Gingers on the move

Last week I sent out a call for help watering the garden to our list of dedicated volunteers, and they responded! Today I had some great help in the garden: Gina, Miyuki and Matt spent several hours getting things watered and tidied.Gina deadheaded a mountain of Cannas. Miyuki watered dozens of plants,...

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Hands + hands + hands + hands = light work

Or... many hands makes light work! Once again this equation was proven when Leanne, Miyuki, Arum and I met at the Mariposa Center Garden last night to water it throughly, and plant 12 Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena) and about 9 Echium candicans (Echium) "Pride of Madeira."Now, aside from the gap...

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Prickledom

John, Matt and I had procured some cactus cuttings recently, and I was looking for a spot to pot them where they wouldn't fall on someone and turn them into kebabs. The other day I met Steve from Regent's Cab on The Hill, and with almost clairvoyant perception, Steve offered his parking lot just down...

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The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.

The second best time is now!Chinese proverbs like that one are always useful to get you off your butt and make a change. And Friends of the Urban Forest are coming to the Potrero Hill/Dogpatch area soon! They'll be planting trees on the sidewalks this fall and you too can have one in front of your home...

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Lunchbreak

I popped over to the garden at lunchtime today to eat my sandwich. Noticed a few new plants looking a bit wilty, so I watered them (mostly the Nicotiana and Scabiosas) and took a few photos.We have an Arctotis "The Ravers: Unmellow Yellow" at the top. I planted three in the front border and...

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Minister of Propagation

Matt, the self-proclaimed Minister of Propagation, has been spending countless hours recently potting up plants for the next plant sale on October 16th (that's right - pick up a red pen and go striaght to your calendars, people!)  He's got dozens of 1 gallon pots of many of the garden's favorites...

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Shopping spree

Today Emily, her mum and I went to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and Annie's Annuals.Annie's was having a 20% off sale. Berkeley Hort is darn expensive but they have loads of nice plants. Between the two places we bought a lot of stuff!Berkeley Hort:4 Convolvulus cneorum (Bush Morning Glory)2 Asclepias curassavica (Butterfly Weed) "Silky Gold"Annie's:2 Knautia macedonia 1 Lupinus perennis (Sundial Lupine)3 Scabiosa atropurpurea "Ace of Spades"3 Pericallis lanata1 Crassula coccinea1 Aeonium nobile1 Agastache pallida x rugosa "Globetrotter"1...

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Photos to make up for yesterday...

...when I didn't post any! I went to the garden at lunchtime yesterday and snapped a few pics with my new phone:Left to right, top to bottom: Aeonium "Sunburst", Agapanthus, Achillea "Cerise Queen", Puya venu...

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Planting session

Emily and I went out to plant our weekend haul this evening at 6pm. One of the things about weekday evening planting is that a lot of people walk their dogs and chat  at that time of night, so we enjoyed some idle banter with Gina and Tank, Jim, Carrie and Kelly, and Donna and her two dogs (thanks...

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Donate? Yes, you can!

Donna, owner of two lovely "frequent flier" doggies at P. Garden emailed to ask how she could donate to the garden. Yeah! I sent her a reply, then updated our Donations page too. I even set up a PayPal button so you can donate with a credit card!There are four ways to donate money now, as well as ways to donate plants, equipment, materials and buy a tee-shirt for the cause. Check it all o...

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4th of July plant shopping!

I was up in Mendocino over the holiday weekend, and one of the places I usually visit while there is Digging Dog Nursery. Naturally this resulted in some purchases...4 Santolina chamaecyparissus "Nana" (Gray Santolina, Lavender Cotton)2 Helianthemum nummularium "Wisley Princess" (Sunrose)2 Helianthemum...

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Emily, Arum and I were interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday! The story of Pennsylvania Garden should appear in the Home & Garden section (my favorite!) in the next 4 weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for that. createSummaryAndThumb("summary2096037950770929239...

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Let's plant an urban forest!

Friends of the Urban Forest are coming to the 'hood! We hope to work with them on the 17th and Pennsylvania Urban Renewal (SPUR) project to line the 100 block of Penn Ave with trees. Our cost will be $75 per tree which we hope to fund with grants.But what about the 200 block, you ask?Currently there are Callery Pear trees (Pyrus calleryana) alongside the lofts on the west side, and a few other trees further south, up the block on the same side. But nothing on the east side of the block at all. In fact, it's rather awful over there... asphalt...

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DIG IN SAN FRANCISCO Street Parks Workshop @ Visitacion Valley Greenway July 24th

SFPT's Julia Brashares announces another workshop for you urban horticulturalists:Dear Street Parks Stewards, You’re invited to attend DIG IN SAN FRANCISCO on Saturday, July 24th from 9:30am to 1:30pm at the Visitacion Valley Greenway! If you haven’t been to the Greenway before don’t miss this chance to check it out –we guarantee that you’ll be delighted and inspired by what you see!! This free workshop on sustainable gardening is presented by San Francisco’s Department of Public Works & The San Francisco Parks Trust Street Parks Program in...

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Cactus demolition team!

I have tasked John with the procurement of large, specimen cacti, agaves and yuccas for the SPUR project. We both saw a Craigslist ad for some big columnar cacti this week, and went to see them and meet owner Doug on Wednesday night.The four cacti turned out to be huge - one was about 15'+ tall, one...

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Pots galore!

Matt has been buying 1 gallon plant pots for $0.99 each recently, to propagate plants in for the next sale (October 16th people!) but that's way too much to spend. I sourced some online that came to about $0.33 with shipping for 100, but then our good friend John let us in to a secret: Berkely Horticultural Nursery sells them for $0.05 each, and 5 gallon pots for $0.20!I drove over there today with Melissa and asked an employee where to find them. He pointed to the pots and then tipped me off that very often there's a pile of unwashed ones just...

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Out with the old

The corn marigolds (Chrysanthemum segetum) are done for the year, and I spent from 4pm-8pm yesterday ripping them out of the front border. 5 wheelbarrows full! Now we have a rather sparse look there (see pic.) - the Agapanthus are doing great, and the Gazanias and Artemisias are fine (pruned the...

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Busy weeks, but not in the garden

Arum, Emily and I have been hard at work for the last few weeks preparing two massive grant proposals. One is the Community Challenge Grant and the other is a PUC grant, and both will go to fund the SPUR project, which we hope to break ground on in the fall.We're all desperate to get back out into the...

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Give me Blue Steel! Errr, rusty steel?

Today Emily, Arum, Gary and I met Phil (left) from the San Francisco Chronicle to have our pictures taken for an upcoming edition of Home & Garden! We walked around the garden pretending to look busy, and posed awkwardly in front of various plants. Gary did his best "Blue Steel" and Phil took pics...

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Busy, busy, busy, work, work, work

Today Emily, Matt and I convened at ultra-fresh new spot Mr & Mrs Miscellaneous for ice cream and a meeting with Friends of the Urban Forest. They're planning to plant trees in our area, and they need to coordinate with the locals to get it done. Just so happens we need 30 trees planted on the 100...

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A Glimpse of Spring!

We interrupt our regular programming (namely day 2 of a winter snowstorm which I had planned to post) to bring you signs of spring!This week we've had the most glorious foretaste of the approaching change of season, with bright sunshine, blue skies and temperatures reaching into the 50's (approx....

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