight hours. 

Childers said: "I thought, 'I want to come to Tree of Life.' It's wonderful ... I knew there would probably be Matilija Poppies here, which I love."

Tree of Life Nursery has been open for more than 30 years. It grows and sells more than 500 species and varieties of California native and drought tolerant plants.

It's located at 33201 Ortega Highway Ortega Highway about 7.5 miles east of downtown San Juan Capistrano. The entrance is a few hundred feet south of .