Day 6: Plantathon? Puppathon?

Hesperaloe parviflora "Yellow"

Today was a relatively quick planting day. Matt and I popped in 5 Hesperaloe parviflora "Yellow" up at the top of PRG, added a Yucca elephantipes and a Yucca guatamalensis, and cut back some seriously unruly Santolinas.

Hesperaloe parviflora (aka Hesperoyucca parviflora) is a really tough desert plant and we have another group of five to go in, except this time a red color, elsewhere at PRG. Hope they do well!

Coco + Aditi

While we were there we saw Aditi and her new puppy, Coco! Coco is a poodle x German Shepherd and came courtesy of ex PG volunteer and grant writer Emily, so now the garden mascot baton has been passed from Emily's dog Bentley to Aditi's Coco. Congrats Coco - big shoes to fill...

And yet more plants planted - what a day.

Agave neomexicana

Matt and I returned to PRG today and started at 10am. We worked til 1.30pm, then had a break for lunch (garlic noodles at Sunflower!) and resumed until about 3pm I think. I am SO tired!

We did get a lot of plants in the ground, and tons of weeds weeded out. Here's a roundup:

First we put in five Agave neomexicana. This is a cute little blue-gray agave that should produce lots of babies for us - more agaves everywhere!

We moved a Yucca elephantipes to make a group with another one. For some reason people keep cutting off the flowering tops of these yuccas, which is pretty sad because it takes at least a year for them to look good again.

Agave "Blue Flame"

We cut back some Artemisias, Santolinas and Perovskias, and put a lot of weeds into bags. We also rounded up a mattress and other trash that was dumped. I put in a separate 311 for that  (to go with the one for the weeds) and it was already closed as they apparently picked the stuff up - great news.

We planted five Agave "Blue Flame" - a nice, softer-leaved agave - around the bottom end of PRG, and hopefully they won't get too beaten up there. That variety tends to suffer from broken leaves if people or dogs walk into them. Fingers crossed.

Agave gentryi

Down at the bottom behind the kiosk (and close to the five Agave "Sharkskin" we put in this week) we placed three rather small Agave gentryi, which is a very spiky and toothy species.

These will grow pretty big, so they're spaced quite far apart right now.

Agave impressa

Lastly we planted three Agave impressa closer to the top of the garden. Again, this is a medium-large agave at about 3-4 wide eventually, but the ones we put in are under 12" wide. They should get up to size in a few years.

So in total that's 26 new plants planted today, for a total of 55 planted this week. I need some tea to perk me up! Only about 150 left to plant...

More new Agaves!

Agave stricta

More new plants have been installed! Go check 'em out - it's been a veritable festival of planting this week as Matt and I have been out there every day since Wednesday, and more is to come at PRG.

First up, today we planted a gorgeous group of five Agave stricta (Hedgehog Agave) plants - these ones are ultra, super spiky so don't go cuddling them... weeding around them will be a real pleasure too. Let's just say we are planning to get a load of mulch to keep the weeds down really soon.

Agave parryi

They're planted right by an Agave vilmoriniana "Stained Glass" (Octopus Agave) which is funny - Hedgehogs and octopi!

Up the street a little way is a group of six Agave parryi we also installed today.

This one is a real favorite of ours, with lovely gray-blue leaves and a nice round shape, and we should see babies sprouting up from them soon enough.

Agave "Sharkskin"

Yesterday we put in quite a few new plants too. We made a group of five Agave "Sharkskin" behind the kiosk at the bottom of the garden. This one has lovely gray and smooth leaves.

We also moved four Ochagavias to a better group, combined several groups of Dietes bicolor together to make a nice area for them, pulled out a lot of dead Euphorbias and weeded and weeded and weeded... yes, the pile of debris for Recology to take is huge, but they haven't responded to the 311 request yet, so bear with us.

Yucca filifera

We put in three Yucca filifera at the top of the garden, right between two massive Agaves. They look pretty smart - one day they will be tree-sized but it will be a VERY long time (decades...) so don't hold your breath.

OK that's it for today. More to come tomorrow - if you want to join us, feel free! We'll be there from mid-morning on.

New Agaves going in for the holidays!

Agave bovicornuta

Happy holidays everyone!

Today Matt and I decided to plant some of the new plants we've received for PRG. We have about 230 plant to go in, so this will take some time... today we planted 10 Agaves, and did an inventory of plants and planting plans at that garden.

First of all we walked down the street and checked the planting plan once again, making adjustments. Then we set about clearing weeds from two areas, and planting five Agaves in each spot. One is a set of five Agave bovicornuta (Cow's Horn Agave) which is a really beautiful Agave with red teeth.

Agave ghiesbreghtii

The other is a group of six Agave ghiesbreghtii with their lovely striped leaves and white teeth.

We moved an Agave lophantha to the top of the garden to make room, and put in a 311 for all the masses of weeds Chris and Carrie have been cleaning out of the beds so diligently.

The weeds are coming out so easily now, after all this rain, and adding new plants is really fun. Makes for a rewarding session. We'll try and do some more tomorrow afternoon.

Plants are on the way!

Back in 2013!

A big order of new plants is on the way, and should arrive next week. Over 200 plants!

Along with all the plants we have propagated this year, we will have quite a number of plants to go in the ground this winter, allowing the winter rains to water them in. Planting is always my favorite part of gardening, so the next couple of workdays will be great fun.

Why do we need so many plants, you ask?

Well, we planted about 800 plants total at PRG when we started that garden in 2013. In the past 5 years, many of them have done splendidly, growing to fill their allotted spaces well. Others didn't fare so well for many reasons:

1. They were damaged by homeless encampments, theft or other damage. Sad.
2. They are short-lived "filler" plants that do need to be replaced every so often, so they don't look pristine anymore and no amount of pruning will improve them (Artemisias, I'm looking at you...)
3. They are still alive, but they're not as drought tolerant in that particular spot as we had hoped (Kniphofias, for example) so we will remove them and replace with something else.
4. They died for no known reason - we will move the remaining ones into groups and give them another shot.

That's pretty normal on the whole, and I'm pretty pleased with our plant selections overall. So we will replace the ones we expected to replace, remove the ones that don't really want to live at PRG, and bring in new plants to replace them. And as mentioned I've got lots of "free" plants we made from cuttings to add to the mix, so that will help.

A lot of the new plants will be types of Agaves we haven't grown before - small to medium sized ones which should be very happy at PRG, and super tough plants overall.

I also ordered a few new plants to put at PG too, while I was shopping. It's going to be an exciting winter!

Cupcakes consumed!

Our monthly Volunteer Day dawned this past weekend with overcast skies, but the weather soon turned to glorious sunshine! Quickly followed by a blast of cold rain. Then more sunshine!

Despite all this variability, we had a great team out to help out at the volunteer day. The plan was to finalize much of the weeding as possible, to prepare for planting the large plant order I've made which will be coming in in the next couple weeks.

These new plants will fill gaps where previous ones died or otherwise disappeared. So we set to work!

Matt moved some cacti, and Chris removed a dead tree. Sarah, Hilary, Carrie, Josh, Leslie and I weeded like mad, and made a vast pile of weeds which I put into a 311 request to pick up.

Then we all had a break for cupcakes, which were delicious :)

BIRTHDAY time!

It's Matt's birthday on Saturday, and it's Pennsylvania Garden's 10th birthday too! What does that mean? It means we will be having cake at the volunteer workday on Saturday from 10am-2pm.

We're going to do a real push to weed Pennsylvania Railroad Garden this week as well, as I have placed a large plant order and the beds need to be prepared before the plants go in.

So please join us - we'll be at PRG rain or shine. :)

Weed is legal in Canada!

Well, that got your attention ;) But the reality is, weed(s) are also legal in California, and we have too many of them. So at today's volunteer workday we pulled a lot out - along with some tired looking plants that need to be replaced.

I totally failed to get great pictures of all the seven volunteers who worked so hard in the surprisingly hot sun, but here is a screen grab of the 6 311 tickets I opened as we have SO MUCh stuff to get rid of!

A desk and two trash cans had been dumped, there was an encampment on the pathway, and we made four vast piles of green waste.

Add to that, Carrie and Chris had a phenomenal workday on Wednesday too, and had cleaned out a vast pile of weeds themselves. We still have a way to go, but this is a great start on PRG to prepare for our big winter replanting effort.

When Matt and I got home, we propagated a ton of plants from cuttings for that effort, and we're looking forward to getting them in the ground really soon.

Come to our volunteer day!

Hey everyone - it's time to deep weed PRG! We have a lot of plants on order to go in there, and we need to utterly clear the beds of weeds and  tired-looking plants before we can do that.

Meet us at PRG by the new benches at the corner of 17th x Pennsylvania on Saturday November 3rd at 10am and we will go from there with tools and drinks for all!

New trash can at PRG! New benches!

Behold! Such beauty!

During last week's meeting, Aditi asked Sophia Kittler, Senior Legislative Aide to Malia Cohen about a SF Public Works trash can for DPW-owned Pennsylvania Railroad Garden.

She got a positive response, and Sophia worked with Larry Stringer, Deputy Director for Operations at SF Public Works and others at Public Works to make it happen.

Much to our surprise, a can was installed this week! It'll be emptied by DPW daily so feel free to go right ahead and throw trash INTO it, vs on the ground - your volunteer gardeners appreciate your help with that.

Can of Joy Delivery Truck

It's a thing of beauty. We've never been so excited about such a mundane thing, but TBH the reason we had trouble with trash cans before was, well, where do we empty them? And who will do it? Thus far, Aditi and Chris are emptying the poop cans, and that's a Not Fun Task.

Are there any dog walkers who would like to help out every week or two with this task?

One bench of two

In other news, two new benches went in at PRG as well. They've already been seen in use by neighbors, and that brings us joy too. Will they become graffiti-ed and used as the foundation for homeless shelters? TBD. Enjoy them while they are there!

Our next volunteer workday (Nov 3) will be all about weeding PRG, so join us - we need your help as we have new plants coming in that can't be planted until weeding is complete.*

*Just kidding. Weeding is never complete.

Rapid response!

Today at the garden I saw a needle. I texted SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew: 415-810-1337 - they prefer text and pictures but calls are welcome 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week.

Within moments they replied: they’re on it!

Try this next time you see a needle.

Great meeting: Save these numbers

Me, giving my speech!

Deepest thanks to all who attended the meeting on Friday at PG! We had a fabulous turnout of passionate and informed agency partners, and a lot of great questions from neighbors and volunteers.

Thank you to Randy Quezada of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, Larry Stringer of SF Public Works, Chris Balingit of Caltrans, SFPD Sgt Davin Cole,  Whit Bastian of the SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew, Claude Imbault of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, and Sophia Kittler, Senior Legislative Aide to District Supervisor Malia Cohen for all stepping up to speak about what their agencies are doing about these issues.

The team is going to discuss the best takeaways from the meeting so we can look into other ways to prevent damage to the gardens from homelessness.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, below is the text of the handout I made, which Hilary passed out to everyone on the day. The key takeaway is don't be afraid to CALL 911 if you see illegal activities, before things get worse,  call 311 to get trash picked up and text the SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew if you see needles.

Help Us Keep This Garden Safe: Do Your Part
Damage to the gardens costs us many thousands of dollars each year, and encampments create an unsafe volunteering environment, as well as an unpleasant garden experience. We are volunteer run and cannot continue to bear this cost.


Please do your part to prevent the gardens being damaged: report illegal activities at Pennsylvania Garden and Pennsylvania Railroad Garden. Here’s how:


Illegal activities include:

• Damage to, of theft of, trees or plants
• Dumping, littering, graffiti
• Public urination/defecation. Dog feces
• Fires. Theft. Verbal or physical threats. Aggressive animals

Pennsylvania Garden:
Property is owned by Caltrans

• Report illegal activities/emergencies: Call CHP at 911
• Trash pickup: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/ or
• Caltrans Maintenance Dispatch: 650-358-4127

Pennsylvania Railroad Garden:
Property is owned by SF Public Works

• Report illegal activities: Call SFPD at 911
• Trash pick up etc.: Call 311 or use the 311 app.

Other useful numbers:
SFPD non-emergency: 415-553-0123
CHP non-emergency: 707-641-8300
SF Homeless Outreach Team: 415-355-7401
DPH/Crisis services - for acute mental health emergencies: 415-970-4000
SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing: 415-252-3232
SF AIDS Foundation Needle Pick-up Crew: 415-810-1337 - prefer text and pictures but calls welcome. 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week

This is important: Please join us

Hi Everyone,

You're invited to Pennsylvania Garden this Friday, October 19th at 6pm for a public meeting - BYO beverage!

Homeless issues have affected the gardens badly in the last 2 years, and our volunteer days are spend cleaning encampments vs gardening. We need to make a change.

Representatives of DPW, SFPA, Caltrans and SFPD will be in attendance and we're going to discuss what is the best thing to do when encampments how up, what NOT to do, and how to prevent the gardens being damaged.

I hope you'll join us - the future of the garden is in question, and we cannot continue without your support. Please email me at annie@psgsf.org if you have questions. A flyer is attached.

Annie

Volunteer Day: Clean & Green

Clean & Green Team!

Today I'd requested the help of SP DPW's Clean & Green Team to get rid of some debris at the garden. I didn't actually think it was that much stuff but it ended up being a LOT. Chris, Carrie, Aditi, Josh, Gina and Hilary joined me too, and we started at 9am - by the time everyone left at 1.30pm, a huge list of things was accomplished.

First up, the encampments. This has been a brutal week for encampments at PG and the entire back area was overrun, with almost all the plants there being trashed, or burned, and the tool box being broken into and ransacked.

Officer Foltz and Gina

On Friday, Chris witnessed the carnage, and told the thieves what he thought of it all in no uncertain terms. Shortly after, the police arrived and later on, Carrie filed a police report for us.

Meanwhile down at PRG, Gina and Aditi have been reporting the encampments there. It takes a team of committed neighbors to keep this place decent, and calling the police is the first step.

The Hasps of Doom

So, at PG we set about picking up all the trash and the dozens of needles. We cleaned out the tool box, and Chris put on new, very strong hasps, and a heavy strip of wood to hold them in, as well as fixing the somewhat loose back. We don't leave the expensive tools there, but it feels very safe now. And very tidy.

I called my contact at Caltrans to get the hole in the bottom fence fixed (yet again) and moaned to Charlie from SFPA, who was on site with the Clean & Green guys, about our situation. He was very sympathetic, and told me about a new program for cleaning up encampments that's being initiated now. Can't wait to hear more.

About 25 needles picked up...

While the Clean & Green Team removed the entire debris pile at the top of the garden, which looked like about 10 yards of stuff, as well as loads of trash, and loaded it into dump trucks, Carrie, Aditi, Hilary and Josh cut back the Brugmansia, Leonotis and Salvia canariensis. A ton of weeds got pulled too, especially from the garden edges by the off-ramp.

Inviting pathway

Next up the team spread wood chips on the lower path, which I have to say is looking really nice now.

Gina was at PRG picking up trash and let me know about the THREE encampments there. I called the police right away and a nice officer tried to roust them but no luck: SFPD's homeless team were called and they should visit today to sort this out... what with those encampments having been there for going on 2 months now though, and many 311 and police calls being made, I will be shocked if they move soon...

Wildlife profile: Red-Masked Parakeet

Are they wild, or just feral? I don't know, but two things are for sure: we never know when we'll see them, but we're always delighted when it happens.

Official description:

• Common name: Cherry-headed conure, or red-masked parakeet
• Latin name: Psittacara erythrogenys - "sit-ah-KA-ra eh-RITH-ro-jen-is
• Family: Psittacidae
• Length: about 33 cm (13 in) long, of which half is the tail.
• Description: All green, except for a red cap to the head and a bit of red on the upper wing edges.
• Geographical Distribution: southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru
• Nest: Nests are usually made in tree cavities.
• Eggs: three to four eggs - incubation is over within 23 or 24 days

The parrots can often be heard flying over the garden, and recently they have been visiting in small groups to feed on the 30' tall Agave americana flower at the front arch, as it is dripping with nectar. I wish I could get a better photo, but it's cool to see them! Check out the video below.

 

The red-masked parakeet is a medium-sized parrot from Ecuador and Peru. It is popular as a pet, and is the tenth most common Neotropical parrot imported into the US with over 26,000 parakeets checked in from 1981 to 1985.

That's led to it being reclassified by the IUCN from a species of least concern to a species that is near threatened in 1994. Importation to the US was restricted in 1993, but the local pet trade and habitat loss continue to put pressure on this species.

Considered the best talkers of all the conures, which admittedly aren't great talkers but ARE great squawkers, this is a noisy type of birds that is active and quite demanding of social interaction as a pet. It is ideal for house-bound and slightly deaf people, as a result. Or people who want to become that way.

At some point in San Francisco's history someone let loose a couple of conures - or they escaped - and the result is a flock of about 300 that now no longer resides only in Telegraph Hill, but can be seen all over the city, and as far away as Brisbane.

In 2003 a great documentary film called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill was released, all about our parrot population, and a book of the same name was published too. Mark Bittner, who was feeding the parrots at the time, starred, and his now-wife Judy Irving directed. You should watch the documentary if you haven't already, and Mark's page is an interesting read too.

Anyway, we're always happy to see these rascally little birds in our neighborhood, and especially at the gardens!

Laboring away: the full weekend of backbreaking work

Chris surveying the carnage

Chris, Matt and I decided to work on a special project on Saturday: fixing up the Aloe nobilis hedge on the lower path.

We set about removing all the Aloes there, sadly reduced in number due to the forces of gravity pulling them into the drainage ditch.  We also removed all the weeds, including wayward Chasmanthe and Romneya coulteri (Matilija Poppy) that have seeded or crept in.

It took about 2 hours to do that, and also cut back all the succulents and other plants leaning into the drainage ditch. Lots of cuttings made. Lots of mess in the drainage ditch.

Rebar pounding...

As we worked we were treated to the sights and sounds of wildlife on the huge floral buffet, also known as the Agave americana flower, at the entry way. This 30' tall attraction is quite a sight. Bees! Hummingbirds! And even two Cherry Headed Conures - the famous wild parrots of Telegraph Hill - flew in and busied themselves with the nectar dripping off the flower. Pretty cool: If anyone gets a good photo of them send it to me, please!

On Sunday, Matt and I returned. We pulled wood chips away from the boards on the edge, and dug into the dirt to make space for new boards we will add on the lower side. We pounded in about 40 two foot long pieces of rebar to hold the old boards in place, adding a few new ones and straightening the whole line.

Dusty shoveling...

Let's just say that was exhausting... and took about 4 hours.

We also cleaned up the steps so as to be ready for new plantings, put 3 trash bags of trash on the street for 311 to remove, moved several Agave "Green Giant" and planned new plantings in areas where plants just look too darn tired to be worth keeping.

After that, we had to go to Flora Grubb to treat ourselves by buying plants.

DONE!

On Sunday we finished the job, installing about 50 board feet of pressure treated lumber to the lower edge of the path, pounding in about 40 three foot long lengths of rebar, replacing ALL the extremely dusty dirt and ALL the Aloes, then watering the whole thing in thanks to the use of Gary's hose  Another 4 hours, and we are just shattered.

I would say there is another 15' of length remaining, where a huge Agave made it too hard to complete, but we will finish that another time.

Labor on Labor Day!

You've probably got Monday off to recover - why not celebrate Labor Day by joining us on Saturday September 1st for our monthly Volunteer Day!

What is Labor Day? A day that "honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country" according to Wikipedia, so it's really a fitting weekend to give back to the community.

How can you help? Join us at 10am when we'll be working at the top garden - Pennsylvania Garden - so beautify by weeding, cutting back, fixing and generally improving our corner of the world.

Because it's San Francisco. And we love our city!

Another productive volunteer day!

Awesome team!

Our August workday was productive as ever. The garden is in the dog days of summer, and as dry as can be. We're taking a long hard look at plants that don't look happy now, and considering removing them so we can replace them with plants that LOVE hot, dry sites.

What helped was that Matt and I were recently down at Huntington Gardens in Los Angeles, and saw how they grow their drought tolerant and xeric plants: they don't water them! All their Aloes are looking dry right now, for example - just as they would in the wild - but they'll become succulent again when we get rain, just as nature intended. But they DO water plants that were never meant to suffer through drought, wich just get weaker and weaker each year until they die. So, those are the ones we need to remove.

Agaves on the move

With that in mind, our team spread out and got to work at PG and started the summer tasks of cutting back spent flowers and planting Agaves and other succulents, that can be transplanted in summer with no ill effects.

First up for removal was the Fuchsia boliviana alba in the left bed. It's been limping along but had been reduced to sticks. Chris removed it and Matt replaced it with some Yucca branches which will root in place in the coming months.

Matt actually took a lot of Yucca branches from the cactus wall. When rooted, they'll be planted down at PRG and help protect the fences from graffiti and other damage.

Chris also cut down the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) which we do every year (it'll pop back soon)  and I removed a very leggy Phlomis fruticosa behind it, taking some good stems home to root up and make new plants. In the same area, Matt and I rearranged some Agave parryi and pulled out a lot of scraggly Aeoniums of various kinds - that's a plant that does best with a refresh every couple years: cut all the leafy heads off and re-root them, throwing away the leggy stem.

Gina's signs

Aditi and Gina have been working on a signage project, and had laminated our official No Trespassing signs from the police to post everywhere. This allows the PD to enforce asking people not to camp at PG and PRG. I gave them a number of metal signs asking people to pick up dogs poop too, and Gina added signs about security cameras and others asking Uber and Lyft drivers not to use the garden as a bathroom... Kunaal took the picture of Gina posting signs too.

Gina cut back almost all the Salvia leucantha (Mexican Sage) and a number of Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears) too.

Josh and Hilary

Josh and Hilary set to work planting Agave americana pups I received from Marianne in Pacifica last week. They put half a dozen along the top border after weeding the area, and then more in the Triangle Garden across the off-ramp. While at the Triangle Garden they removed a handsome pup from the big Agave "Green Giant" on the corner, and placed it in the Brights Bed. We've got lots more of those growing so they'll be spread around soon: what an epic plant!

Volunteer Day on Saturday!

Who is in? Starts at 10am, and it's an easy way to make your community look more beautiful every day!

Signs are going up

Yesterday I went to the Southern Police Station and picked up some no trespassing signs (MPC 25 for those who need them), which give the police the authority to move trespassers and folks camping in the gardens along.

I also gathered up the "please pick up your dog poop" metal signs I'd ordered a while back, and delivered the whole lot to Gina who agreed to put them up. Thanks Gina!

While I was chatting to Gina we noted places where the boulders get moved and cars park on the garden at PRG - we need more boulders. About 12 very large ones that cannot be moved by hand.

We also noted two occupied encampments, and a guy who pulled over to pee in the bushes (we gave him a talking to...) so the signs are really needed right now. Gina, thank you for putting them up for us - and Aditi for coordinating with your power drill too!

See something? Do something!

App screen grab

Last night neighbors teamed up to tackle a couple of issues that seem to keep popping up at PRG, namely people parking on the decomposed granite area after actually moving some of the boulders, and the usual homeless encampments...

I got texts from Aditi and Gina separately, both commenting on the issues and wondering how to approach. We all fired off 311 requests using the handy-dandy app - you should totally get it - for the illegally parked car, and a note was left on the windshield.

My request was quickly marked "closed" on the app because the "officer could not validate" that it's illegal to park a car on top of a street park. Um, OK.  A call to 311 is in order.

App screen grab

Next Aditi and Gina met on site, and the police showed up again, and determined the encampment was empty. That means 311 can clean it out. We 311-ed the encampment, and my request was closed within minutes as a duplicate - frustrating, as I have been told the more people who 311, the better.

The police also said they cannot move people along because it's not illegal to be homeless. Thank goodness it's not illegal to be homeless. It is illegal to litter, smoke crack, destroy plants in street parks and set fires though. All of which the homeless encampments have been doing...

It's time to go to the Bayview station to get the no trespassing signs we need to allow enforcement. I just called to verify they have them so it's  a matter of getting there to pick some up. If anyone is nearby (I'm in Pacifica) please let me know!

As the illegally parked car was by now gone, Gina and her boyfriend then moved the boulders back into place (HOW?!) to prevent it happening again. Either Gina and co are superhuman (well, actually, Gina is pretty badass, so...) or we need bigger boulders. I do love boulder shopping (really) so that's an option to explore.

Volunteer day pruning bonanza

Amanda!

I was away the last two weeks, so didn't think we had much time to promote this month's workday. However, a great team joined Matt and I and we accomplished so much: you just never know!

The day turned into quite a pruning exravaganza. Everyone got a crash course in how to prune or cut back various species, and the pile at the top of the garden awaiting pickup is quite huge now.

Gina!

Gina got stuck in cutting back a lot of dead Chasmanthe leaves in clumps around the garden.

This plant comes up every fall and flowers in winter, which is fabulous as everything else is pretty much dormant then. That makes the work of cutting back the dried up leaves in summer totally bearable, and once removed the garden looks 100% tidier.

Josh!

Josh spent his time on the front bed, rescuing various Agaves from the weeds and generally being detail oriented and cheerful as usual.

Matt moved some Agave attenuata to widen a path, and pulled scads of weeds, and I cut back almost all the Euphorbia characias in the garden and for the steps mostly weeded too.

Leslie!

Leslie attacked some of the Echiums with verve, removing dead flowers and making the paths more accessible. Matt deadheaded the Echiums in the middle back bed too, and that's made a hugh difference to the garden right away.

Amanda told me she doesn't have much in the way of gardening chops. Disagree! I showed her how to cut back the Romneya coulteri (Matilija Poppy) and she did a perfect job.

Sarah!

Sarah cut back Chasmanthe, then turned to the Blue Potato Bush (Lycianthes rantonnetii) which hasn't had a trim in literally three plus years. Working around the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) she got the potato bush whipped into shape right quick.

Genentech slays again!

Amazing results

We were so delighted to welcome Genentech volunteers to the gardens again on Friday for Genentech Gives Back week, as they are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Last year we had a great gang, and the results were incredible - could they do it again?

Great teams

Aditi, Matt and I were joined by 15 volunteers and Kunaal and others took some great pics of the action.

In two hours we managed to fill a dozen huge composting bags, and 4 bags of trash as well, with a huge pile of weeds left that didn't fit in the bags. What a feat!

I can actually see the path!

Volunteers from Genentech are always energetic and focused, and this gang proved to be no exception. They gleefully took it upon themselves to search for and destroy all unwelcome forms of weed life on the path - including digging out the notoriously difficult to remove fennel and malva weeds, whose roots are just devilish.

Weeding is cathartic!

They picked up trash, they hacked back weeds, they raked up heaps of waste and they even carefully cut back Calandrinias and made cuttings to share. All with great cheer and lots of laughs.

I quickly used the 311 app to call in the vast debris piles we made, and a truck from Recology arrived quickly to take our green waste and trash away, while I took home the recyclables. Hurrah for 311!

Teamwork!

All in all, the day was fast paced and very effective, and I'm super grateful for the Genetech and PSG teams - thanks for ALL your hard work! Check out Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the links on the right of the site to see more photos.