Earthside Nature Center in Pasadena

I was combing through cobwebs of the internet and came across this blog post celebrating an Earthside Nature Center that had never heard of before.  Sadly, it seems long gone.

My attention drawn to promoting native bees this morning, led to thinking about annual wildflowers, which reminds me of the most beautiful native garden I ever saw.
It was the grounds of Earthside Nature Center in Pasadena, the work of Kevin Connelly, whom I was privileged to meet with there.
The author of Gardener's Guide to California Wildflowers (Theodore Payne Foundation, 1991) he tended those gardens with loving care -- showcasing beautiful beds of California native annual wildflowers.
In previous times the indigenous glory of the low-elevation areas where most of us make our "native gardens" was largely our native annual wildflowers. Entirely too few of our "native gardens" are graced with baby blue eyes, clarkias, gilias, goldfields, meadowfoam, phacelias, tidy tips and the like.
Too few of our "native gardens" also, graced with our native geophytes such as blue dicks, colony onion, fritillaries, Ithuriel's spear, mariposa lilies, soap root, and the like.<\em>

Link
http://hometown-pasadena.com/history/digging-up-secrets-in-lamanda-park-part-3/84425

Sadly, it looks it's  long gone - There's no recent mention in the LA Times, which does offer this article:

LA Times:
Earthside Nature Center Offers Annual Wildflower Walkabouts
April 11, 1987|BONNIE SOULELES

If you don't want to drive to the Antelope Valley or trudge up a mountain to view California's annual explosion of color, pack up a picnic lunch and take the family to the annual Wildflower Walkabouts at the Earthside Nature Center, 3168 E. Del Mar Blvd. in Pasadena. Informal guided tours of this secluded, tranquil environment will be led by knowledgeable docents today, Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The center, once an eyesore used for dumping trash, nestled between a flood control channel and Southern California Edison power lines, is now a microcosm of the California plant world. Inside this magic kingdom, it is shady and cool and the only sounds are the crunching of leaves and the chirping of birds.

You can expect to find a festival of blossoms including baby blue eyes, phacelia, black sage, wild iris, lupine and the ubiquitous poppy. A stroll down leaf-strewn paths, past a serene pond under spreading oaks and sycamores demonstrates what can be accomplished when land is reclaimed and cared for.

Admission is $3 for adults, $1.50 for students under 18 and senors over 55. The center can be reached from the 210 Freeway. Take the Rosemead off-ramp south to Del Mar, then right for approximately one-half mile. Park along the curb and enter on foot via the driveway at the east side of the Girls Club building. The guided tour takes about one hour. Picnic facilities are available next door at Eaton Blanche Park. For information call (818) 796-XXXX.