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
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 […]
More Facts and Ideas about Conserving Resources Part 3
The Garden Club’s May meeting at SDG&E’s Innovation Center ended with a presentation by Janet O’Dea of Powers Plumbing. She says that California’s population should be around 60 million by 2050. (SDG&E projects 51 million. Either way, it’s a lot of people wanting water for drinking, cleaning, or irrigation.) Californians may be deprived of some of […]
Facts and Ideas About Conserving Resources – Part 2
The Garden Club’s May meeting took place at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center. Last month’s article dealt with what the Center has and does. The second part of their presentation showed practical ways to save energy. As in the overall view of California’s effort to stem the waste of energy, this portion is called Net Zero. […]
Facts and Ideas about Conserving Resources – Part 1
Last May the Mission Hills Garden Club, accompanied by Tiger Palafox, spent a few hours at San Diego Gas and Electric Innovation Center. It was an interesting meeting. Ravina, an incredibly enthusiastic employee, led us on a tour. Our tour began with a visual history of conservation beginning in the late 1960s. At that time […]
Who Knew a Talk on Breadfruit Would Be So Interesting?
Mission Hills Garden Club’s last meeting before September featured Ian Cole of San Diego Botanic Garden and formerly with the Breadfruit Institute in Hana, Maui. His focus was managing the world’s largest collection of breadfruit as well as working with farmers and chefs; he was also involved in breadfruit trees and orchards’ propagation studies and […]
The Gory Facts about Carnivorous Plants
When Mission Hills Nursery announced that there would be a talk on carnivorous plants, my first thought was, a new topic. My next thought was that the grandsons would love it. Both my grandsons are gardeners; Nic is 13 and is totally immersed in it. He has a thriving worm farm, recently installed a drip […]
40 Years Among the Natives
In April I went to the San Diego Horticultural Society at the Del Mar racetrack to hear David Fross talk about plants native to California. He arrived at his current career by a circuitous route. Fross had been drawn to natural landscapes as a child. However, he majored in history; and as a graduate student […]
Making Magic in the Garden
Like a whirlwind, Maurice Taitano-Bliss gave the Garden Club’s March presentation. Her passion and enthusiasm for her topic, creating gardens, are contagious. She is convinced that we can all create something from nothing, even though she earns her living by helping people to make creative yet sensible and do-able choices. The first step in […]
Waterwise Edibles
Nan Sterman, February’s Garden Club speaker, wears many hats. She is an author; host, co-producer and co-writer of a television show about San Diego County gardens and habitats; and she has served on several garden-related boards including the San Diego district of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers of which she is a founding member. […]
