Ode to the Oleander
Lisa Mascaro, another member of the Santa Barbarab mafia, writes in the LA Daily News about the death of the oleander. Seems the glassy-winged sharpshooter intends to kill off every one of the big massive bushes in Southern California. They're not the prettiest plantss you've ever seen, but are sadly missed when CalTrans rips them out of freeway center dividers and replaces them with concrete barriers. (link via L.A. Observed.)

"It hasn't generated a lot of interest because, as I tell people, the oleander is the Rodney Dangerfield of the plant world," said Matthew Blua, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside. "It doesn't get much respect."

- posted by Amy @ 1/16/2004 12:02:00 PM