Barbara Strona
Barbara Strona is a native Californian who grew up in the Mid-West and Los Angeles. She and her architect husband, Carl, came to San Diego in 1968 and have lived in Mission Hills since early 1971. Barbara received a Bachelor of Arts from Scripps College with a major in English, and a minor in Art. She attended UCLA graduate school and received a General Secondary Credential. She taught English in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, and at Point Loma High School. She has been a Realtor specializing in residential sales since 1984. Her passions include her job, reading, writing, foreign languages and foreign countries, animals (feathered or furry), theatre, and her family: husband, two adult children and two grandsons.
Barbara Strona's Latest Posts
Hunters in the Sky
In 2013 I met Nancy Conney, founder and operator of Sky Hunters, a non-profit organization that rescues about 350 harmed raptors a year. Last July she was June’s “make up” speaker to the Mission Hills Garden Club. Conney gave us some background. Of the birds rescued each year, approximately 80 per cent are released to […]
Succulent Tapestries
I went with the Mission Hills Garden Club for an entertaining presentation by Laura Eubanks showing how she assembles gardens and is paid for doing so. Eubank’s path is both interesting and amusing. I know she has an incredible innate sense of design as she was completely untrained. Eubank has always loved gardens. With four […]
Enriching Your Garden and Discouraging Bugs
A More Effective and Economical Source of Gardening Products Andy Danenberger is part of the Voluntary Purchasing Group (VPG). Their focus is on keeping a garden healthy without sacrificing the environment. He brought a host of products that, if used properly while carefully following the directions on the package, will help you to do just […]
Conserving Water without Sacrificing Beauty
Scott Kleinrock, educator, horticulturist, and landscape designer, spoke to the San Diego Horticultural Society in April. He is currently a conservator manager at the Chino Basin Water Conservation District in San Bernardino where he works on creating a culture of sustainable water use through demonstrations and education. He has also worked as a landscape planning […]
To Feed the Family
We were told to bring our appetites, so we did. Craig Madden spoke at the Mission Hills Garden Club’s March meeting. And, yes, we did get to eat. However, first we heard how he came to his current philosophy and lifestyle concerning food. Four and a half years ago, Madden’s baby girl was ready for […]
Roses: Lost and Found
Last February, John Bagnasco spoke of his passion for roses. Having been in the horticulture world for over 50 years, Bagnasco began with a horticulture degree from Michigan State University. He went on to work at various nurseries, and in the 1990s became a head rose buyer for Armstrong Garden Centers. A friend asked why […]
Propagation- Part 2:
Asexual Propagation In January Anne Murphy gave a talk on Propagating Plants. Last month I wrote about her description of Sexual Propagation, done by seed. This month will touch on the rest of Murphy’s talk: Asexual Propagation, which is basically cloning. One cuts a piece of the plant and grows it. It comes out identical […]
Propagation: An addicting pastime.
Part 1: Sexual Propagation: Growing plants from Seeds On a sunny Saturday, Jill Schmidt, a fellow member of the Mission Hills Garden Club and San Diego Horticultural Society, and I drove to El Cajon for a propagation workshop. Anne Moore, English native but in the U.S. long enough to have lost most of her accent, […]
Watershed Conservancy Offers Opportunity for All
In September my eyes opened to new ideas and knowledge. Jess Norton of the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy presented a wealth of information about her organization. Its mission is “to preserve, protect and share the natural and cultural resources of the San Dieguito River Valley through collaborative efforts to acquire lands, complete trails, restore […]
Drought Defying Gardens
They began by pointing out that we should be using native plants. Many of the plants we think of as natives are not; they are either imports or invaders. Most native plants are both drought and heat tolerant. With water becoming scarcer as our drought continues, the lovely Mediterranean plants which have flourished so long […]
