BRCs get beautified

Suzanne, Will and Bill

Sarah, Amanda, Josh, Chris, Matt, Gina, Janice, Bill, Will, and Suzanne - these are ten local (and visiting!) heroes who joined me at Pennsylvania Railroad Garden in the gorgeous November sun.

It was a real family affair!  Bill and Suzanne brought their son Will and dove in like experienced gardeners. Gina brought her mum Janice and well - they too know what they're doing! It's geat to see families working side by side like this - especially when they came to sort out our BRCs.

JOSH!!!

BRCs? Those are the bio-retention cells. Those four parking spot-sized bulb outs that catch storm water in the winter and divert it back to the water table.

The BRCs are full of extremely well-draining dirt which we added, and plants that love that type of lifestyle. So much, in fact, that they have enthusiastically overgrown the BRCs.

Janice and Gina

In case you're looking for planting ideas for your own garden or street park project, the species we used that are total rockstars in this location (full sun, no water except rain, fast draining dirt) are Phlomis fruticosa, Salvia leucantha, Agave weberi "Arizona Star", Agave americana variegata, Santolina chamaecyparissus, Cortaderia "Silver Comet" and Calandrinia spectabilis.

Sarah

And yes, each of those names are links to a Plant Profile I've written about each species so you know how to grow them. Read more Plant Profiles here.

The BRCs got completely weeded, cut back and trash picked in just two hours - thank you for making a big difference team! Your work is noticed and appreciated by everyone in the neighborhood!

BRC installation workday

BRC ready for plants

John demonstrated expert
fennel removing technique

With the help of many volunteers we were able to get a great number of things done today! The first order of business was to plant 57 plants in 3 BRCs (bio-retention cells; just think planting bed in the shape of a parking spot). Annie, Matt, John and my mom Debbie arrived at the street park at 9am to get things in order for the workday. Plants were loaded into John's pickup truck and unloaded at the corresponding BRC site, all according to Annie's wonderful planting diagrams. After we hauled all shovels, gloves, buckets, and whatever else was needed for the workday down from Pennsylvania Garden we got to work putting in the plants. Did I mention we were being filmed during all of this? Peter from the San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), our fiscal sponsor, was there to document our work for the SFPA website.

A gorgeous donated
 Yucca from David

Around 10am Anna, Mary, Jackie, Wendy and Carlin arrived, and got to work planting out the last BRC. Holes were dug, plants lovingly placed, dirt patted down and mulch spread. By 11am we were wrapping up with the BRCs and moving on to the next task. With fresh recruits Jenny and Luke, a crew started digging out the fennel from the planting beds. Luckily Anna brought a great tool for the job, and John gave everyone a quick tutorial on how to get rid of that nasty fennel. The remainder of volunteers worked to distribute the mulch pile at the North end around the garden. By covering the path with a burlap cloth we were able to keep from spilling mulch onto the path in order to keep it nice looking.

A finished product!

At some point David came by with news of a gorgeous Yucca that was available for us to plant. John and Matt dashed off in the pickup truck to retrieve the plant, which has made a lovely addition to the park. Meanwhile, Eliot had arrived and he worked with Jackie to water the BRCs and some of the street trees at the north end. Anna and Mary also put in the last of the cacti that had remained in pots from the previous workday. It was after 1pm when we broke for lunch, and we all celebrated a job well done will we lounged on the yet to be placed boulders eating pizza from Goat Hill and drinking Naked Juice. Many thanks to Jessica who was able to arrange for Naked Juice to be donated for our workdays!