Pennsylvania Garden

Darn those Daily Deals...

2012-01-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

Months ago I jumped on an SFGate.com Daily Deal that gave $30 worth of plants from Golden Gate Park nursery for $15. In fact, I bought 4 of the coupons. I'd been up tot he nursery a few times and each time either found no plants I wanted, or forgot the coupons, or something else prevented me from using them.

Well they were set to expire on February 1st so yesterday I had to get $120 worth of plants or else! Happily I managed to find a lot of good selections, and asked a volunteer to go fetch a couple more from the back. After waiting around for almost an hour she came back and I got my plants. They are:

Agave colorata x 2
Agave whipplei
Artemisia pyenocephala (Sandhill Sage)
Cistus aguliari
Cleome isomeris (syn. Isomeris arborea)
Coreopsis gigantea
Dendromecon rigida
Euonymus japonica "Chollipo Gold"
Helleborus x sternii
Lavatera assurgentiflora
Phlomis italica
Salvia canariensis

A bunch of these will go live on the Mariposa Center Garden.

5,000 Parking Meters - They're Coming

2012-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is true. 5,000 parking meters are planned for the neighborhood (Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Mission Bay). Based on the strong community objection about the parking meter plan, the SF MTA is finally doing neighborhood outreach.

It doesn't seem like there will be many of these meetings, so I urge everyone who wants a say in what happens to the neighborhood to attend this meeting on Monday:

Time: January 30, 2012 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Z Space, 450 Florida Street (between 17th and Mariposa)
Organized By: Tony Kelly

Event Description: Actually talk to those who will write up the parking plan!
Further community discussion of Parking Plan with Supervisors Campos and Chiu, and Jay Primus, MTA

Please get the word out and email the picture on the left, or print it and flier your block!

Narcissus

2012-01-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

Smells so sweet! One is flowering by the bench right now. Have a sniff before it's done.

Texas Street Community Garden

2012-01-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

This just in from Emily Weinstein:

JOIN US ON FEBRUARY 2nd AT 6:00 AT THE NABE

COMMUNITY BUILDING GROUP

Dinner will be served at 6:00 and the meeting will begin at 6:30pm

This is the first Community Building Group meeting of 2012!

After years of planning, meetings and discussions we are finally ready to begin construction on the Texas Street Community Garden. Many people have participated in creating the vision and now we are looking to the community to help make it a reality.

At the next Community Building Group, you will meet the two new Garden Managers and help plan for the expansion of the Potrero Garden Program and the next community wide event. It will also be a chance to learn about the new and improved Potrero Healthy Living Program that kicks off in February.

We hope you can join us!

Also, please keep your eyes open for the 2012 Rebuild Potrero Calendar. It should arrive in your mailbox (if we have your address) by the end of the week. If you do not receive one and would like one please call: Uzuri Pease-Greene at 415-368-4436.

Emily Weinstein

BRIDGE Housing Corporation

Community Builder-Rebuild Potrero

415-806-1429 cell

eweinstein at bridgehousing.com

1.5" of rain

2012-01-22T22:55:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a good storm patrol: Matt and I went up to the garden int he rain today and examined it for evidence of storm lashing. There was none, except the green Cordyline in the middle back bed appears to have broken it's main growing spike in the middle. Perhaps it'll branch in two there?

We also removed the old shed, a trusty tool container for the last couple years, by dragging it over the handrail and strapping in into our car. It went to live at the barn and now contains horse gear. I hope it is happy in its new life.

That tool shed never did get graffiti-ed as I'd feared, only fell over twice, and is still rain proof to this day. It was a good, if too-small, shed.

Old and New

2012-01-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

The garden received a thorough soaking from the storm yesterday, so I went over to check out if there was any storm damage and to pull some weeds. All of the plants were in great shape (no more giant Echiums to fall-in on themselves) but ourold storage locker had fallen over and smashed some plants. I put it back up, with bricks in the bottom for good measure, but a door had fallen off and I could not get it back on. Sorry for the eyesore everyone! I promise to get the old locker removed soon, and then we can work on extending the planting and making that area look good. Just avert your eyes from the sad old locker when you're walking along the back terrace.

In other news, some delivery person hung 'Galaxy Pizza' door knocker on our new shed (see photo). I had to laugh at it, someone walking all the way back there to leave the advertisement on a garden shed. Makes me almost want to buy their pizza!

Also, lots of plants are starting to peer out from the ground around the garden, so keep on eye out for the new growth. An Aquilegia (commonly

called a columbine) that I totally thought didn't survive the summer is coming back (see photo). There is something so rewarding to see a plant become dormant, and then come back to life in the spring. I hope you all are having a great rainy winter weekend!

MLK Jr day

2012-01-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Golden Barrel Cactus
(Echinocactus grusonii)

Today I popped out to find the garden so dusty and dry, I couldn't stand it. We've had practically no rain, and though we're due for some this week I worried that it won't soak in. So, I wheeled out the hose and set a sprinkler to cover the lower part of the left bed, cactus wall, middle front bed and lower part of the front border for an hour. When it rains this week, it'll soak in deeper

As that was sprinkling, I set up a caution tape barrier against dogs getting in the left bed by the cardoon - one seems to do in there almost daily and dig up the daffodil bulbs planted there. Is it the same dog doing a poop in there too? And the same dog who crushed the lovely Tanacetum ptarmiciflorum too? No dogs in the borders, please.

I also trimmed back a lot of the Artemisia "Powis Castle" that's squishing the purple fountain grass in that border, and weeded out a lot of nasturtiums.

Next up was the planting of a beauteous Golden Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), kindly donated to the garden by John just yesterday. I moved a couple other things to make way for it - it really deserves to be showcased. Thnks John!

Agastache "Apricot Sprite:"
before, during, after

Lastly, after filling the dog poop bags up at the info booth dispenser, I cut back two Agastaches - "Apricot Sprite" and Agastache rupestris (Mexican heather) - you can see how I did it in the photos. Just cut all the long stems back, and leave the nice mound of new foliage. Done!

MLK Weekend of Service, McKinley Square

2012-01-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

This just in from Cris, in case you're looking for free pizza next weekend ;)

Mark your calendars

A special volunteer day for Martin Luther King Service Weekend

Sunday January 15th, 10am-12noon

McKinley Square Hillside

20th at San Bruno Ave.

•Clear weeds on plants planted in October
•Improve trails
•Remove fennel
•General clean up of garbage & debris
•Planting new native plants

Special guests:
•Liam O'Brien from SFButterFly, who will give a talk on the importance of native plants, and their support for native wildlife.
•Supervisor Malia Cohen, who also joined us with the MLK Service Weekend at the creation of the 18th & San Bruno Ave Community Garden in 2010. http://www.potreroview.net/feat10156.html

Lunch will be sponsored by Goat Hill Pizza. Drinks by Chiotras Grocery

Volunteers are encouraged to bring gloves and gardening tools if they have them. Otherwise we will supply.
All volunteers will get to go home with a few native plants for their back, side, and front yards. Plants that promote native wildlife for the hillside help in home gardens too!

RSVPs encouraged but not required. Helps us know how much pizza, drinks & plants to have on hand. RSVP to: info@McKinleySquare.com
This is also posted at: http://mckinleysquareblog.blogspot.com

Nice rack

2012-01-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

At the weekend Matt and I got a wire rack for the new shed, plus a couple of storage bins and a tool tray.

Today I assembled the rack. A 10 minute job divided thusly:

Ripping open box: 10 seconds
Screwing together legs: 20 seconds
Reading instructions while clipping on shelf supports and adding shelves: 2 minutes
Wondering why the entire thing was totally wonky, undoing and redoing various parts, and measuring them to make sure they matched, only to come to the conclusion that some kind of alien force was creating the wonkiness, and eventually fixing it by removing a foot from one leg and throwing it guiltily aside: 7 and a half minutes.

So what I am saying is, if you look at the rack ever and see that it's wonky, I don't want to know about it. OK?

Parking meters? I think not!

2012-01-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be aware that SFMTA plans to install parking meters in Potrero Hill and Dogpatch. A LOT of parking meters. Which will operate from 9am-11pm, seven days a week, in most areas.
Will they be on your street? Click here to read.

What does this mean? Unless you have a garage, you can expect to start collecting those expensive, heartbreaking little love letters from your meter maid soon.

And if you're a PG volunteer, unless you walk or bike to the garden you may end up paying to park on volunteer days.

Want to do somethig about it? SFMTA are having a public meeting this Friday the 13^th at City Hall at 10 am which makes it very hard for people to attend, but we need as many people as possible to try and go. If you can't, our neighbor Jim has made up a petition to show MTA that their plan is excessive. Please sign it now, so it can be handed in to SFMTA on Friday:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-parking-meter-installation-in-potrero-hill/

Sign it now!

Just One Tree campaign in SF

2012-01-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

This message was just forwarded to us from Chris, who added:
"You can register any trees (all of them, not just meyer lemon, and not just on your own property) at http://urbanforestmap.org – once you’ve input the general information about your tree(s), the web site gives you values of how much energy your tree conserves, how much stormwater it intercepts, air pollutants removed, and CO2 reduced."

The original message:

Do you have a lemon tree in your garden or do you have a friend or neighbor who does? I'm trying to get folks who have lemon (or other fruit) trees to register them on the SF Urban Forest Map as a first step prior to launching the Just One Tree project this year. The goal of JOT is for San Francisco to become sustainable in a beautiful and easy to grow crop - Meyer Lemons, providing a global model that any city can be more self-sufficient in a number of crops--even without much land!

We need only 12,000 lemon trees to be completely self-sufficient (3lbs/per capita per year) and there are an estimated 3-4,000 lemon trees already planted -- we just need to find them! I'd like to get them mapped before we launch the JOT campaign because the goal will be very achievable even more quickly.

Here's where you (or anyone else) can register your lemon tree: http://www.fuf.net/resources/sfTreeMap.html We will have a website up soon that will have everything anyone needs to know about buying, planting, caring for, sharing excess production, and even recipes for lemons. It will also have a list and information about another 11 fruit trees that do very well in San Francisco -- the delicious dozen. Stay tuned!

Best regards, Isabel

P.S. Please feel free to send me a photo of your lemon tree (ideally
with a city view and not just the fruit) and your lemon recipes!

Warm, sunny, dry December gives way to...

2012-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

...warm, sunny, dry January!

Nice weather for a volunteer day, which we had yesterday. With me were Nate, Emily, Jessica, Jen, Bruce, Carlin and Matt. We took care of a few jobs, and it was a very relaxing time (compared to the nonstop work in December surrounding the shed)

Nate and Matt installed chains on the composter lids, so they don't flip back too far when you open them. Matt also moved the big lump of urabanite he dug up into position as a step by the shed.

Carlin trimmed up the big Phormium with her new knife/hori-hori, among other things, and Jessica, Jen and I planted the last of the daffodil bulbs. Better late then never. Bruce and Emily weeded, and the whole day was pretty chill.

Time to ponder new year's resolutions in the garden. What are yours?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hopefully on New Years Day you were able to spend some time outside, because it was a very forgiving winter day. Sunshine, no wind, you could just sit outside without a jacket on and be comfortable!

I took my dog Bentley (photo) to the garden, and after giving the place a thorough walk and sniff through, we sat by the bench and just watched, soaking up the 2012 sun. Despite the dry weather we've had the last few months the garden is looking really good. From my spot on the bench I could see all of these things in flower: Tibouchina, Coreopsis, Ceanothus, Salvia, Impatiens and Rosa (see photo). The list of other happy healthy plants is almost innumerable.

I grew up in the Bay Area, and my mom grew roses (still does!), so I should be used to their winter flowers. Yet, I am always amazed and extremely pleased to see roses flowering during

the winter here. Especially those at Pennsylvania Garden, as they get very little care and still hang on, giving a show of flowers off and on throughout the year. Be sure to check the rose bushes, both flowering with lots of new buds (!) across from the bench by the steps at the top of the hill.

I hope that you find wonderful things that amaze and please you at the garden too, Happy New Year!

Plant profile: Impatiens sodenii (Impatiens)

2011-12-20T08:15:00.000-08:00

Latin name: Impatiens sodenii (pronounced "im-PAY-shens so-DEN-ee-eye")

Common name: Shrub Balsam, Poor Man's Rhododendron
Originally from: Tropical East African highlands of Kenya and Tanzania.
Blooms: Pink, white, some varieties streaked.
Light: Shade, part sun
Water: Drought tolerant
Where to find in P. Garden: Under the cherry plum trees.

It has taken me a while to write a profile on this plant, but Matt suggested it this morning, and I thought "why not." Why has it taken a while? Well, this was not one of my favorite plants when we were first given it, for several reasons. None of them particularly good reasons, I admit.

First, it was a bit of a scraggly specimen. Looking at it's tropical foliage I thought "uh-oh, this is a plant that wants lots of water and it going to die gradually and painfully and everyone will think I am a bad person..." Watching plants die is not in my game plan.

Second, it has pink flowers. Pale pink. And froofy. It is the 7 year old ballerina-wannabe of the plant world. Ugh. Speaking as an ex-pale pink loving 7 year old ballerina-wannabe I can safely say this is a phase most girls get past, and don't look back on. Unless they are reminded of it by such plants as this. *grit teeth*

Third, it's old fashioned. This ain't no cutting edge, hybrid Kelly Griffin aloe, impactfully-toothed hard-core agave of awe-inspiring proportions, or stylish, graceful and austere ornamental grass. It's an old lady shrub. WTF! NIMBY, OMG!!!!1! Blech!!!!!! >:x

Fourth, it is called the Poor Man's Rhododendron. If you absolutely love Rhodies and can't grow them are you really going to grow this? I think not - it looks nothing like a Rhodie! Impatiens sodenii is to Rhododendrons what KFC is to chickens, my friend. And friends don't let friends go to the KFC of plants.

However. Here I am writing a profile on it. Why, you ask? One reason.

It loves dry shade.

And if you know anything about gardening, you know that a plant who loves to grow with almost no light or water, and flowers almost all year round in that situation, the very death of normal plants, is a plant to get down on your knees and worship. That's right people, go out to the garden today and see that little bugger flowering in late December and think about it. It's a Christmas miracle. ;)

Shed, part 5!

2011-12-17T15:38:00.000-08:00

Shed-tastic!

This is it! The shed is done! OMG, I could cry. But I won't. Instead I'll let Matt take a bow for finishing up the shed today while I planted some really gorgeous plants in the garden.

Yeah, yeah, we still need to add shelves and so on inside the shed, but it's ready to rock and already housing the wheelbarrow and hose reel.

This is it, Emily: you now HAVE to remember the combination for the lock, or no tool access for you! ;)

Leucadendron "Jester"

The plants that went in today were:

1 Leucadendron "Jester"
1 Cordyline "Torbay Dazzler"
1 Cordyline "Electric Pink"
1 Asclepias curassavica "Silky Gold"
2 Epilobium californica (California Fuchsia)

Cordyline "Torbay Dazzler"

I also rearranged some Aloe arborescens to make room for all the mad Cordylines. I think the middle front and middle back beds are looking really great now, and we have a set of three Epilobiums near the bench - look out when they flower: it'll be awesome.

Shed, part 4

2011-12-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Oh crikey - when will it ever end?

Today Matt and I headed out before work in a slight rain to work on the shed. We put on the roof frame and started adding roof panels when we discovered that we’d installed one of the roof frame beams upside down.

Rather than take it all apart, because that would have been So Annoying, we decided to drill extra holes in the beam to make it work. But did we have a suitable drill bit? We did not. So we had to pack up and quit after an hour.

Oh boy… at least the shed is looking pretty complete at this stage! Two more roof panels and the door and we are done.

Shed, part 3

2011-12-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

Knowing that the shed was not complete, and knowing we'll have some wet and windy weather coming, Matt and I got up early and went out to work on getting it finished today before work.

Happily everything was still in place, and we did a solid hour and a half of work before having to leave for our cubicles. We got three and a half walls completed, and the next step is to add the roof.

I am worried that some(crazy/drunk)one will try and stand on the roof at some point - and it feels like it's not going to be all that strong... I wonder if we should put barbed wire up there?
We are up to page 46 of the manual. I do not think we are over the worst. We'll be out there agin tomorow morning at least. Whose idea was this?

Plant shopping in Carmel

2011-12-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

I was in Carmel Valley yesterday on an abortive horse shopping trip, and found myself with a little time to kill between discovering the horse seller was insane, and picking up Matt from the beach where he was surfing.

I happened upon Griggs Nursery and went in: what a great place! A huge area was stocked with very nice plants, and the person in charge helpful and knowledgeable. I quickly loaded up a few nice specimens for P. Garden:

1 Leucadendron "Jester"
1 Cordyline "Torbay Dazzler" in a hefty 3 gallon size.
1 Cordyline "Electric Pink" in a 2 gallon pot.

All these are for the middle front bed which is going to be pretty stunning (Outrageous? Garish? Yay!) I think.

Driving down the road I came across another nursery - Valley Hills. I found a few more items from the wishlist there:

1 Asclepias curassavica "Silky Gold"
2 Epilobium californica (California Fuchsia)
1 Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)

After the car was loaded with plants I felt much better about the 6 hour round trip to Carmel. Fun times!

Shed, part 2

2011-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

OK today was an extra workday to try and get the shed completed. I had 2 yards of 3/4 crush gravel delivered yesterday and we needed to put it under the shed area to make a good, long-lasting foundation.

Happily, Matt, Jessica, Emily and Eliot showed up to help and yes, the gravel moving was a right heavy job... argh! We started at 11am and I just walked in the door half an hour ago, at 3pm. I am shattered!

Matt was busy sawing wood and screwing together the foundation while the rest of us carted gravel up the hill (of course it had to be uphill - why is it always uphill?!) in the wheelbarrow or in tubs until a little after 1pm. Darn cordless drill died (again!) but luckily Ryan dropped by with his for Matt to use.

Then Matt and I tried to put the shed on the (very sturdy and I hope long-lasting) foundation as quickly as possible, bearing in mind the instruction manual was over 25 pages long and the 250 pound package the shed came in contained something like a thousand parts...

However, the instructions did say the shed could be assembled by 2 people in 2 hours. So we were optimistic.

No chance.

The base rails went on, the roof frame was assembled, and the first wall went up. Every diagram required careful consideration due to the similarity of the pieces, and the tiny diagrams. It was complicated... we were tired...

Then Matt realized his baseball game was starting oh, about 5 minutes ago, and he dropped everything to make it there.

Leaving me with everything to put away.

I just ate a big slice of tiramisu. I feel better now.

Stay tuned for part 3 of the shed building, which I'm now going to have to try and fit in before the holidays. In all my spare time. HA!

Extra volunteer day!

2011-12-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Come on out tomorrow at 11am - we're having an extra volunteer day to finish up the shed.
2 yards of gravel were delivered today, so we'll move that to the shed base first, then get to the walls and doors fun. Hope you can make it!

Plant profile: Glaucium (Horned Poppy)

2011-12-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

Glaucium grandiflorum
(Orange Horned Poppy)

Here’s an interesting group of plants from the poppy family. Glaucium (Horned Poppy) is a genus of about 25 species of annual, biennial or perennial plants. They commonly grow in saline habitats, like along coasts and in salt pans. The name "Horned Poppy" comes from their seed pods, which are long, thin and curved like a horn, and can be up to a foot long in some species. The Latin name "Glaucium" comes from the Greek "Glaukos" which means "ashen" or "pale" due to the silvery stems and leaves of the plant

Latin name: Glaucium (pronounced "GLAW-kee-um")
Common name: Horned Poppy.
Originally from: Europe, North Africa and Southwest and Central Asia.
Blooms: Yellow, orange, or red.
Light: Full sun!
Water: Drought tolerant
Where to find in P. Garden: The brights bed has a group of each of the species mentioned.

We have two types at PG:
Glaucium grandiflorum (Orange Horned Poppy): Orange flowers cover it from spring through December, and the foliage is a silvery-blue, blowsy web of leaves. Native to Turkey and Iraq.

Glaucium flavum (Yellow Horned Poppy): Native of Western Europe. We saw these thriving on the beach in Crete, and knew right away they’re tough plants. They have clear yellow flowers and silvery fern-like foliage.

Glaucium grandiflorum
(Orange Horned Poppy)

The key to keeping Glaucium happy is awful, sandy soil; “treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen” is the key here - they have more silvery foliage and tend to be perennial if grown in poor-quality soil. Great for your xeric or beach garden!

These plants contain a chemical called glaucine. According to Wikipedia, "Glaucine is the main alkaloid component in Glaucium flavum. Glaucine has bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory effects, acting as a PDE4 inhibitor and calcium channel blocker, and is used medically as an antitussive in some countries. Glaucine may produce side effects such as sedation, fatigue, and a hallucinogenic effect characterized by colorful visual images, and has recently been detected as a recreational drug."

An oil obtained from the seed is used for as a fuel for lighting, it burns cleanly. It is also used in soap making. The yellow sap from the plant's stems is said to cure warts, and among the Bedouins Glaucium arabicum (known to them as "na'aman") is used as a treatment for conjunctivitis in livestock. It has also been used for cataracts in humans, and its use in treating viruses like herpes, flu and mumps, and various cancers, is being studied. However, due to very poisonous side effects home treatment with this plant is not recommended at all!

350 daffs planted

2011-12-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Calendula!

Yesterday the entire front edge of the brights bed got a border of mixed daffodil bulbs and a good weeding. I also put 4 bags of the daffodil "Cheerfulness" in the middle front bed. Only 60 bulbs left to plant!

I cut back a few plants for the winter too. Boom.

I (heart) Steve Broyles

2011-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well lookee here: Steve Broyles stood by his word and fixed the hole in the fence opposite Center Hardware.

What a guy. And it doesn't look like anyone will be able to undo that repair job in a hurry. We'd better get out there and plant up the gap before something happens.

Plants needed:

1 Lavatera "Barnsley" (the lavender kind - for right end of left bed)
2 Dendromecon rigida (Bush Poppy) (for gap and left end next to current pink mallow)
1 Lavatera assurgentiflora (Island Mallow) (the pink one - for middle area)
6 Dietes clumps from PG min - could use more.

Looks like a shopping trip is on order...

Uh oh...

2011-12-03T21:44:00.001-08:00

This just in: the 75% off bulbs at Home Despot sale is still going on. This time I succumbed to190 daffodil bulbs for under $15. Including 10 "Tahiti" bulbs. Squeee!

I think the front border is about to get the Welsh treatment...

Shed - part 1

2011-12-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

Jessica, Matt, Paloma,
Patrick and Nate: digging it.

Today's volunteer day was, as usual, amazing. Although I'm pulled left and right with questions, and as a result feel like my contribution is minimal, I look around at the end of the day and see the results and I'm always deeply impressed by what everyone accomplished.

Today, we set out to get the new shed's foundation area set up. This involved a lot of digging - out came the digging bar, and Jessica, Matt, Patrick, Nate and Paloma set to work next to the composter levelling out an area for the new shed.

Patrick, Emily and
John: pruning it.

The footprint of the shed is 8' x 4' so there was a good amount of rock hard dirt to move away from the site to get it to fit on the sloped area. Several large rocks came out, and several cupcakes were consumed as energy boosters. The dirt was spread along the pathway, and Jessica and John added a plank there to prevent it all rolling downhill.

Emily, Jason, Eddy, Maile and Carlin showed up, and Matt and Eddy went to buy lumber for the foundation of the shed. This left everyone else at a loose end so I got them going on extra tasks.

How to prune a Euphorbia, by Jessica.

The Salvia gesnerifolia "Tequila" lost half it's height, as did the unknown Salvia next to it, thanks to Carlin. The aster Symphyotrichum novi-belgii "Bill's Big Blue" was cut down to the ground and a Euphorbia "Excalibur"was cut back to just the right level by Jessica.

Neatly bordered by John.

The Verbena bonariensis was cut to the ground and the border rebuilt by John, One clump of the Crocosmia "Lucifer" was cut back, and many weeds were eradicated by Paloma, Emily and Maile. And the white Watsonia bulbs that had been hanging around forever finally got planted by Patrick, thank goodness. Lastly, Jason, Emily and Jessica trimmed up and planted a whole lot of Calandrinia spectabilis cuttings given to us by Anna.

Matt and Eddy came back from their little lumber odyssey with the right stuff for the job, and quickly set about installing a 10' long, 12" tall terrace parallel to the composters, held in place with rebar.

Don't they look pleased?

They flattened the area and you can see from the pics that the 4' x 8' piece of plywood for the foundation fits perfectly. Great job team - if Matt and I get a "wild hare" to finish putting up the shed I'll send out an email so anyone interested can join in. Wild hares welcome ;)

Holiday party

2011-11-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

This just in from the San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA):

Season's Greetings, Park and Open Space Advocates!

We at the San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) hope you're having a relaxing start to the holiday season.

In the spirit of celebrating, extend an invitation to you our park advocates and your families to join us for the SFPA Annual Holiday Open House.

Our staff will be providing desserts and drinks for our guests - we hope you consider bringing along a savory appetizer to share with other park advocates, volunteers, staff and board.

The Details...

Date: Friday, December 2, 2011
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Location: SFPA Hayes Street Office, 451 Hayes Street, 2nd Floor (b/w Gough and Octavia)

Please RSVP so we can be sure to have enough food and drinks for all of our attendees!

We're proud to be partnering with Community Partners United (CPU) and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association (HVNA) for this special Friday evening event. Both CPU and the HVNA will be hosting choral performances in Patricia's Green, right next door to our building. Come and enjoy great music in our park and then join us at SFPA for community, light snacks and a warm beverage.

We hope that you will be able to join us. Please share this invitation to other park advocates and your list servs! – we want to celebrate this season with all of the amazing volunteers and stewards making San Francisco a beautiful, lush place to live.

For our parks,

Vickie

PS: If the link above does not work, please feel free to contact Vickie Bell, Stewardship Manager via email or phone (victoria@sfparksalliance.org or 415-621-3260) to RSVP!

Victoria Bell
Stewardship Manager, Neighborhood Parks
415.621.3260
San Francisco Parks Alliance
P.O. Box 170160
San Francisco, CA 94117-0160

Amtrak at work

2011-11-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

I was down at the Mariposa Center Garden today, opposite Center Hardware, when I saw Steve Anton of Regent's Cab Company walking down the street. We'd both just noticed Amtrak workers on the other side of the fence working feverishly to cut down the huge field of fennel and other weeds growing back there. You can see from the picture that they really cleared out that mess!

I investigated further, and asked a guy on the other side to stop his weed-whacking for a minute. Would they, I asked, please fix the hole in the fence along Mariposa that has been reopened repeatedly by homless people? (Shown in the pic too)

He said yes. He also said they'd evicted 6-8 people camped in the weeds the day before. Wow. I felt pretty happy, thanked him, and went back down the street. Then I thought to myself about how many times I'd asked them to fix that fence in the last year and a half, and how many times I've tried to do it myself, and failed. So, being a pitbull on the pant leg of opportunity, I stopped another guy a bit further down and asked him for the name and number of the Dude In Charge so I could ask him to please, for the love of dog, fix the fence.

He gave me the number of Steve Broyles. As I walked back to work I called Steve, and he asked if I had time to meet him at the spot. Turning on my heel I walked quickly back to Mariposa and met Steve, pointed out the hole, whined and wrung my hands pathetically and generally let him know we needed a Big, Strong, Hero to Save the Street! *blink rapidly*

I don't know whether or not he thought I was insane, but I do think he's gonna fix that fence. If not, I have his cell phone number, and I'm not afaid to use it...

Parking meters in Pennsylvania Ave?

2011-11-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

According to neighbor Jim:

"SFMTA is proposing to install parking meters on Pennsylvania between 17th and 18th streets and along 17th street itself among other places in Potrero Hill as part of their "Mission Bay Parking Management
Strategy" (read revenue generation for the city with no regard for our neighborhood) (see figure 13 in the document linked to below). These meters, if installed, will be active between 9am and 11pm, effectively requiring residents to pay metered parking when they get home from work (if you drive). I don't know how you feel about it, but I am going to attend the public hearing at SFMTA. I do not yet know when it will be, but will keep you posted. To offer input on this "proposed plan" and find out more info, please email jay.primus@sfmta.com. Our supervisor is Mahlia Cohen. She can be reached at cohenstaff@sfgov.org. We need to get the word out to the rest of the neighborhood."

Here's the document: click here to read a PDF.

I have to say, if they put parking meters on Pennsylvania Ave a lot of people are going to be a lot angry...

UPDATE: Jim created a petition. Sign it, everyone!

OK, I made it

2011-11-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Glaucium grandiflorum

Back from Mendo with lots of plants!

Matt's dad has been taking care of a load of plants for us up there, and this weekend we brought some back to plant in the garden. Some? "A whole load" is more like it. And we also brought a few items from our patio, currently undergoing a planty renovation. Here's what went in the ground:

In the middle front bed:
Aeonium "Kiwi" (3)
Aeonium canariensis (2)

In the middle back bed:
Lantana "Samantha"
Phormium "Alison Blackman"

Before...

On the terraces:
Aeonium arboreum "Zwartkop" (a dozen)
Agave americana "Lemon Lime"
Agave angustifolia variegata
Aloe "Goliath"
Aloe sp.
Graptoveria (a dozen)
Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi (3)
Kalanchoe pumila (3)
Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
Yucca whipplei


After!

In the meantime Matt was busy in the middle back bed, rearranging some plants. After planting the Phormium "Alison Blackman" and the Lantana "Samantha" behind the Agave filifera, he removed the Echium that was there. Another Echium bites the dust - a casualty of root rot. Gah!

Next Matt moved the Cordyline "Red Star" from the corner back to the other green Cordyline in that bed, making a nice grouping, and rearranged the Aloe arborescens too. I cut back the lavender and rosemary there, and I think once we add another Cordyline and sort out the crusty-looking Opuntia and a few other items we might have a nice look going on.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

Cordyline "Sundance"

Well I'm off to Mendocino for Thanksgiving, and before I left I thought I'd better get that new Cordyline australis "Sundance" in the ground. A quick dig in the wet dirt and it's next to the bigger Cordyline "Red Sensation" in the middle front bed.

The plan is to add another type ("Torbay Dazzler"?) to make a group of three at varying heights and of varying colors, which I think will be a great tropical look in a bed that gets no water except rain. The "Red Sensation" is about 10' tall, and it was a tiny 4" pot size back in December 2008. Not a bad rate of growth!

Before...

After that I weeded a bit, and cut back some rosemary and the two Sedums in the middle back bed. Sedum telephium ssp. ruprechtii "Hab Gray" and Sedum spectabile "Neon" got cut back right to the ground, where you can see the new growth coming up in the "after"picture.

They ought to grow right back in and will be flowering again from about July onwards, but in the meantime they have yellow flags on them to stop them from being stepped on accidentally.

...and after.

These two Sedums have looked nice this year, but after seeing those of my aunt in Virginia this summer, I realized that Sedums need a lot more water than I thought to look spectacular, like hers. So should these two plants stay or go? I think I'll move them to a damper spot and give them another try.

Resistance is futile

2011-11-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Cheerfulness on a stick.

This year I have resisted buying more daffodil bulbs. We have enough - and they multiply easily. No need for more. Not even the nutrageous "Tahiti" with the orange and yellow double flowers. Nope.

But the Welsh person in me wants more (MOAR!) of our national flower... and last night I was at Lowes and as I walked in the sales assistant directed my attention to a rack laden with bulbs and told me "They're a dollar a bag..."

After I finished hyperventilating, picked myself up off the floor and managed to stop my eyes from rolling back in my head I started grabbing bags of daff bulbs. 8 or 12 bulbs for $1 - I mean, come on people! Normally they're $1 per bulb. They were mostly mixed bags, but also separate bags of the varieties "Cheerfulness" and "Golden Ducat."

The sales assistant went to find me a cart, and Matt shook his head and walked away...

222 bulbs: $21.
Knowing spring will be that much more cheerful: priceless.

We also got a big enough Cordyline australis "Sundance" for the middle front bed for a low, low price. Another item I've been shopping around for. Yeah!

We got some rain

2011-11-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well it's fairly cold and wet in the Bay area right now as a strong cold front passes through. Nice for the garden though - a little rain, even though it didn't penetrate more than 3" into the bone dry dirt, is better than nothing.

Today Matt and I had planned to be out of town but due to an unforeseen set of circumstances, ended up coming home early. A spot of gardening was in order, so we popped out and accomplished a few tasks.

I weeded the steps area and planted a few specimens that had been waiting for a while:

4 Calocephalus brownii
4 Euphorbia amygdaloides "Purpurea/Rubra"

I also sadly noted that almost all of the Sisyrinchium californica (Yellow-Eyed Grass) and Calla lilies by the steps are gone - probably weeded out by a volunteer who mistook the former for grass and the latter for...dead stuff? I also found three piles of dog poo in the steps area - disgusting. Come on people: keep an eye on your pets and pick it up! The majority of dog owners are cool - it's the one or two lazy ones...

I cut back the lamb's ears (Stachys) and the yellow Crocosmia in the left bed, and Matt transplanted a Verbascum from behind the wrong way sign to be with the other Verbascums in the left bed. He also weeded the area behind the wrong way sign, and moved two of the Asphodeline lutea to be next to the third one, as they were being engulfed by Artemisias.

Matt also moved an Agave filifera to the front of the middle back bed (digging up the remnants of the deceased yellowjacket colony) Lastly, he worked on flattening the new shed area, which is (slightly) easier to do when the ground is wet.

Plant profile: Tulbaghia violacea

2011-11-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

Got a snake problem? Cute little Society Garlic to the rescue! It's a tough plant, growing in hot, sunny areas with very little water, and usually has plenty of pretty violet flowers. It's low maintenance and reliable, and comes in a plain strappy green leaf, or a nice variegated, stripy leaf. It's like a miniature Agapanthus with pinker flowers. Each clump is about 2' tall and 1' around - they can be divided to make more clumps when they get large enough. But snakes? Read on.

Latin name: Tulbaghia violacea ("tool-BAG-ee-ah vye-oh-LACE-ee-ah")
Common name: Society Garlic
Originally from: Africa - the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, to as far north as Zimbabwe.
Blooms: Little violet trumpets wave 18" above the clump on thin stems almost all year round.
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: The middle back bed has a few clumps of the cultivar "Silver Lace"

How did this plant get it's name? Nothing to do with snakes. The slightly fleshy leaves and bulbous base smell like garlic when bruised (and both the leaves and flowers can be used in salads and other dishes) so that takes care of the "garlic" part, but "society"? Not many societies approve of the smell of garlic lingering about.

Oh wait - the snake problem? According to plantzafrica.com:

"The crushed leaves may be used to help cure sinus headaches and to discourage moles from the garden (by their strong smell). The smell repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes when crushed on the skin.

The fresh bulbs are boiled in water and the decoctions are taken orally to clear up coughs and colds. The bulb has been used as a remedy for pulmonary tuberculosis and to destroy intestinal worms. Wild garlic may prove to have the same or similar antibacterial and antifungal activities as has been scientifically verified for real garlic. The leaves are used to treat cancer of the oesophagus.

The Zulus use the leaves and flowers as spinach and as a hot, peppery seasoning with meat and potatoes. They also use the bulb to make an aphrodisiac medicine. Wild garlic is a very good snake repellent and for this reason the Zulus plant it around their homes."

Garden variety bees

2011-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

This just in:

"The Xerces Society is happy to announce the release of Garden Variety Native Bees of North America - a perpetual calendar. The calendar is produced by the same team that brought us the last two calendars, bee enthusiast Celeste Ets-Hokin and nature photographer Rollin Coville. Each month introduces you to a different bee genus, with a gorgeous full-page pin-up photo accompanied by notes on preferred plants, nesting needs, and guidance on how to identify the genus.

Garden Variety Native Bees of North America is both a guide to some of our more common native bees and a gardening calendar that never goes out of date. The perpetual calendar includes the dates in each month, but not the days of the week. Use this calendar to keep month to month, and even year to year comparative garden notes. It's a great way to record your observations of the bloom times and other characteristics of the bee-friendly plants you include in your garden, along with the numbers and different types of bees that visit them.

PREVIEW A SAMPLE OF THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this gardening calendar will be donated to the Xerces Society, but Xerces will not be directly selling the calendar, so please do not send calendar payments to Xerces.

Click here for more information on how to order the calendar. Please note that you will be redirected to a website hosted by California Lithographers, the printer producing the calendar on behalf of Celeste Ets-Hokin and Rollin Coville. California Lithographers is solely responsible for calendar sales and shipping. "

SF community gardens

2011-11-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

I recently found this list of community gardens in San Francisco. You might find it useful:
http://sfgro.org/sfgardens.php

Another marathon day

2011-11-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today Matt and I set out to plant as many plants on the terraces as we could, since we need to prove to the people who gave us grants that we've spent their money as we said we would by November 15th. Eeek!

We worked from 10am to about 3.30pm, and we planted a lot. Here's the list:

1 Aeonium arborescens "Atropurpureum"
3 Aeonium haworthii
5 Aeonium sp.
1 Agave lechuguilla (Shin Dagger Agave)
4 Agave parryi
1 Agave sp. (smooth leaf edges and long apical spine - ideas?)
1 Agave vilmoriniana (Octopus Agave)
7 Aloe brevifolia
1 Aloe polyphylla
4 Calandrinia spectabilis (Rock Purslane)
1 Crassula lycopodioides (Watch Chain Crassula)
6 columnar cacti, unidentified
1 Echeveria rgida
3 Euphorbia characias
4 Euphorbia lambii
3 Euphorbia "Silver Swan"
1 Furcraea sp. (variegated)
3 Gasteria acinacifolia (Giant Gasteria)
1 Hesperaloe parviflora
2 Opuntia subulata
Lots of Senecio mandraliscae (Blue Chalk Sticks) cuttings
5 Yucca sp.

That's at least 60+ plants, and we probably have almost as many to plant where the shed is. When we remove the shed and landscape that area. Oh yes, another big job coming up!

Matt also worked on flattening the path to the composters and added rebar stakes to the steps too.

Later on we went by Home Depot, Flowercraft and Lowes looking for tall Cordylines for the middle front bed. No luck, but I did find some nice Australian natives for the steps area - Calocephalus brownii. A silvery, mounding shrub that's supposed to be tough as nails, and has little yellow flowers.

All in all a pretty productive day!

Planting the terraces

2011-11-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

Agave ovatifolia

Now that this area is terraced, weeded, handrails installed, steps and paths almost finished, it's about ready for visitors. Except it doesn't really have any plants in it...

I've been collecting and propagating plants for this spot for over a year now, and I have a good long list of plants that need to go in. We're planning a planting day soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd get one or two in the ground as a head start.

Recently I planted four plants:
Maireana sedifolia (Pearl Bluebush) - a very cool silvery shrub.
Agave ovatifolia (Whale’s Tongue Agave)
Yucca “Garland’s Gold” – the one I rescued after a vandal uprooted it last spring.
Agave “Sharkskin” – just a little pup.
Aloe striata (Coral Aloe)

Agave "Sharkskin"

Hopefully the Agave ovatifolia will develop the lovely whitish look of the ones I've seen online... and the "Sharkskin" will grow into a nice specimen quickly too.

I watered them in, plus all the other recently planted plants, and worked on drawing up a diagram the rest of the plantings. I have a group of plants to bring up from my patio to add, as well as lots of plants that Matt's dad in Mendocino is looking after for us to add as well.

Photos from Mulch-a-Palooza

2011-11-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some really excellent pics of Weed'n'Woodchip Workday taken by Eddy:

I'm watching you...

2011-11-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Jess spotted a visitor to the garden last week and took this great shot - I think it's a female Red-Tailed Hawk, because the females are larger than the males, and she's quite big. Pretty awesome, and apparently she hung out on top of the trellis arch for quite a while as Jess crept closer to her. Click the image to see a bigger versions of this photo.

I also took a photo of the garden from neightbor Sage and Barbara's window at the weekend. I don't often get to see the garden from this angle - talk about perspective.

After the storm...

2011-11-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

Matt moves an Agave

Yesterday was bonkers, and today I went to look at the garden and wow - it really looks great. A fresh layer of mulch is like installing new carpet in your house - and it smells great, too!

Matt and I went out to do some weeding, and ended up planting up the middle front bed with stuff we've been collecting for a while now.

We moved three Agave attenuata to cover the stump at the front, and stop them encroaching on the path at the right. I moved the Leonotus leonurus back a couple feet so it doesn't get too rowdy as well, and a Knifophia uvaria "Wayside Flame" out from under the giant Agave, so we can see it.

Before and after.

A few Echeveria secunda glauca were uncovered and put in a better spot, and several Aeoniums too: A. canariense, A. "Zwartkop" and several others I need to ID.

Ta-dah!

We added a few new plants to the bed: several Nassella tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass), Pennisetum setaceum "Rubrum", a spotted Aloe (need an ID), a nice big Agave parryi and a lot of Senecio mandraliscae (Blue Chalksticks) and Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga.

We also left room for three plants we'll need to buy: two Cordylines (I'd like an "Electric Pink" and a "Torbay Dazzler" and a nice variegated Leucadendron. They'll be fun to shop for.

Weed'n'Woodchip Wonderland!

2011-11-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Bay View Greenwaste truck

Today's Weed'n'Woodchip Workday started early for Emily and I: we both got up early to put the finishing touches to the plans we'd laid. I picked up cookies and drinks, Emily and Ryan got coffee for everyone.

Last week we arranged the mulch delivery from Bay View Greenwaste, tools from DPW so we had enough, and all sorts of emails and fliers begging people to please come help. All we had to do now was wait and see if enough people showed up.

Adam from BVGW
dumps the mulch

And thank goodness, they did. We had a fantastic turnout and despite my worries managed to get the entire dog area weeded, lots of carpet squares laid down as weed barrier, and two, yes two 20 yard truckloads of mulch spread over all the pathways and the dog area in a record 2 hours. Jim even installed a lock on the dog bag dispenser. We totally blew last year's effort out of the water - volunteers - please take a bow!

Matt, Debbie, Ted, Nate, Jessica, Carlin, Dee, James, Jon, David M., David G., Patrick, Carl, Eliot, Chris, Eddy, Maile, Jim, Emily, Janet

... and of course the inevitable person(s) I forgot to mention, I thank you all!
Sadly I didn't get any pics of volunteers, but I know other people did so please send 'em in so I can post them here :)

The final, commemorative wheelbarrow load! (pic: Jessica)

Weed'n'Woodchip Workday!

2011-11-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

This will be happening on Saturday. Are you ready?

Our annual Weed'n'Woodchip Workday is this Saturday November 5th at 10am.

Every year we have 30 yards of wood chips delivered by Bay View Green Waste, and need as much help as possible weeding the dog area, then shoveling and wheelbarrowing the chips all over the dog area and around the paths of the garden.

This year we put up posters and sent out emails early in hopes of getting as many hands to help as possible - especially dog owners who are the main beneficiary of this effort.

Are you a dog owner who visits the garden? Saturday is your day. Please come help!

Coffee, drinks and snacks will be provided.

We're having DPW bring us tools too - please RSVP to annie at psgsf.org so we have the right number of tools for everyone!

Terracing: it's not for wimps

2011-10-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Emily and Dee

I once saw a sign at a garden in a rocky and mountainous area that said "Flat land farming is for wimps" and today I thought of that sign often as we worked on the newly terraced area in the far back of the garden. Yes, it was hard work, but luckily we were working mostly in shade today.

Emily, Jim, John, Dee, Carlin Matt and I worked for 4 hours (!) and as is usual with our dedicated PG volunteers we got a LOT of work done, and done well.

Carlin weed-detailing

We weeded the entire area, stubborn fennel included, removed the bamboo that has been struggling due to lack of water and set to work fixing up the hardscape. We need to get this area completed and photos of the work done sent in to our granting bodies to show them that we spent their money wisely, so the pressure has been on to get this job done, and done right.

John's steps

John worked on the brick steps, setting the bricks in sand and swapping out broken for whole bricks. The result is so professional! Now we just need a nice low-growing and very xeric plant to grow along to sides to stabilize the edges - what shall we pick?

Jim and Matt and The Rock

Matt and Jim worked on the terrace pathways, smoothing them out, adding gravel (we need a few more yards of gravel to be delivered and added) and removing one HUGE piece of dumped concrete that was ruining the line of the top pathway. I honestly didn't think that lump of urbanite was coming out, but Jim was determined and who am I to stand in the way of a man with a digging bar and a mission?

Matt on a new path

Carlin, Emily and I chipped, raked and brushed the paths and steps to smooth them out and prep them for gravel. They look 100% better now - walking on the gravel will be a real treat.

Yes, we still have lots to do, but the area is now ready for planting and at long last will be usable by the public. I hope to get the planting all done in the next two weeks - I have a load of plants waiting at my house for the chance to spread their roots in the (rocky, shaley, kind of unpleasant) dirt at PG. Can't wait to see how they like it!

Someone...

2011-10-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

...left two boxes of Senecio mandraliscae (Blue Chalksticks) cuttings at the garden yesterday!

Sweet: I will use them in the middle front bed around the edges. Thank you!

Pottering

2011-10-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

There is something really nice about pottering about in the garden. I often go at lunchtime and get a pair of pruners and a trowel and walk around the beds trimming this or that, pulling a few weeds. If you do it often enough things stay looking reasonably good.
Yesterday I pottered a bit. I cut back the Scabiosas in the left bed - they are pretty much done flowering, and the way to cut them back so they grow again looking bush is to trim back all the dead stems, and any finished flower stems all the way down to the "crown" - the mound of leaves at the base. Cut the sticks all the way down so none are sticking up, and it looks neat.

I also watered in the two new Scabiosas Emily got for that spot, and cut all the dead branches off the Lupinus arborius there too. That lupine is seasonally deciduous in that location: it doesn't get enough water. I think we should remove it now, and replace it with something that can establish over winter, otherwise we'll have a dead-looking plant again from about June onwards and will have to look at the gap in the bed until October/November... I think a big yellow variegated Phormium would be a nice contrast for the Scabiosas. Right now the lupine and Scabiosa foliage are too similar.

I trimmed up some Calendulas by the brick path, watered the newly planted lamb's ears, Euphorbias, Scabiosas and Ratibidias, and noticed some lovely butterflies. The top one is unusual - haven't seen it before. I hopped over to http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/identification_tools and discovered the bottom one is, as I expected, a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) but the top one? No idea!

Better late than never fall planting

2011-10-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

The garden has had some recent new additions, and I am late in blogging about them.
If you're a keep observer you may notice these new inhabitants in the garden:

Echeveria subrigida (1)
Helleborus orientalis -1 "Red Lady", 2 "Metallic Blue"
Ratibidia pinnata (3)
Agastache cana "Purple Pygmy" (3)
Linaria purpurea (3)
Ursinia anthemoides (3)

Hopefully they are all enjoying the rain we had last week and sending out lots of roots followed by inevitable top growth and flowers.....ok, flowers much later! I can hope. Check out the photo of what the Helleborus will look like this Winter!

Donations of all sorts

2011-10-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

Euphorbia rigida
(Donkey Tail Spurge)

Last week Jason from Flora Grubb emailed me to say he had a donation he'd like to make to the garden. I was all atwitter, naturally, since FG is to PG what HD is to TV! Well, sort of.

Yesterday morning I was scratching at the gate of Flora Grubb as they opened, mouth slightly frothing in excitement. After a brief hunt, the salesperson and I were about to give up looking for the plants Jason hid somewhere for me, but luckily Matt was there and he spied them in a corner. They were:

2 Guadalupe palms (Brahea edulis)

1 other palm... what is it? Darned if I can remember.

1 exotically spotted Mangave, complete with one slug plus one snail (for some reason they love Mangaves, and I hereby swear I will do my utmost to protect this one from their hungry mouths)

1 Octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana)

We also bought some lovely Euphorbias:

3 Euphorbia "Blackbird"

3 Euphorbia "Silver Swan"

Here's what Jason said about the Guadalupe palm:

"Brahea edulis is an unarmed fan palm from Guadalupe Island, off the coast of northern Baja California, where it grows in habitat with Monterey pine, ceanothus, and other signature members of the California flora. Guadalupe Island is considered the southernmost outpost of the California Floristic Province and we consider the Guadalupe palm to be the "true" California native palm due to its cultural preferences and ecological associations. Here's a blog post I wrote on it:

http://floragrubb.com/pbBlog/?p=218

Here's a set of marvelous photos of Guadalupe Island, an ecological recovery story in the wake of the removal of goats that had been devouring the native plants for 140 years:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanharper/sets/72157624102972478/"

We went home and marveled at our haul - it's always fun to look up plants online to see what they'll do, plan where to plant them, and just admire their shiny-newness. Thank you Jason and Flora Grubb!

Later on that day I popped out to the garden and installed the new dog poop sign. Donna helped make that sign happen, and it's quite a sturdy item. I had to place it way up high on the light pole to deter theft, and luckily Nate happened to pass by just as I was contemplating climbing on a trash can to reach.

Today I went out to plant the Euphorbias and ran into Jim, Gary and Emily with Bentley. We all chatted and after everyone left I planted three Euphorbias in the left bed and decided to save the other three for later.

Nice!

I also transplanted some little lamb's ears on the lower path, watered everything in, watered some of the potted plants in the back, and noted with a mixture of joy and annoyance that we've had two more donations recently.

The first is a couple bundles of very desirable branches for twig border making from a nice, anonymous neighbor - thanks!

The second is a bag full of someone's yard waste. No thanks!

Not nice.

I just know that this bag was left in a kindly spirit, but we already have a huge pile of that stuff, and built the new composter in order to make usable compost (vs the weed-filled pile). We're desperate for our huge pile to go away so bringing your yard waste to PG and dumping it is not something we want. Please put it in your green bin: the city can really use it.

Now, if you have kitchen food scraps, different story - put them in the open composter bin. They'll very quickly turn into something useful. Unlike your yard waste which will inundate us and take forever to break down. Yes, two of our bins are already full - that only took a couple weeks!

Planting at McKinley Square this weekend

2011-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

This just in in case you feel the need for dirt under your fingernails this weekend:

McKinley Square Hillside Planting
October 16th, 2011
10AM - 12Noon

Come join your fellow local community members and SF Park & Recreation
Planting 100s of native /sustainable plants and improving trails on the McKinley Square hillside.

Plants are supplied by SF Park & Recreation, and donations from the local community.

To RSVP or for more info email info@McKinleySquare.com

(RSVP not required but helps us know how many plants to supply)

If you can't make it, donations for more plants are welcome.

MSCA is fiscally sponsored non-profit 501(c)(3); donations are tax deductible.

Please mark calendars and forward to groups that you consider will have interest. Thanks!

Rank and stumpy...

2011-10-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

There was an old Monterey Pine stump at the entrance to the garden, covered in ivy and really not doing anyone any good. That is, until today's volunteer day!

We all removed the ivy from the stump, then Jessica, Nate, Paloma and I created a new twig border to run around the stump, enclosing it in the middle front bed. That area needs a few wheelbarrows full of dirt to be added, and the plants rearranged, and it'll be ready to rock.

We'll also drill out a basin in the top of the stump and plant an Agave or something in it, to speed decay and get rid of the stump the natural way.

In the meantime, Emily, Leslie, Carlin and Peter weeded, watered, deadheaded Cannas, Agapanthus, Rudbeckia and more, and filled up the second of the new compost bins to the top. Seems like we'll need to water the bins and keep them turning over if they get filled at this rate!

Big shout out to Paloma today - she got stung by the not-dead yellowjackets that are still alive under the box that the pest control guy left in the middle back bed after supposedly spraying them yesterday. Emily added caution tape to the area, and the pest control guy is coming back to fix that problem once and for all I hope. Please be careful in that area - some angry insects around... I can't believe how stoic Paloma was!

Rain tomorrow?

2011-09-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

I heard we might get rain tomorrow - I am aghast on one level (it's "SF summer" aka fall!) and delighted on another (the garden is parched) so we shall see. I expect an overcast day and a few scant drops for P Hill.

Today I went out determined to clear up the tool shed area, and clear it up I did. I potted up a number of succulents that had been languishing and rearranged, trimmed, primped and organized the plants there thoroughly.

Emily showed up as I was getting ready to leave and she worked on the weeding of the brights bed, which she has been assiduously doing for months now. One day she will taste victory against the evil sheep's sorrel!

Middle front bed plans

2011-09-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Aeonium nobile

Now that the big variegated Echium "Pride of Madeira" is gone (RIP) what shall we put in its place?

Well, I planted a Leonotus leonurus in the hole that developed in the middle a few months back, so that'll provide a nice tough filler with orange flowers in fall... hurry up and grow!

But that does leave is with some gaps around the sides, and looking at some of the plants there, well, they could use some rearranging.

For one, the Agave attenuatas are off: one huge one at the edge, the two smaller ones further back, with the Aeonium collection sort of impinging on them. Then there are Achilleas around the base of the big Agave americana variegata, buried and sad. Two Kniphofias that were hidden under the Echium came to light as well. And a good-sized but rangy Aloe striatula is now quite tall after it's hunt for light through the Echium branches. Lastly a stub of Echeveria secunda glauca that I'd planted at the base of the Aloe has grown and branched out a lot - and got covered by nearby plants.

Rearranging all this can mostly be done now, as the majority are plants that accept summer transplanting (Aloes, Agaves, Echeverias etc) but the Achilleas and Kniphofias may want to wait a month or two. Which gives me time to choose another Agave for that spot, and rebuild the twig border. I think this is a job for the next volunteer day!

Composters completed!

2011-09-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today Matt built the final parts for the composters - the lids. He built them out of redwood, and screwed on the hinges, added handles on the tops and locks on the front (we're short one hasp so the last handle/hasp will go on tomorrow.)

Why locks? So that ONE bin is always open for "deposits" (i.e. your kitchen food scraps) and the other two are "cooking" new compost. Right now you can dump your kitchen scraps or compostable PG items (deadheaded bits, and so on) into bin number two - the middle one.

He also added the new sign, in case there's any confusion about what going in the bins (weeds and twigs can go on the heap).

Don't put weeds in the bins - we don't want to spread more weeds around the garden!

I emptied the worm bins into the new compost bins so they can get a head start, and we now have a worm bin and the old plastic composter available to anyone who wants them, in exchange for a donation to the garden, naturally! Email me if you're interested.

I also did a lot of weeding, and watered the left bed, middle back and middle front beds. It's the hottest, driest time of year and a lot of the plants are feeling parched.

GreenTrustSF hosts Coastal Cleanup Day at Warm Water Cove

2011-09-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

This just in from our friend Janet - she puts on a very friendly volunteer day!

GreenTrustSF hosts Coastal Cleanup Day at Warm Water Cove

Sat. Sept.17, 9:30-noon.

24th Street at the Bay (2 blocks east of Third St.)

Use T-Line 23rd St. Station and free parking available at site. Walkers and bikes welcome too!

Join your neighbors, and bring a friend to help keep trash out of the Bay and the park. Approximately 80% of San Francisco's debris ends up in the eastern shoreline. For a low environmental impact— bring your own water in re-usable container, gloves and large bag or bucket to collect trash. We will have some for those who do not have!

Also watering of the flower beds to perk them up from the rainless summer. We should see some water birds and/or a harbor seal, hummingbirds, butterflies, dragon flies, late summer flowers,earth art and great views of the Bay.

Snacks, water dispenser and some "door prizes" provided by local businesses!

See more and register here: http://www.signuptocleanup.org/

Fill in "Warm Water Cove, San Francisco" for site. We would like you to register but can also just sign in on day.

We look forward to seeing you there. See more about GreenTrustSF on our website.

GreenTrustSF-Central Waterfront

1459 18th Street, Box 186

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.gtsfcw.org

info@gtsfcw.org

Pride of Madeira gets whacked

2011-09-10T23:47:00.001-07:00

Today Matt and I went to the hardware store and bought the rest of the components for the composter lid. Redwood lumber, handles, hinges, hasps, screws and so on.

We got to the garden and Matt started assembling the lids. Well, tried too - a mismeasurement means we need to get more lumber tomorrow. It took quite a while to figure that out.

In the meantime I set up sprinklers to water the brights bed and dismantled the variegated Echium candicans "Pride of Madeira." Yep, also known as "Pride of Matt" this once stunning plant grew high on the hog, becoming so heavy-branched that sections of it would regularly split off and die. Well its swan song was today - almost all the branches had split and I was just sick of watching it die so I hacked it to death and got it over with. Took about 15 minutes to saw it all apart.

What took a lot longer was getting all the branches put away - there's not much room on the old compost heap so I cut down the branches and used them to edge part of the left bed. A couple hours later and the middle back bed is looking quite bare... I think this calls for some excellent Agaves, Aloes and so on!

In other news I deadheaded the Rudbeckias, Amaryllis belladonnas, Achilleas and a few other things.

Volunteer Workday

2011-09-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

When you visit the dog area this week, be sure to give it a good look - I hope you'll notice that it is now almost 100% free of weeds! Jon, Sara, Jean, Jo, Carl and myself spent the better part of the workday moving like a wave of weeding fury across the dog area. The photos definitely tell the tale. While we were weeding, Carlin did some deadheading around the garden, keeping things looking nice and clean, before she headed off to Progress Park for their workday. What energy!
Jon watered, giving the Cordlyines by the arch a good drink along with new Phormiums Annie and Co. put in on Wednesday.
Ron has also been busy with the terracing project, and I've included an in progress photo to show how it's going, and also as a reminder NOT to go back there right now as it is under construction. We'll definitely let you know when it is ready!

Day of the Triffids

2011-08-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I thought I'd go out and do some minor twiddling in the garden as my parents are here on a visit so not much time for serious gardening. First up I met with Ron and his dog Cassius. Ron is terracing the back slope - it's coming along!

I deadheaded the rest of the yarrows by the steps and also the Aloe nobilis hedge. As I went down the hedge I weeded the cactus wall too. The cactus wall always looks good - it's my favorite part of the garden. So xeric, so cool...

I met a woman sitting on the bench called Linda. I idly inquired whether she had a garden and she went on to reveal that not only does she have a garden, it's a San Francisco Street Park. And not only that, but it was partly inspired by Pennsylvania Garden! I was feeling so proud. Then my parents walked up and she eventually let them know that she helped write the book my dad was carrying - The Trees of San Francisco

And not only that but she is on the advisory committee of the Friends of the Urban Forest. I thought "wow - good job I didn't offer her some pearls of gardening wisdom!"

Later on Matt and I went to pick up some phormiums from Leah. She said they were big but that was an understatement. We couldn't fit them all in the back of the car and had to leave some. We slowly drove home with the leaves hanging out the back of the car, and thought "oh dear... now we have to plant them..."

I decided we really had excess and sent out an email to potentially interested parties. Bruce responded with lightning speed and we dropped off a portion of the phormiums with him right away. Phew!

Then Matt and I went to plant the rest. We'd decided on a good spot in the middle back bed only to discover a nest of yellow jackets next to it - don't want to get stung. We picked another spot in the brights bed, dug a good hole and started getting the phormium up there. First in the wheelbarrow. Then it fell out. Couldn't get it back in. Dragged it with ropes. It was too heavy. Cursed. Eventually got Gary to come help and had it in the hole in no time!

Job done. Time for a glass of wine!

Composter fiddling

2011-08-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Amaryllis belladonna

I went out to add a few L-brackets to the composter on Friday... and the cordless drill died on me. I did manage to get one bin finished, and filled it with the compost we'd saved from the plastic composter in the wheelbarrow and three tub trugs. I added a load of dry plant matter from the big heal and that bin is full already.

I charged the drill up thoroughly and went back on Saturday with Matt only to find Ron had been at work in the garden - he's started the terracing!

Matt and I finished screwing in the brackets for the composter. All we need now are another redwood board to complete the fronts, and a plan to make the lid. I designed a sign to attach to the front of the bin, outlining what should go in there. I'll buy some hasps and two locks: only one bin will be open for kitchen scraps at any one time, while the other two will be locked - busy cooking up new compost.

I'm considering emptying the worm bins into the new composter too. I think they'll be happier in a huge composter. The worm bin is a little small for such a big garden, realistically.

Matt and I also spent some time clearing the pathway to the composters and back area in general, so Ron and his workmen can access it easily.

The contents of the box

As we cut back branches from the trees I found a little black tupperware box that felt oddly heavy. I thought it might have drugs in it or something else someone had stashed... turns out it was a "letterboxing" treasure trove! This is a bit like geocaching (or not, if you read the website http://www.atlasquest.com) - you go to the site to get clues about the location of a box, and go out to look for it. When you find it, the box contains a little book that you stamp with your personal rubber stamp, and you sign and date it too. The box also holds a unique rubber stamp of it's own so you can stamp your personal book that you carry with you on letterboxing expeditions.

Clearly a few people have found and signed this trove's book! The most recent was October 2010 though - has it been forgotten and unloved? I hope not! It's nice to think of the garden having a little secret hidden away.

The inside of the box was a bit damp so we left the contents out in the sun to dry a bit, then carefully repacked them and hid them in the same area. I'm not giving away the location! You'll have to find it yourself ;)

All good things

2011-08-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last week Pennsylvania Street Gardens was invited by Kathy of the Carmel Valley Village Improvement Committee (CVVIC) to lecture on how to create and maintain a public garden. Not only did I get to see the birth place of the Cal Academy's green roof (more on that later), meet many really nice people, but Kathy let Ryan and I stay in her gorgeous guest cottage for the weekend. You missed out Annie!

So first thing, I gave a lecture to CVVIC. They are really interested in creating more parks, so I tried to relay what we've learned at PSG about how write grants, get volunteers, and manage a public garden. There were a lot of good questions, and it was awesome to talk with people who were so motivated about helping out their community. Maggie, the nursery manager for Rana Creek came, and afterward invited Ryan and I for a tour of the nursery (wow).

Never heard of Rana Creek? I bet you've seen them - they did the green roof for the California Academy of Sciences, and they have done lots of spectacular green roofs and walls around the world. They also focus on habitat restoration and do projects for homeowners too. Their website is an amazing resource, definitely check it out. They are a distributor for Sempergreen sedum mats, which is literally a roll out mat of Sedums for doing green walls/roofs. It is a neat product, and I'd love to work with it in the future.
As for the nursery site, it is nestled in between rolling hills, oak trees, and it is absolutely beautiful. Maggie gave us a grand tour, and she refused to let us leave without taking a few plants for Pennsylvania Garden. How could I resist?

2 Aquilegia formosa -western columbine
2 Galvezia speciosa - bush snapdragon
7 Lavendula a. 'Munstead'
1 Eriogonum parvifolium (or Eriogonum fasciculatum I can't tell the difference)

If you ever get the chance I recommend taking a long weekend, exploring the Carmel Valley and stopping by Rana Creek to get some beautiful native plants!

If you (say they can) build it, they will come...

2011-08-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sector clear! Start
your power tools.

Today Matt and I met Jim and Leigh at the garden, both of whom had come with their own power tools (impressive!) to build the composters we bought materials for yesterday (see previous blog post.)

Carrie came over too and weeded the area by the arch very meticulously, while we hauled all the wood we cut yesterday to the garden, and set about preparing the site. Oh dear - what a messy site.

Leigh gets stuck in.

We managed to remove all the debris and old compster and still save the compost in it. We'd got some gravel recently and we used that as a base for the composters - we hadn't planned to, but with nowhere to move it to it seemed like a good idea at the time. And it'll provide good drainage for the bins, so a win-win all around I think.

The site is overflowing with the massive compost heap, which as you can imagine is impossible to move, so we made the composter system so it can be nudged backwards, downhill, over time, when the massive heap diminishes and we put more stuff in our new bins.

Nudging the back
and right side into place.

We started screwing together all the parts for the three bay compost bin system I'd devised, starting with attaching the heavy 12" wide, 9' long lumber back panels to the two 4"x4" back posts. Next we added the two ends, also made of 12" lumber, to a height of 4 feet.

Anyone who was there will tell you my drawings, coded in multiple colors of pen, were models of exactitude! Well, maybe not, but we are building a compost bin, not an MRI machine, so tolerances of up to 1/2" were allowed.

The left side goes on.

We put a 9 foot long long strip of 2"x4" along the bottom front edge to stabilize it all, then started adding the two dividers made of 3/4" thick plywood in the middle to create the bays. These needed to be attached using metal L-brackets but we didn't have the right length screws - something to finish up later.

Later or we were joined by Nate who took over from Leigh in the operation of power tools, level, measuring tape and so on. Yes - it really takes at least three, and preferably four sets of hands on a job like this - doing it with just two people would have been quite tricky and would have taken a lot longer.

Nate is dangerously
close to that drill...

The front of the bin has redwood slats that slide into runners made of 1" x 1" wood - Jim and I cut those into lengths 3'10" long. We got all those screwed to the composter, and also the two 4'x4" posts that support the dividers at the front of the bin were attached firmly too.

Lastly we slotted in the redwood boards for the front of the bins - turns out we miscalculated and need another board to complete that part, as well as ripping a few inches off the top board so they fit flush with the lid. Oh yeah... the lid. We haven't finalized plans for that, so it's a task for another day too, though the composter will function fine without it for now.

Ta-dah!

After about 3 hours the end result is a really sturdy thing. The basic structure is done, and with just a few quick additions the new composter will be open for business!

Great job guys - thanks for all your hard work!

It's big! It's heavy! It's Log!

2011-08-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today I put my foot down: that composter is going to be BUILT if it's the last thing I do! *gnash* I've been planning a three-bay compster for a while now, and as our main heap has reached outrageous proportions it's time to separate the good from the bad. The weeds we pull, pine cones, scrap wood etc can't be used as garden fertilizer, so they will be consigned to the heap. The household scraps, garden trimmings and so on can be used, so they'll go in the 3 bin system to turn into lovely useful compost.

I dragged Matt out of bed at the crack of 10am and we went lumber shopping at Center Hardware. We got some supplies there, but needed to drop by Discount Builder's Supply for the rest. Shopping local.

We ended up loading a cart with a dozen pieces of heavy lumber, and got a sheet of 3/4" plywood cut to size there. We hauled it all home and Matt started cutting everything to size in our garage. Here are the pieces we ended up with, ready to build our composter which will look like 3 boxes stuck side by side:

6 pieces of lumber for the vertical parts measuring 4" x 4"x 4'
4 pieces of lumber for the back of the bins: 12' x 2" x 9'
8 pieces of lumber for the two ends of the bins: 12' x 2" x 41"
2 pieces of plywood for the dividers inside: 3' x 4' x 3/4"
2 pieces of lumber that brace the front, top and bottom: 2' x 4" x 9'
16 strips to brace the insides: 1" x 1" x 4'
16 metal brackets and a load of screws... I think we'll need more.

Tomorrow we start to screw it all together! Anyone want to come help?

Get this blog by email!

2011-08-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

If you check in every few days looking for new posts and are sometimes disappointed because, let's face it, I have a full time job too, there's hope!

Scroll down and in the right column you'll see a new feature: "Get Blog Posts By Email" and if you type in your email and follow the simple instructions, you'll get an email each time I post on the blog. Neato.

Please note that this is different from signing up to be on our Google Groups email list (slightly lower in the right column) since that list only announces the monthly volunteer days or rare other events, and won't send an email each time a new blog post is written.

20 hours of work

2011-08-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Green Santolina flowering

20 hours of work – that’s how much 10 people accomplish on a volunteer day, and it showed.

Alison and her dog Peeka sheared (and at points pruned stems individually) the lavender hedge. I weeded it a bit too, and on the whole it’s looking great. I noticed lots of baby lavender plants that appear to have seeded themselves as well. I forgot to water the hedge but will get out and do that next weekend.

Emily worked on battling the weeds in the brights bed at the top of the garden, and laid down some double-thickness weed barrier there. What with all the water that area gets from the one sprinkler head and hand watering the dahlias though, I think it’ll always be weedy. Oh well!

Bill and his sons Julian and Lucas came to help out, and Bill spent aged weeding in the garden pulling bindweed and other nasties very thoroughly. His kids helped weeding, pulling nasturtiums, cleaning up and trimming Watsonia bulbs too – they were very helpful.

John cut the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) down – it was done for the year, and the space is now cleared and ready for it to sprout anew. If for some reason it doesn’t come back to life I have 4 babies waiting in the wings to take over. Never fear – we will always have cardoons! John also cut back some old Chasmanthe leaves and Achillea flowers, among other things.

Aeonium arboreum
"Atropurpureum"

Angelique who is fresh off the boat from Canada (specifically a place known as Winterpeg in Man-It’s-Cold-Here) came by with her little baby June strapped on to do some watering: she hand watered the beds that don’t get any sprinkler action. I find this display of energy in a young mother astonishing, and her baby was just the perfect papoose – quietly loving every minute, then falling asleep. June wins the award for youngest volunteer – she must be all of just a month or two old? Rock on Angelique and June.

Carlin weeded skillfully behind the wrong way sign (thanks to Matt’s mulching that problem is less and less a problem) and then went down to the Mariposa Center Garden with Emily to cut back the Chasmanthe and remove the old sweet peas from that spot. Some of the lupines there have gone deciduous (as they do in very dry spots) so Emily decided to water them. New volunteer Jeanne helped fill the milk jugs and John wheeled them down the street in the wheelbarrow. We finished up shortly after Jeanne arrived but hopefully we’ll see her again at another volunteer day if it coincides with her time off!

Nate and his sister Beth came by and weeded the last of the corn marigolds out of the back border. Our compost heap has risen to ridiculous proportions and it’s Time To Build The New Compost Bins. Matt, are you reading this? ;)

I ran around as usual like a headless chicken, trying to make sure everyone was supplied with tools and drinks and fun things to do, but I also managed to water the Brugmansia and tree dahlia via the soaker hose. Poor Brugmansia is not enjoying the xeric lifestyle… should I water it monthly in the summer? Will that be enough? Or should I just cut it down and find something more drought tolerant for that full sun, sloping, dry dry dry spot? (And how come Bruggies just 2 blocks away look great year round?) I would certainly miss the lovely scent and flowers of this plant if we cut it down… something to ponder.

Sorry I didn't get any people picture this time - too busy!

It's a deal!

2011-08-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

I get the SFGate.com Daily Deals by email, and today's is a good one: $15 for $30 worth of plants from the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society's nursery at 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way, which is now open daily.

http://dailydeals.sfgate.com/coupon/831

Click the link - I got 4 coupons so we're going a-shopping soon. Woot!

Presentation a success

2011-07-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

I gave a short talk this morning about my favorite plants for street parks today at the DPW yard, organized by the dynamic duo of Sandra at DPW and Julia at SFPT (details in previous blog entry.) It was great fun - I made a PowerPoint presentation and spent a lot of time pondering which really ARE my favorite plants. My list was supposed to be about 20 long, but it crept up to 30, and culd have easily topped 40 or more.

Matt came along and worked the projector while I rambled on, and I think it was all well received. I saw a couple of our volunteers there (wave!) and met some new folks too. Everyone got a list of plants, a Jamba Juice card and a PG brochure too.

If anyone's interested in reading the final list of plants, let me know and I can post them here.

Want to have your own street park? Read on...

2011-07-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

This just in from our pal Julia at SFPT:

Dear Street Parks Stewards,

Greetings from the SF Parks Trust! You are cordially invited to Get Grounded: Street Parks Workshop & Garden Tour, this Saturday, July 30^th, from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm. The workshop will be held at the Department of Public Works, 2323 Cesar Chavez Street, San Francisco (Just east of Potrero Avenue ).

This free workshop, presented by SF Parks Trust and the Department of Public Works, is designed for all our Street Parks Stewards and the neighbors who work with them in greening public parcels of land. Especially if you’re new to the Street Parks program we recommend you attend the workshop, as it’s a great way to meet other Street Park stewards, hear about resources that could be useful to you in your project, and see other Street Parks sites and get ideas and inspiration from them. The workshop is completely free and lunch will be provided.

At Get Grounded we’ll focus on how to create and maintain sustainable Street Parks, from fostering the healthiest soil possible, to selecting plants best adapted to our region, to managing water in the most environmentally responsible way. How to create and manage gardens with little water will be discussed, as well as rain water catchment and drip irrigation systems. We’ll also take a tour of some of our newest Street Parks and hear from the people who created them!

Confirmed speakers include:
Tom Bressan, owner of Urban Farmer San Francisco
Rachel Kraai, Urban Watershed Management Program, PUC
Markos Major, Urban Farmer and Garden Educator
Annie Shaw, award winning steward of the Pennsylvania Garden

Street Parks Tour will include:

Progress Park
Vista Pointe Garden
Gates Street Wildlife Garden

For workshop location and more information, please see link: http://tiny.cc/ikhu5

Get Grounded: Street Parks Workshop & Garden Tour

When: Saturday, July 30^th, 9:30 A.M to 1:30 P.M.
Where: Department of Public Works Headquarters
2323 Cesar Chavez Street, San Francisco
Just east of Potrero Avenue

Registration/Information:
To reserve your space, please RSVP by end of day Thursday, July 28^th to Julia Brashares at 415-750-5110 or julia at sfpt.org. DPW will provide van transportation for our garden tour.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 415-750-5110.

All best,
Julia

Warm and sunny

2011-07-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Achillea "Cassis"

Yesterday Matt and I went out to weed and prune a bit, and today I did another few hours of tidying up.

The front border had all the corn marigolds removed and the Artemisias and Achilleas deadheaded. The middle back bed and brights bed got some weeding. I chatted with Dee and pulled more corn marigolds out of the back border too.

I think the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is almost done for the year - going to have to cut that down soon. We'll save that for the volunteer day - that's a fun project. I found four little baby cardoons down in the back of the garden too - must have seeded itself over there. I potted them up - perhaps we can find a spot for more of these crazy plants?

New sign

2011-07-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Check out the new sign: Matt added it behind the bench (so it’s not staring you in the face when you’re sitting there) and we have another for the kiosk at the front of the garden.

Matt varnished a piece of wood to attach the sign to, and got a big heavy post, concreted it in, and bolted the backing to the post. It's pretty darn sturdy!

In case you can’t read it, it says:

“Thank you for helping to make this garden a safer place.

If you see people loitering, leaving trash, or vandalizing

our garden please call Police non-emergency (415) 553-0135

Find out more about Pennsylvania Garden at psgsf.org”

Yes, we really mean it - call the police if you see something odd at the garden. And call 911 if you see a crime in progress. Our local police officers really want to hear from you.

Before and after - the cactus wall

2011-07-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

I like a good before and after picture set, and here's one of the cactus wall. On the left is the before aspect. taken in February 2009. The after pic, on the right, was taken yesterday - almost 2 and a half years later. So much has changed, as you can see. The Aloe nobilis hedge has really grown in. The Yuccas are established, and completely surrounded by all manner of cool succulents and so on. I think it's my favorite part of the garden!

4th of July Botanical Adventure

2011-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

Any guesses as to where the first photo was taken? Somewhere in LA? A spot in SF you've never been to? You never know where you'll find a beautiful spot full of botanical interest, and the photo was taken by me from a street park in San Antonio, Texas!

Linda Pace (of Pace Picante Sauce) created Chrispark to honor the memory of her son. If you told me it was designed by a famous landscape architect I would believe you, because it is gosh darn beautiful. The street park is across from modern lofts in the historic brick building. Yes, this is Texas! Be sure to check out the plants section on their website which gives a layout of the park's plantings with great descriptions and photos.

On my trip I was also able to visit the San Antonio Botanical Garden (link here). My current favorite native plant of central Texas is the Leucophyllum frutenscens, shown first in close-up and then behind some silvery Agaves at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Just an amazing shrub from the Figwort family, a real winner that needs minimal water, can take heat, and has pink-lavender flowers like crazy all over.

So, if you ever visit San Antonio don't skip the River Walk, but also don't miss Chrispark and the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

Plant profile: Nassella tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass)

2011-07-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

Ornamental grasses used to leave me cold – grass is stuff for animals to eat in my book, so I wasn’t expecting much when I got my first Mexican Feather Grass. However, they have some lovely qualities: Mexican Feather Grass is a graceful, delicate and very fine textured ornamental grass that needs very little water. It grows in a dense fountain-like clump with slender, wiry leaves 1-2 ft tall. The silky flower clusters look great in dried arrangements.

Latin name: Nassella tenuissima ("nass-ELL-ah ten-you-ISS-im-ah") syn. Stipa tenuissima
Common name: Mexican Feather Grass, Silky Thread Grass, Ponytail Grass
Originally from: New Mexico and Texas south through central Mexico.
Blooms: Inconspicuous – grown for foliage
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: The left bed has several clumps, which have seeded to other areas.
The Latin name nassa means "a basket with a narrow neck for catching fish," and tenuissima means “thin, fine or small.”

Its hair-like foliage moves with the slightest breeze, and it really contrasts well with architectural plants like Agaves and Aloes. Mexican Feather Grass has a tendency to self sow, so watch out – you’ll soon have more little mini-clumps coming up, though they’re easy to pull out if you don’t want more. Another way to propagate them is by dividing large clumps.

Warm evenings

2011-07-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

Helichrysum bracteatum
"Monster Rose"

I went out this evening to water in the plants we planted at the weekend, and they were all looking great. I put in a couple of Crinums that have been languishing in the back, just to get them out of their pots. I don't know what kind they are but hopefully when they flower they'll be white. Well I guess we'll see!

Quite a few plants are flowering for the first time right now. The Helichrysum bracteatum "Monster Rose" is tall and narrow, and each plant has several flowers. I could go for about a dozen of these plants!

Crocosmia "Lucifer"

There's a lovely big Rudbeckia nearby too, covered in buds which I think will be orange. Is it called "Cherokee Sunset"? Can't remember. Lastly, the Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) are about to flower too - hurrah!

Other plants that have flowered before, but are at it again, include the Aloe nobilis hedge, the Dahlias and the Crocosmia "Lucifer" - lots of hot orangey red going on in the garden. Drop by and see it all!

Corn marigolds get their comeuppance

2011-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

The back border cleaned up.

Bright and cheerful though they are, the corn marigolds (Chrysanthemum segetum) do tend to get out of hand. At today's volunteer day Heather and her mum spent quite some time removing clumps of them that were past their best. They also planted a yarrow (Achillea millefolium) near the bench that was donated by Anna today.

We were also joined by John, who, alongside Carlin, weeded in the dog area, planted two lavenders and watered the entire lavender hedge. John also watered the brights bed and a whole lot of other spots that needed a boost.

By the kiosk: before

I set up some sprinklers around the left bed and planted a purple Osteospermum in a gap there. The left bed doesn't get any sprinkler action from the weekly watering, so we'll give it some water manually every couple of months.

Nate and Tanya deadheaded a huge number of plants, which means more flowers for everyone to see, and Matt bought a strong pole for the new signs we have to put up, as well as sanding and varnishing a wooden backing for one. Hopefully we'll get that put up this week.

Kiosk area revamped!

Lastly Carl and I worked on the area by the kiosk. We installed edgers, weeded thoroughly, added dirt, and planted half a dozen Aloe brevifolia along the edge. Finishing up with some water, a gravel mulch, and a thorough sweeping of the entire sidewalk, brick path and entrance way, it really looks fantastic!

Update: Matt and I went to Flora Grubb later in the day and saw some cool blue grasses for the back border, on sale. We got 6 Helictotrichon sempervirens (Blue Avena Grass) and planted them, plus some Aeoniums we had kicking around, right away. When the orange Calendulas fill in, it'll be a nice look.

Volunteer Day this saturday

2011-06-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa)

Come on down! The weather will be warm, the garden just got rained on, and we have a host of projects small and large that need your attention in the garden. We might even get to make that compost bin we've been talking about for a month now...

We start at 10am and work til 12pm. Drinks will br available!

New tees in the house!

2011-06-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

We'd been selling tees through Cafepress but they skim off so much money that we were only making about $2 per sale - not worth it. So we recently had about 50 tees made for us by Eco Imprints here in Potrero Hill and let me tell you, they are gorgeous.

Silk screened in two yummy shades of green on an organic cotton tee in 4 sizes, they make the perfect gardening tee. Go check 'em out! They're cheaper than the old tees, better quality, and your purchase of a tee brings $20 straight to the garden - much better for everyone!

June 18th Workday... whew!

2011-06-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

The workday today was an amazing success, a crew of ten worked over the garden (in a good way!) and it is looking better than ever. Jon cut back the Chasmanthe, the white Nicotiana, and removed all the corn marigolds that were making it difficult to walk in the paths. Carl, Debbie, Bekah, Leigh, Tanya and Paloma removed weeds from the brights bed and along the pathways. Nate and Carl also redid a twig border leading to the dog area (thanks guys!) and Ryan watered all of the new/newer plantings and the Cordylines by the arch. Matt, Ron and Gina were also at the garden for bit, and I think everyone generally had a great time.

Safety

2011-06-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

We're always on the lookout for ways to protect the garden. It's unfenced, so anyone can walk in at any time of the day or night, and sometimes people steal plants, break things, leave trash, pull off the freeway for a quick pee or just sit around drinking and being obnoxious. Before we had a garden there we had a guy living in the bushes for over 4 months, and while the love and attention showered on the spot has greatly improved things, we still get the occasional problem.

With input from our lovely neighbors we've decided to make a sign (see a mock-up, above) to put in the garden. The purpose of this sign is twofold. First, it tells people we have noticed and don't appreciate their nasty habits.

The second and main point of the sign is directed at the law-abiding among us: it asks you, the neighbor, to please call SF Police non-emergency if you see crime happening in the garden and report it. That number is (415) 553-0123 - put it in your phone right now.

Since Jim began organizing neighborhood watch meetings on our block, we have come to learn that our local police are great guys who are very responsive to crime in our area: they will send extra patrols around right quick if they get a tip off that people are being annoying on our block. They WANT to know, they WISH you'd call and they CAN do something about it! Our main guy there is Sergeant Troy Dangerfield - I mean come on, he's practically got a comic book superhero cop name. Don't you want to call him up? ;)

Now, if you aren't sure whether to call, but just have an icky feeling about someone in the garden, call anyway! Yes, that's what the police said. Call anyway. Listen to your gut.

And if you see violent crime happening - a fight, attack, mugging etc, well I don't need to tell you the number for that - 911.

Thanks everyone for doing your part to make the block safer.

A few additions

2011-06-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday the sun was out and I wanted to get a couple of extra plants put in the ground to complete the area behind the wrong way sign. I popped down to Flowercraft and got 12 Artemisias (two 6-packs of starts; one was "Powis Castle" and the other is just called "Dusty" - it's the wider leaved type we have in the front border).

These little guys love a dry spot and will fill in between the bold, architectural Agaves, Aloes and Phormium with a soft, silvery, feathery effect.

I planted them in our new area, and weeded a bit. I added kitchen scraps to the compost pile and noted that the Shirley Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) that Sophia and Jess helped me plant managed to grow a couple flowers up by the lavender hedge - shown left. It's a pity more didn't come up, but next year I expect they'll have a better chance to strut their stuff.

Plant profile: Scabiosa

2011-06-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Non stop flower action - that's what Scabiosas bring to the garden. Deadhead away and they'll keep flowering, and all without much water at all. And for a busy gardener that's a winner.

Latin name: Scabiosa ("scab-ee-OH-sah")
Common name: Pincushion Flower
Originally from: Europe and Asia
Blooms: Light blue, lavender, white and pink flowers adorn various species, but my favorite is the deep burgundy S. atropurpurea "Ace of Spades"
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. Little summer water is needed.
Where to find in P. Garden: S. atropurpurea "Ace of Spades" lives in the left bed, while a few light blue Scabiosa anthemifolias live in the middle back bed.

You can buy Scabiosa seed but the plants are readily available so unless you enjoy coddling tiny plants, just grab a few 4" sized pots at Annie's Annuals or somewhere and have at it.

Wrong Way done right

2011-05-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

The area behind the Wrong Way sign has been a bit of a mess for a while. After the Cannas were infected with Canna virus we had to throw them all out, which left some Gaillardias and some Watsonias. Spring reminded me that the Watsonias were mostly white ones when they flowered - they need to go to the left bed. But what other plants could go in that spot? The directives were a) xeric or very drought tolerant, b) bright colored if possible c) no taller than 4' high to preserve the line of sight for drivers exiting the freeway.

I'd recently planted a Coprosma there, and Janet moved out Banksia spinulosa over there too. And today Matt and I went by the Flora Grubb sale and we just went for it. We bought:

1 large red Phormium "Guardsman"
3 Elymus magellanicus
1 Agave gypsophila
1 Aloe tomentosa (with three heads - we can divide it!)
1 Arctotis "Burgundy"

These plants make a great rich red and silvery combination. We got back to the garden and started by ripping out a bunch of Gaillardias and Watsonias - that felt good! The stage was set.

We placed the plants we'd bought in various areas, then we hunted through the plants in the back area and added to that group:

1 Agave lophantha
1 Agave salmiana ssp. crassispina
5 Agave parryii
1 Euphorbia "Excalibur"
14 Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion)
5 Aeonium arboreum "Atropurpureum"
2 Aeonium arborium "Zwartkop"

With all these ready to go we started planting. After a few hours all 36 plants were watered in, and we cleaned up and built a fresh new twig border with the lovely branches Deric and Kome gave us. We even gave some Watsonias that were left over to a nice couple from Fremont who were visiting the garden.

Done! I'm really pleased with how it all looks, and it'll all grow in and be beautiful AND low maintenance, I hope. I've decided to add a few Artemisias around the base of the Phormium and Agave lophantha to pick up the silvery theme too - might try rooting up my own.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I planted some Portulaca grandiflora (Moss-rose Purslane) in the bright bed last week, At $6 for 18 plants from Home Despot these sunny, heat-loving little annuals should fill in the front of that bed nicely.

If one is good, three are better!

2011-05-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Previously there was one purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the brights bed and now there are three. All rejoice! Ok, if that's not enough to be excited about it rained a bit this morning, so the ground was actually fairly wet when I planted the new Echinacea, and a bunch of the Zinnia and Cosmos seedlings are sprouting up. Annelle stopped by too, and it was nice to see her and say hello. Overall the garden is quite beautiful right now (I say that a lot don't I?) so you should stop by too!

Plant profile: Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears)

2011-05-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

A lamb, earlier today

Lamb's Ears (the plant) is named rather obviously after lamb's ears (the ovine aural organ - see lamb, left) - and what a great comparison it is! Soft, fluffy and whitish, they are a fun plant to pet as you go by.

Very drought tolerant, this plant actually dislikes summer water and humidity in general which marks the leaves and makes them mouldy. It also likes low-quality soil. The perfect San Francisco garden plant.

"Helen von Stein"
and ladybug.

Latin name: Stachys byzantina ("STACK-iss biz-an-TEE-nah")
Common name: Lamb's Ear,Woolly Betony
Originally from: Turkey, Armenia and Iran.
Blooms: Light purple, white or pink flower spikes in late spring or summer
Light: Part sun, part shade.
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: We have several clumps of "Helen von Stein" in the left bed, and the regular kind in the middle back bed.

We bought some of the cultivar "Helen von Stein" which has larger, greener leaves and is more tolerant of various growing conditions. This has spread by seeds quite nicely - it isn't invasive for us, and makes a very useful border edging plant, since it only grows about 12' tall at most. We also have the regular smaller-leaved silvery version which is my favorite. This species also comes in a lime-yellow shade, as well as a subtly variegated version, though I haven't seen these for sale locally.

Flowers

First introduced into cultivation in England in 1782, it has long been grown for it's foliage, though it does produce flower spikes with purplish flowers but they're fairly inconspicuous. In Brazil is used as a edible herb, called Lambari, that supposedly has some medicinal properties but I can't find out what they are as there's a fish that goes by the same name that appears to be far more popular on the internet!

Prep work

2011-05-22T11:13:00.001-07:00

Before

Matt and I hit the garden on Saturday to prepare the area by the compost heap for our new composters. We'd decided to build our own three bay compost system after looking at the flimsy premade composters available to buy, and we're drawing up plans for that system now. We measured the area and we have room for three bays, each 3' wide, 3' deep and about 4' tall.

Next volunteer day is June 4th and on that day we invite anyone with tools and woodworking skills to come out and help get that project off the ground.

As we moved compost and weeds to make room for the bins, we realized that the big pile, where we throw weeds and pine cones and stuff that doesn't really make good compost, has actually composted down at the base (surprise!) and made some lovely looking dirt. We transferred some of that to the plastic bin (designated for food scraps and good stuff) which is now very full - fingers crossed the high heat and 2 years of composting time has killed off any weed seeds.. We also moved some into a heap up at the top of the garden.

After

Midway through doing that we realized that if we remove too much material at the base of the big pile, our bins will be sitting in a hole. And since we want to move the tool shed up there too, under the loquat tree, we need to excavate some dirt and make a terrace to sit the shed on so it stands vertically on the slope.

So we stopped excavating compost and started clearing out the ivy from the place the shed will go. I also cut back a few loquat branches.

After getting tired it was time to retreat home and plan the bins, as well as decide on what type of shed we'll get to replace the too-small metal cabinet we currently have. We need something about 6' tall, 4' wide and about 6' deep to get all our tools into, and to roll the hose cart and wheelbarrow directly in. Shopping time!

Plant profile: Aristea capitata (syn. A. major)

2011-05-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Newsflash: It's flowering now for the first time! This African plant sports iris-like sword-shaped leaves year round, but the bright blue flowers only appear in spring, and though we've had the plant since it was a wee 4" pot, it's finally rewarded our care.

Latin name: Aristea capitata ("ah-RIST-ee-ah cap-ee-TA-ta") syn. A. major
Common name: Blousuurkanol, Blue Sceptre
Originally from: the Cape of Africa.
Blooms: Gentian blue spikes of flowers rise above the clump each spring to about 4' high.
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. Little summer water, though good water-retaining soil helps
Where to find in P. Garden: the middle back bed has a clump.

In the genus Aristea there are approximately 55 species distributed throughout Africa and Madagascar, most of them with brilliant blue flowers, a few with lilac or white flowers. Several are beautiful, but unfortunately not all of them are so easy to grow - they're not commonly found in cultivation, and you certainly won't get them at Home Despot. Aristea ecklonii is one species that can be found somewhat more often - looks like a giant Sisyrinchium.

We thought our specimen was a dud, but they do take several years to get comfy enough to flower. They don't love being divided, or moved, and the best way to propagate them is by seed. Hopefully our clump continues to spread.

Mulching in the Rain

2011-05-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Despite our best efforts last volunteer day not enough mulch made it on top of the landscape fabric, so today I went out and forked mulch around to build up a nice barrier between the fabric and all of our furry dog friends who like to dig!

If you look closely in the brights bed you'll see a few seedlings coming up (Zinnia and Cosmos in a variety of bright colors). I noticed a trampled plant on the corner too, which is awfully sad because it was just getting nice and big. So please, keep dogs out of the beds, always! I also transplanted an Eriogonum umbellatum that should add some nice sulphur yellow flowers and act as a 1' x 2' groundcover once it has filled out.

The last photo is from Annie over the weekend, of the brand new Glaucium grandiflorum. I can't wait until these plants get big and covered in orange blossoms!

Plant profile: Dipogon lignosus (Cape Sweet Pea)

2011-05-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

When the arch was installed at PG, I decided it was time for a vine to climb up it. But I had a list of requirements for this here vine – and a common or garden Bougainvillea or jasmine wasn’t gonna cut it!

First, of course, it had to be drought tolerant – nay, drought proof. The arch area receives no water except seasonal rain. No passion flowers or Clematis for me.

Second, the vine had to be evergreen, low maintenance and perennial – more beauty, less fuss. Roses and sweet peas need not apply!

Third, the flowers had to smell nice. “OK, now you’re asking too much” I hear you say. But find my perfect vine I did, and Josh even had some seedlings for me of Dipogon lignosus – the Cape Sweet Pea.

Latin name: Dipogon lignosus ("DIP-oh-gone lig-NO-suss")
Common name: Australian Pea Vine, Cape Sweet Pea, Okie Bean, Dolichos Pea
Originally from: South Africa.
Blooms: Magenta and pink pea-like flowers cover the plant in spring, and they linger through fall.
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: climbing all over the arch at the front of the garden, of course.

Our half dozen seedlings took a quick look at the bamboo canes we strung around the arch as a foothold, and raced up: they will probably span the arch in a month or so.

Considered a rampant and evil weed in New Zealand and Australia, where it is commonly named “mile-a-minute” (eek!) I hope this vine behaves better for me. I suspect the heat and dryness of the location I planted it will slow it down a bit, though we’ve already had to limit it’s horizontal spread into the Cordyline pots and Agaves at the front.

Windy

2011-05-08T22:17:00.000-07:00

Aeonium arborescens
atropurpurea

Really windy this weekend, and the garden is being blown around. I spent an hour on Sunday weeding and admiring the work from Saturday. Planted half a dozen Aloe brevifolia in the middle back bed and considered the corn marigolds which are looking like they might be finishing for the year, and how different the garden looks when they're all pulled out...

Bindweed is the antichrist

2011-05-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

Francisca

Saturday's volunteer day was great as always. We had a dozen people show up and work away for 2 hours, putting in a total of 24 person-hours of work which had an astonishing effect on the garden. We got so much done and several people asked if there were additional work days planned before the next official one. Well if they're THAT keen,who am I to stand in the way?

I sprinkled some multicolored California poppy seeds and yellow Calendula seeds along the lavender hedge as I pondered project number one for the day: to remove bindweed from the dog area and lay down weed barrier cloth. After covering this with mulch it should prevent bindweed from flourishing there. No, it won't stop it altogether, but it will put a severe dent in the party scene that the bindweed has been enjoying. Fingers crossed!

Uzuri and David

I'd estimated we'd get one 6' x 100' long strip done, but we got two strips done. Emily led the enthusiastic group comprised of Elliot, Paloma, David, Uzuri, Donna, Francisca and Leslie, who systematically rid the area of weeds. Leslie also pruned the Salvia "Anthony Parker" which was a bit overdue for a haircut.

In the meantime, I worked in the left bed alongside Carlin, who managed to prune back several unruly plants in no time at all. The cardoon, Cortaderia, Euphorbia "Blackbird", Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum), Watsonia and Artemisia "Powis Castle" all got a trim.

Donna and Emily

I cut back the red Canna, a rosemary and a lavender, and together we worked on the Helichrysum petiolare and Coprosma that were threatening to take over the Phormium back there.

Emily moved the two Aquilegias from the left bed up by the bench - it was just too hot and dry for them. Janet moved a Banksia spinulosa over to a spot behind the wrong way sign too - that one wasn't getting enough sun. Dee cut back the Watsonias in the brights bed among other tasks, and Debbie cleaned up a great deal of weeds from the steps area.

Paloma and Elliot

While all this was going on, Matt was busy in the back slope. At the end of the day I was astonished to see how much work he'd done in cutting out terraces, securely marking the area for the new steps, and moving the compost bin up slope to the base of the compost heap.

Go team!

Volunteer day tomorrow!

2011-05-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to know what goes on at a PG volunteer day? Come on down and find out! We'll have some interesting little tasks to do tomorrow, and we supply the beverages so pop down to the garden at 10am for 2 hours of neighborhood beautification.

Photo shows a rose bush pruned by volunteer Nate a few months ago - look how well it responded!

Quick planting trip

2011-05-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

I ran over to the garden at lunchtime and met Emily. Mission: plant stuff that's been languishing too long!

We set about the top bed aka brights bed, and quickly put in some amazing poppies: three Glaucium flavum (yellow horned poppy), and three orange Glaucium grandiflorum. We moved some Achilleas out of the way for them. next we added three Geum quellyon var. flora plena "Blazing Sunset."

Good thing we were quick, because it was blazing hot out there!

We skipped spring...

2011-05-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Blue Eyed Grass
(Sisyrinchium bellum)

... and went straight to summer! It's hot out in the garden this weekend, so Matt and I went out and did a few jobs, but didn't broil in the sun too much (reapply - reapply!)

On Saturday Matt turned the compost bin, taking out a few bucketfuls of good compost and spreading it around various plants. I did the same with the worm bin's contents, giving the Cordylines in the wine barrels at the front of the garden a hefty dose of goodness. They will either take off like rockets, or die smiling...

I noted that the lovely pink Dipogon lignosus (Australian Pea Vine) creeping around the wine barrels has been tidied up too - I think we have Dee to thank for that work, which appears to have been very carefully done. That vine is enthusiastic about covering anything within reach - great for the arch, not so great for the surrounding plants.

Back slope prep

Next Matt cut back the floppy leaves on the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) which is as usual going berserk and leaning on everything around it in a desperate bid to take over the universe.

Emily had bought another fabulous Cussonia for the garden recently, C. paniculata, and I planted that in the middle back bed after weeding out some non-performing daylilies and trimming back some lavenders and rosemary to make room. This brings our Cussonia species count to three, which I think is excellent as they are such a cool and unusual small tree.

Today we marked off and weeded the currently inaccessible back slope so that Ron from Iron Maverick could get in and create the terraces.

Hope he can start that soon: the area is treacherous, and I have a lot of nice cacti and agaves that would love to grow in that spot, where it's seriously hot and dry most of the year.

Tidy Tips in action

After that, we planted three lavanders in the lavender hedge and watered them in. The Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) seeds we planted way back in December 2009 are flowering now - very cute little native annual daisy. Another lovely native currently in flower in the middle back bed is the Blue Eyed Grass

(Sisyrinchium bellum) - what a charmer.

Lastly I watered the newly planted plants and fed the worms in the worm bin some fennel - hope they like that, because that's one weed I'd love to see go extinct in the garden!

Guerrilla Sunflower Day

2011-04-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Our friends over at GuerrillaGardening.org have reminded us that this Sunday May 1st is Guerrilla Sunflower Day

"We plant sunflowers beyond our boundaries, in verges, shabby flower beds, crevices, along fences, tree pits. Some thrive, some fail. It's the fifth year we've rallied together on this day and thousands are already signed up online making plans. Go out solo or find friends to wander around planting hope together, strike up conversations with passers by and take photos, share your progress online and let me know how you get on. There's a video with tips here."

Since San Francisco's weather is pretty different to that of the UK, I recommend that if you plant sunflower seeds on May 1st you should water them regularly since we won't get much more rain. Alternately I recommend planting California poppies. They're tough, they're native, and they don't need much help at all to get going. Grab a packet of seeds today and go out and sprinkle them around your neighborhood this weekend.

Ice, ice, baby!

2011-04-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Lampranthus spectabilis

Check out the ice plants growing in the garden this week: they are flowering like crazy and the colors are hotter than a very hot thing. How to identify them? Well, look for low mounds of eye-popping color - small succulent plants absolutely covered in many-petalled flowers about 1-2" across...

Starting along the cactus wall you'll see orange Malephora crassa, bright candy red Lampranthus spectabilis and pinky-purple Drosanthemum floribundum.

Malephora crassa

If you walk up the garden to the middle back bed there's also a purple Drosanthemum striatum and the absolutely bonkers Drosanthemum bicolor covered in red, orange and yellow flowers.

You'd have to be blind to miss these flowers. Actually, the colors are so bright your vision may become impaired. Don't stare into the flowers too long!

Ecology

2011-04-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

Matt's new project

Today I met Crima and hr group of 16 ecology students from City College at the garden to give them a tour of the PG, and of the SPUR project and Mariposa Center Garden down the street too. They were all nice and asked lots of questions - hopefully I answered them without rambling to much!

In the meantime, Matt was busy on a project. He cleared out under the Pittosporum tree at the top of the garden and planted three Echium pininana (Giant Viper's bugloss), surrounded by lots of the Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion) that John gave us recently. Should make for quite a dramatic little bed!

After the tour left I weeded the bed formerly known as the red bed, but which we are now calling the "bright bed" since it contains bright colored flowering perennials. Calling it the red bed led to an obsessive fixation with buying only red-flowered plants for that area which was becoming quite monotonous!

Morel mushrooms

I planted a variegated Dianella tasmanica, an orangey Kniphofia "Yellow Cheer," several Alstroemeria "Third Harmonic," a group of three Helichrysum bracteatum "Monster Rose," and another group of three Oenothera versicolor "Endless Orange."

Got everything watered in, mulched and done. Pow!

Bottom pic shows some morel mushrooms that Dee pointed out to me yesterday. Fancy!

Wildlife has a wild life

2011-04-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

I see you creeping up on me...

Today I went down to Warm Water Cove to weed for a while with the other volunteers there. Great little garden, and the weather was excellent for weeding.

After that I met Dee at PG and we weeded for an hour - got the front bed sorted out, and I also planted two Coreopsis and a variegated Agapanthus in the middle back bed.

A nasty smell had been wafting across the neighborhood all morning. I saw Juana walking her dogs and she told me there was an unfortunate skunk who'd been killed in the intersection at 18th where the off ramp ends. Where was he going to? Coming from? Why did the skunk cross the road? We'll never know.

OK that's it - I'm out!

I went up and sure enough a little black and white corpse lay there. Oh dear. Not wanting to either a) wait for the city to come remove him, b) smell him any longer or c) let the smell get worse as he was repeatedly run over.... I went and picked him up and put him on the compost heap. Not that you do anyway, but do I need to tell you not to frolic on the compost heap any more?

Shortly after Nate and Tanya came by and pointed out that we had more wildlife in the garden. A juvenile red-tailed hawk (probably) was sitting on the wooden arch, making that whiny baby hawk cry they do when they want their parents to feed them. I managed to get a picture before s/he flew away. Pretty cool.

Plant profile: Phlomis

2011-04-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

With about 100 species in the genus, these often fuzzy-leaved perennial plants fill a great niche in the dry gardener's palette. They behave nicely, require little to no water, and have a softness that most xeric plants don't bring to the table. Think of them as "lamb's ears plus"!

Latin name: Phlomis ("FLO-miss")

Common name: Jerusalem Sage, or, if you're Matt, Flomax.
Originally from: the Mediterranean, across central Asia to China
Blooms: Various colors include yellow, pink, purple and white, depending on the species.
Light: Full sun, part sun.
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: We have a yellow one in the left bed and a purple one directly in front of the bench.

Our first Phlomis was planted in Decmber 2008. I got it from a nursery who encouraged me to buy it despite my reservations that it was just some sort of weedly what-have-you. Actually my exact words were "what the hell is this? Why did I buy it? Argh!" That Phlomis fruticosa has gone on to be a little winner, so there you go.

Inspired by that, in December 2010 I got a Phlomis purpurea which is quite busy growing and hopefully getting ready to flower. This one, as the name hints, has purple flowers.

Happy in full sun sites or on dry woodland edges, thins plant is fairly versatile. It also appears to be goat resistant judging by the many Phlomis we saw growing wild on Crete where goats scour the landscape eating anything that's not made of steel, and sometimes a few things that are. And saying something is goat resistant is quite a thing - goats will eat anything! I've heard they're deer-proof too, so if you have deer take note.

Watch the neighbors! No, wait - I mean...

2011-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETING

You are invited to attend the 200 Block Pennsylvania Ave Neighborhood Watch 3rd Meeting.

Tuesday, April 19th, 7 – 8pm
208 Pennsylvania Ave #205 – Muller Residence

Our recently formed neighborhood watch group is currently focused on the following priorities:

1. Closing 280 Exit curve onto Pennsylvania Ave.
2. Eliminating Auto Break-In’s on Pennsylvania Ave.

3. Reducing Domestic Disturbances on Pennsylvania Ave.
4. Lighting in Pennsylvania Gardens
5. Traffic Calming at 18th & Mariposa St. Intersections
6. Emergency Preparedness

If you are interested in any of the above items, have any other neighborhood safety concerns, or just want to participate in making our street more safe please join us.

Questions? Please email Jim Wilkins at wilkins.jim at gmail dot com

Another sunny day in Potrero Hill

2011-04-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

Clivias behind the bench

It's always sunnier here on the hill, and today I saw fog elsewhere while we were bathed in warmth.

I had a quick trip to the garden and cut back some plants that were growing into pathways, watered some potted plants, and took a few photos.

I think we'll need to start the sprinklers soon as the garden is getting dry. This year we'll have 45 mins of sprinkling once a week from May to October. Just enough, but still a very low rate of watering.

Ranunculus

Plant profile: Pelargonium

2011-04-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

"I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."

This quote from none other than the USA's first ever First Lady, Martha Washington, is a valuable but somewhat finger-wagging reminder to keep your upper lip stiff, and look on the bright side, kids.

And if there's any plant that does not suffer from a dejected attitude or lack of spirit, it's the Pelargonium, or geranium as it's commonly known. Common being the operative word! They are not only freely available, inexpensive and easy to propagate, but they also have a Carmen Miranda-ish flamboyance that the early settlers of the US probably loved, giddy as they were with their new-found freedom (haha)!

When geraniums were introduced to the gardening public back in the 1600s, they included the species we now refer to as Pelargonium, or potted geranium, as well as the ones of the true Geranium genus. By the time Pelargonium was split off as its own genus, it was too late to try to change the name that had been in use, and the common name geranium stuck for both genera to this day. Oh well.

Latin name: Pelargonium ("pell-ar-GO-nee-um")

Common name: Geranium
Originally from: South Africa, mostly, though they occur in Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar,Yemen, Asia Minor and two very isolated islands in the south Atlantic ocean (St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha).
Blooms: The entire plant is covered in masses of bright orange multi-petalled flowers in spring.
Light: Full sun, part shade
Water: Rain is plenty. No summer water!
Where to find in P. Garden: We keep ours behind the wrong way sign - they love the heat.

A large genus of 250 species of South African herbs and shrubs, the first Pelargoniums known to be cultivated was Pelargonium triste, from South Africa. Likely brought to the botanical garden in Leiden, Netherlands before 1600 on ships which stopped at the Cape of Good Hope, in 1631, the English gardener John Tradescant the elder bought seeds from Rene Morin in Paris and introduced the plant to England.

In 1738 Johannes Burman introduced the name Pelargonium, from the Greek πελαργός, pelargós, stork, because part of the flower looks like a stork's beak. In fact, the common name for Pelargoniums is Crane's Bill to this day.

To bring this post full circle, when they arrived in the USA is anyone's guess, but one particularly showy type became popular in the early 1900s: The Lady or Martha Washington geraniums (Pelargonium x domesticum) Yes, they're gaudy colored, but as one might paraphrase Martha Washington: "Quit whining!"

The Great Compost Giveaway!

2011-04-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Recology is giving away compost this Saturday from 8 am -12 noon… Bring your own bucket and get some of the goodness for your garden, or heck: grab a load for Pennsylvania Garden! We can certainly use it.

More details can be seen here: http://sunsetscavenger.com/

Shout Out to Starbucks

2011-04-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've been dashing from work/garden/work about once a week, picking up a tub of coffee grounds from the Starbucks at UCSF (1700 Owens Street). Full disclosure, I am not much of a coffee drinker, but the staff at Starbucks are exceptionally nice - for both saving the grounds for the garden, and for being so cheerfull every time I try not to interrupt their morning rush. So, way to go Starbucks!

In case you want to know why we are using coffee grounds at Pennsylvania Garden, here are a few reasons:
1) For side dressing plants that like extra nitrogen (like roses!). Try to put down a one inch layer
2) Creating a ring of grounds around plants that are susceptible to slugs and snails, which hate the coarse texture and acid of the coffee grounds (it seems to work!)
3) Adding it to our compost pile as a source of extra nitrogen
In case you haven't been by the garden to check out the newly spruced up pathway along the cactus wall, I recommend going for a stroll and stop and smell the roses there. You may get a whiff of coffee too!