A few weeks ago, my friend and I were standing on my driveway under the oak tree. The wind picked up, and a cloud of yellow pollen floated over our heads. My friend started sneezing non-stop and said, “That is funny, I usually sneeze because flowers are blooming, but there is nothing in bloom around us.”

“Let’s go inside,” I replied, “because we are standing under a tree covered with flowers, and this is not going to help you.”

My friend just moved from Maine, and I saw the look of suspicion and disbelief on her face. I knew I had to tread lightly and start from the beginning.

“We are standing under an oak tree, and it is covered with flowers. You know,” I said, “oak trees have acorns, so they need to have flowers.”

“This is not an oak tree,” she said. “I know what an oak tree looks like, and it does not have those dark green, spiky leaves.” She was adamant, and I remember my own frustration when I moved from the East Coast.

This lack of understanding is shared by many people. California and greater Los Angeles have a large population of transplants, those who found better jobs here or came for many other reasons. They arrived from different states and many far-away countries. I am a typical example: My husband is Dutch, I am French, and we came to the states “for six months” for a recherché fellowship which developed into a good job. We spent 14 years around New York City, and with the promise of a better job, we moved to L.A. My story repeats itself for the many people who came here to study or find a job and stayed longer than planned because of the weather and the great lifestyle.

The typical mental picture of California for any tourist is a beach lined with palm trees, maybe with a picturesque surfer close by. Little is known about chaparral, which is the vegetation most prevalent in California. The seasons are totally incomprehensible for most people from other states: Plants grow in the winter and go dormant in the summer.

This is the truth for our California native plants. Then you have to learn which are native and non-natives, and that is not easy. It requires effort and research. I was extremely lucky to gain this knowledge through the Placerita canyon Nature Center, but it is not the case for most people from other states where winter lasts from November until May and no plants appear in the garden center before Mother’s Day. Pansies and snapdragons are planted in May and not October like in California.

Also in California, we have micro climates; plants seen along the coast are not the same as inland, making the understanding of the vegetation more complex. And then there’s altitude and its effect not only on plants but also on animals.

As an example, we have scrub jays around the Nature Center and stellar jays (with a crest on their head) in Walker Ranch. There is a slight change in altitude and it is cooler there, so stellar jays can be seen. However, we had a few cold days recently, and stellar jays were spotted around the Nature Center. Can you imagine how confusing all of this is for somebody coming from Maine?

The definition of native plants is different according to what group you talk to, but it can be defined as plants in a particular area that were growing naturally before humans introduced plants from distant places. The native Indians could not introduce new plants, so here we are talking about the Europeans coming to California (which was not yet California).

Let’s go back to my friend struggling to understand the coast live oak in bloom.

“Do you see those light little green things dangling down? Those are the flowers.”

“Well, I have never seen green flowers. I thought those were new leaves.”

I know it is confusing because the flowers come at almost the same time as the new leaves. To make matters even more difficult, this oak tree does not lose its leaves in the winter; rather, it loses its leaves a little bit at a time, all year long.

Male and female flowers can be found on the same tree, and that is just perfect because they are pollinated by the wind. It blows the pollen from male flowers to female flowers, and the fertilization is accomplished.

Sometimes male and female flowers are on the same twig. It is easy to see the male flowers. They are the ones hanging down like little catkins. The female flower is more difficult to see. You have to look really close. It is at the base of a leaf, and it looks like a tiny bud with overlapping scales.

My friend was finally convinced it really was an oak tree, and that it had flowers. That was already a big step, and I had kept her attention for long enough.

Education is the answer to being better able to enjoy our California environment, as well as being responsible for it, but it does take time and leaves many visitors disconcerted. So be patient and kind with new transplants and visitors.

We have learned this lesson at Placerita the hard way. I remember a letter we received. “I saw a snake close to the Nature Center. This should not be allowed. It is dangerous for your visitors, and something should be done promptly so that no accidents can happen.”

The Nature Center is a natural area, so snakes, birds and even poisonous plants are going to be encountered on a regular basis, and education is the only answer, for each new generation, given patiently and gently.

After all of that, it’s the right time to remind you to keep your dog on a leash at all times on the trail, because they are the ones that are curious and are most likely to get a snake bite. Enjoy your visit to the Placerita Canyon Natural Area.

Evelyne Vandersande has been a docent at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center for 28 years. She lives in Newhall.