California native of the week: Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia) and sugar bush (Rhus ovata) are so closely related that it makes sense to mention them together.

Last April I followed an adult male island fox from the bottom of Scorpion Canyon on the southeast end of Santa Cruz Island.

The lemonade berry can also be incorporated into a Mediterranean-style garden, according to the California Native Plant Society, with other plants like the rosemary-leafed California buckwheat ...

A shy island fox peeked around the corner of a blooming lemonade berry bush as I watched from behind spindly stocks of swaying blue dicks. Credit: Courtesy After the heavy winter rains of 2022-23 ...

Black cap raspberries and mulberries in summer are a sweet treat. I know of a stand of elderberry bushes, and I pick the tiny, tannic berries to make an immune-boosting syrup.