The Coastal Gardener:

Orange County is a plant lover’s paradise. Our gardens are alive with thousands of plant species and hybrids. The potential for many thousands more is almost limitless and forever tantalizing.

Orange County is also a paradise for native plants, offering an impressive 1,431 different species for enthusiasts to discover and cherish.

But, among all of Orange County’s wild and native plants, one is unique and rises above all others.

Of all the wild plant species in Orange County only one is found nowhere else on Earth — only one is an Orange County endemic!

The Laguna Beach liveforever (or Dudleya stolonifera) is a plant that few people in the world have seen. Growing in six small colonies in Laguna and Aliso canyons, it was declared a species in 1949.

In the ensuing years, the county’s small relic populations have declined even further, due mostly to habitat destruction, wildfires and other pressures.

In 1998, the Laguna Beach liveforever was declared a threatened species by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Then, in April 2000, at a meeting in Kenya, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species provided further protection by adding this small plant to a list of 800 of the world’s rarest plants and animals.

With an imminent threat of extinction, the protection afforded by this international treaty prohibits the collection or movement of vulnerable plants and animals.

In the meantime, the Laguna Beach liveforever continues to cling to life in Orange County — literally. The Laguna Beach liveforever grows exclusively on steep, vertical cliffs, a very inhospitable place for a plant.

This is a beautiful, small succulent, related to and resembling common Echeverias. Of the six wild populations, all are on very steep cliffs within a few miles of the ocean. The Laguna Beach liveforever has a preference for the cooler and shadier north sides of a rock formation known geologically as San Onofre breccia.

Here, in a couple of coastal canyons, on a few nearly vertical rocks, this small succulent grows on a wafer thin layer of soil and organic debris, often less that half an inch thick.

These rock faces are so steep that, except for a few mossy lichens, almost no other plants are able to gain a foothold.

The Laguna Beach liveforever grows to a mature size of about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Like most plants of Mediterranean climates, it is most robust during the cool, moist months. It withdraws somewhat during our hot dry summer months, persisting on the water stored in its succulent leaves, waiting again for fall and winter rains to resume growth.

The specific locations of the plant’s remaining colonies are closely guarded, to discourage vandalism. It may, in fact, be the threat of vandalism that has kept the plant from being declared an endangered species.

In an unfortunate no-win situation, if its status was elevated to endangered, the value of individual specimens would increase substantially, meaning more poaching.

Surprisingly, an endangered status could make extinction even more likely.

I recall first finding this plant in the wild 15 years ago while exploring the native plants of Aliso Canyon. I will never forget the experience. More recently, I have been fortunate to have visited four of the six remaining colonies.

Last week I again navigated a cliff in Laguna Canyon, visiting with this rare little plant gem. I cannot describe the thrill and the joy of being nose to nose with such a special plant — a real, living Orange County jewel.

Photographs and written words will never describe the emotion of such a visit.

Enjoying plants in a garden is fine. But I hope that Orange County’s gardeners also take a moment from time to time to appreciate the rest of the plants in the county; though perhaps not nose to nose with one of them on a sheer rock cliff.

Ask Ron

Question: Recently you warned us about planting tomatoes too early. Is it time yet?

Bob

Newport Beach

Answer: Yes. Tomato season has officially begun. Any time from now through the end of April is prime season for tomato planting. Many gardeners prefer a second planting in the fall, but be sure to get them in the ground by Labor Day.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the nursery manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar.