Knowing and loving my neighbors has been one of the greater joys of my life.

I moved to the little village of Hillcrest, San Diego in 2016 and over the past 3.5 years, the people I live around have become like family. I’ve learned the true meaning of neighborhood and what it means to be a good neighbor because of the people that live on our block.

The complex I live on has 4 units and a communal garden and outdoor living space. I don’t just call these people my neighbors, they also feel like my roommates as we share and spend time together regularly. Our next door neighbors, Anne, Eric, Dusty and Andi invite us over for holidays and cookouts and homemade pasta. My neighbor Linda down the block has become my guardian art angel as she lends me her upstairs studio as my art studio. Just because she’s generous like that. My dear friend and neighbor Meghan I get to walk with every Wednesday morning and have become her son’s godparent.

I got to know the people fairly quickly in my neighborhood and have developed these friendships over the years living here. However, I just introduced myself THIS YEAR to the plants that have always called this place home. I know what you’re thinking…the plants!? Yes. The plants. Knowing the names of the plants that exist (or should / could exist) in our local canyons is the first step to becoming aware of our local ecology. And becoming aware of our local plants and animals will help us care for them even better. As Mary Oliver once said, “paying attention is the beginning of devotion”. Once we pay attention to the beauty and the life that happens in our own backyards we will in time love what’s happening in our own backyards.

Hanging out in the canyon with the art I created from it!

Knowing and studying and painting the plants around me has been an incredibly enlightening experience and it has been the final piece of making this block truly feel like home. On my quest to learn all about the California native plants that are native to my specific area, I discovered the California Native Plant Society of San Diego and became a member. They have this incredible tool called Calscape where you can type in your zip code and the plants that are native to that area pop up! You can learn all about them through that site then try and seek the plants out through my other favorite app called iNaturalist.

California Native Plant Society exists to help us not only become aware of plants that existed and thrived here pre-European contact, but they are in the efforts to actively restore vacant spaces and parks to native wildlife habitat - including our very own yards. Calscape is just that - a site where you can learn about each and every plant that actually thrives in your area due to climate, soil conditions and the local wildlife that it attracts. California butterflies anyone!? your very own super bloom of poppies and lupines and ceanothus?!

WANT TO KNOW THE COOLEST PART!? When we love and attend to our local plants and animals, that in it of itself is a way to love our human neighbors as well. “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” —Rachel Carson