{"id":174819,"date":"2026-02-12T09:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/174819\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T09:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:12:16","slug":"l-a-s-plant-community-remembers-jeanette-marantos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/174819\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A.’s plant community remembers Jeanette Marantos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: Following the death of Times plants writer Jeanette Marantos, we are pushing pause on our monthly L.A. Times Plants newsletter. We\u2019ll be back when we have an update on our next steps. You can read more about Marantos\u2019 life and work here<\/a>. From April 18 to 19 at the Festival of Books, taking place at USC, we will continue to celebrate Marantos and her love for native plants at the L.A. Times Plants booth featuring the Theodore Payne Foundation and the California Native Plant Society. Make sure to check your event map as our booth will be in a new location this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleveland sage is one of my favorite fragrances,\u201d my friend and colleague Jeanette Marantos told me the first time I visited her Ventura garden, a sanctuary filled with colorful California native plants<\/a>, edibles<\/a>, roses<\/a> and tall volunteer sunflowers. \u201cI also love white sage. I have one outside my front door that I visit every day when I get my newspaper, and the smell is rejuvenating.\u201d <\/p>\n

As we walked through the garden, she wondered aloud where the sunflowers had come from. Was it her compost pile<\/a>? Maybe the birds<\/a>? That was Jeanette: always curious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learn something with every story, and I\u2019m eager to learn more, which is good because every time I do a story, I realize how much more there is to learn,\u201d she told the California Native Plant Society in a 2024 interview<\/a>. \u201cThe more I\u2019m learning, the more I want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeanette <\/p>\n

Jeanette Marantos at the L.A. Times Plants booth at the Festival of Books on April 21, 2024.<\/p>\n

(Maryanne Pittman)<\/p>\n

A lifelong gardener who generously shared her plant knowledge with readers, from how to tear out your lawn<\/a> and grow drought-tolerant plants successfully<\/a> to understanding California\u2019s proposed defensible space rules<\/a> and the rise of human composting<\/a>, Marantos embodied the passion and wonder of someone who loved nature<\/a> and desperately wanted to protect the environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Inspiration went both ways for Marantos, who died Saturday at 70, just one day after attending the California Native Plant Society Conference in Riverside. When I spoke with her colleagues in the Southern California plant community, many of whom appeared in her popular monthly Plants newsletter<\/a>, they praised her ability to make gardening accessible to beginners and experienced green thumbs across Southern California. Here are their tributes.<\/p>\n

\"Jeanette <\/p>\n

(Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\"\" Liv O\u2019Keeffe, California Native Plant Society<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette Marantos was a visionary who understood the importance of individual action amid existential threat. She used her platform as a garden writer to usher in a local movement of beauty and meaning. Through her writing, she showed everyday people how even small steps with native plants can make a difference for the planet and the community. Her storytelling and gentle nudges helped transform our hearts and minds, but her own words say it best (taken from a 2024 interview with CNPS<\/a>): \u2018The whole topic of climate change feels overwhelming … I\u2019ve spent a lot of time wringing my hands. I don\u2019t want to do that anymore. So how do I make a difference? I help people learn about native plants and our changing landscapes. For me, this is the way.\u2019 Thank you, Jeanette. We will miss you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Daigre, Tomatomania<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved our frequent communication and I\u2019ll never forget watching Jeanette eagerly clutch a bag of fresh-picked [cherry] tomatoes I brought along when we met for coffee to discuss some tomato- or garden-related story. Gardeners in Los Angeles and SoCal knew they had a true ally in Jeanette. An ally with dirt under her fingernails. She always searched out the most unique and interesting plant communities and ideas. Then she asked the important questions, ones that only an avid gardener could ask. She helped us all learn about and appreciate the garden people, outdoor life and unique growing environment around us. We had a wonderful professional relationship and a shared energy for the garden that was really wonderful and so warm. I hope someone special will carry on her legacy. She\u2019ll be greatly missed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Leigh <\/p>\n

Leigh Adams of Studio Petrichor.<\/p>\n

(Stella Kalinina \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Leigh Adams, Studio Petrichor<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette Marantos was, and I can scarcely bring myself to use the past tense, Jeanette Marantos was a consummate professional. Her ability to observe and relate her observations and insights with clarity brightened the pages of various publications over many years. Jeanette\u2019s passion for native plants and water-optimizing landscaping brought these topics to many who would otherwise never learn of these captivating possibilities. Her interest in pollinators, healthy landscapes and equal access to the joys of gardening made her writing of interest to gardeners and nongardeners alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette recognized that a love for plants is not just about gardens, but about food, beauty and the green spaces that support our physical and mental well-being. She thoughtfully engaged with how our landscapes respond to human influence and how practical, sustainable solutions for a changing climate must be sought. She valued native plants as an integral part of Southern California\u2019s ecology. Just as important, she highlighted the people behind the work \u2014 horticulturists, arborists, environmental advocates, researchers and the community members who steward plants in their neighborhoods. In her writing, Jeanette deftly conveyed the complexity of this work with nuance and humanity, illuminating how plants root us in place and time while connecting us to one another and to the future we are creating for generations to come. Jeanette was a cherished partner in our work to help others see the deeper role of plants in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"Beth <\/p>\n

Beth Pratt, holding a stuffed toy P-22 mountain lion, on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills. \u201cBuild it and they really do come,\u201d she said of the crossing as she noticed various birds and lizards at the space. <\/p>\n

(Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Beth Pratt, National Wildlife Federation<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette will be very much missed. Not only was she a wonderful human being, but also an amazing writer. I worked with her on several stories for the Annenberg Wildlife Crossing<\/a>, and her talented pen, combined with her knowledge of native plants and gardening, allowed her to craft stories that conveyed both the technical processes and the splendid poetry of creating a native wildlife habitat over one of the world\u2019s busiest freeways.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nicole Cavender, the Huntington<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette was a remarkable writer who reported with deep passion and curiosity. I always valued the care she brought to her stories. Beyond her extraordinary journalism, she was a truly thoughtful and genuine person. Her passing is an enormous loss for the gardening and plant community and for the city of Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Master <\/p>\n

Master gardener Yvonne Savio walks through her garden at home in Pasadena.<\/p>\n

(Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Yvonne Savio, master gardener<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, what a shame that we can no longer share our gardening experiences with Jeanette! She was a delightful person and fun to chat with about the vagaries of gardening \u2014 our successes, our failures and what we pondered about exploring \u2014 all with the intent of sharing with L.A. Times readers. Her curiosity and enthusiasm in her gardener profiles and topical discussions made her discoveries doable to even beginners and also opened up intriguing possibilities for experienced gardeners. Her frequent returns to the Eaton and Palisades fire sites were always expressed in positive terms of the plants that have survived and then \u2014 including [the Feb. 1] Plants newsletter<\/a> \u2014 put out lots of new growth. Here\u2019s to you, Jeanette, for loving and letting us know about all the greenery and blooms that make SoCal gardening such a pleasure!\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\" Joseph Cahill, Ventura Botanical Gardens<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was an amazing advocate for anyone working to conserve nature or just experience it. More than anything, she saw nature for what it was … pure beauty.\u201d <\/p>\n

Evan Meyer, Bloedel Reserve<\/p>\n

\u201cGarden writer does not capture the impact that Jeanette had on the botanical taste of Los Angeles. Her writing defines an era of evolution for the landscapes of Southern California. She provided structure, vision and a deep sense of solidarity to the diffuse, grassroots native-plant movement. Jeanette\u2019s writing captures a gentler and more hopeful Los Angeles than is often portrayed. The smell of soil and sagebrush, the songs of mockingbirds and cedar waxwings, and the collective embrace of a community built on caring for the land. Jeanette brought a humanist touch to her work, highlighting the people behind the plants. Perhaps idiosyncratically for L.A., she did not seem interested in status or celebrity. A story about a famous gardener was never exciting to her. She would much rather cover a grassroots figure, a knowledgeable expert or an enthusiastic home gardener. She would often call me after meeting a mutual acquaintance. I can hear her voice now, \u2018Oh, they were just so great.\u2019 She had a genuine love for the community she reported on. I happened to be in Joshua Tree when I heard the news of her passing. As I drove back to the city, tracking the early season, low-desert blooms, I thought about all the times we spoke about wildflowers and conservation in the social media age. She did not shy away from difficult, thorny topics, and we are better for it. She was always looking for ways to squeeze more depth into her articles, whether big ideas or technical details. Jeanette will be deeply missed, but there is small comfort knowing that her words will stand, expanding the botanical consciousness in Los Angeles and beyond for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"A <\/p>\n

Penny Nyunt, manager of Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita, looks over an upcoming shipment of native plants to customers as far away as Washington and Utah, but at least half of her mail-order customers are based in Southern California.<\/p>\n

(Jeanette Marantos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Penny Nyunt, Las Pilitas Nursery<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette was an inspiration. She gave us plant lovers joy, hope and a sense of community with her stories, like a quiet walk through a garden full of life, in the middle of a world of chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mike <\/p>\n

Mike Evans and his dog Dakota in the Redwood Grove he planted 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

(Jeanette Marantos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Mike Evans, Tree of Life Nursery<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette embodied a love for horticulture and our Southern California lifestyle like no other writer of recent times. Her kind spirit and amazing ability to connect with literally everyone who loves plants will be her legacy. We will not only miss Jeanette, but we will miss the very idea of a Jeanette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassy Aoyagi, FormLA Landscaping<\/p>\n

\u201cJeanette Marantos did so much for L.A. Her work for L.A. Times Plants inspired so many Angelenos to fall in love with the authentic beauty of L.A. \u2014 to fall in love with what\u2019s actually good for us. We\u2019re heartbroken for her family, her team at The Times and all who enjoyed her company and her stories. Rest in peace, Jeanette. We miss you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tom <\/p>\n

Tom Carruth, the E.L. & Ruth B. Shannon Curator of the Rose Collection at the Huntington, is photographed next to roses known as Huntington\u2019s 100th. <\/p>\n

(Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Tom Carruth, the Huntington<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a lovely person, a joy to work with and a fantastic journalist, thoroughly researching her topic to bring excitement and inspire interest in her audience. Her passionate work portrayed the excitement of gardening and the love of plants. I am so glad we shared a goodbye hug just two weeks ago. She will be sorely missed by many.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Marantos\u2019 family asks that donations in her honor be made to the Theodore Payne Foundation and Beauty of Bronze<\/a>, a program she founded in Wenatchee, Wash., that introduces elementary students to sculpting. Donations to Theodore Payne can be made online<\/a> or via check payable to the Theodore Payne Foundation at 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley, CA 91352. Donations to Beauty of Bronze can be made online<\/a> or by check payable to Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Beauty of Bronze at 9 S. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, WA 98801. <\/p>\n

From Feb. 14 to Feb. 26, the Theodore Payne Foundation will be collecting tributes to Marantos in a booklet. It will also be offering a paper flower project that encourages visitors to share hopes for the future. The commemorative activities will be available 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays at the Theodore Payne Foundation and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays to Sundays at the Los Nogales Nursery, 4700 Griffin Ave. in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Following the death of Times plants writer Jeanette Marantos, we are pushing pause on our monthly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[62244,5759,62247,4300,1431,62245,1073,48,52,51,1637,47,50,49,1741,2302,534,62246,62243,13560,72],"class_list":["post-174819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-90-year-old-nursery","tag-altadena","tag-california-native-plant","tag-eaton-fire","tag-family","tag-great-work","tag-home","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-life","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lot","tag-may","tag-pacific-palisades","tag-rummy","tag-seed-bomb-project","tag-wildflower","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}