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 sidewalk, grafitti, yuck...

If you are interested in planting trees on that side of the street, the cost is $75 per tree. They bring a tree, cut the sidewalk for you, and help you plant it and stake it and give you all sorts of help. Believe me, this is a deal!

Want to know more? Contact FUF at the above link, or, better yet, come to the community meeting at Mr & Mrs Miscellaneous (the new ice cream shop on 3rd Street) at 4pm on Saturday July 17th.

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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 block of Penn Ave, so that's convenient! (Do you want a tree in front of your place? Let us know!)

After that we went to the garden. What did we get done? In 3+ hours we did the following:

Planted 4 Achillea "Red Velvet" and 6 Achillea "Feuerland" in the red bed.
Watered just about everything.

Replanted a Cordyline.
Planted a Salvia apiana (White Sage) and a Lupinus arboreus (Yellow Bush Lupine) and rearranged a Nassella tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass) and an Oenothera of unknown species in the left bed.
Removed two clumps of Dianella tasmanica.
Planted half a dozen Gazanias along the front border.
Planted three Achillea tomentosa (Woolly Yarrow) along the steps.
Deadheaded lots of Arctotis and Gazanias,
Pondered the red bed and it's deficiencies and how to remedy them.
Removed corn marigolds from the Wrong Way sign area, edged the spot in pavers, and planted half a dozen Calandrinia grandiflora (Rock Purslane) there.

Gosh that's a lot of work: 9 person hours of kicking ass! A glass of Belle Glos pinot noir from Monterey for me and a Corona for Matt, I think.

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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 or business - or you can sponsor a whole street of trees, or help another person out and buy them a tree!

Look around the streets in your area and see if there are empty tree "wells" or even entire blocks with no trees (the east side of the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue is bare, for example.) We can fix that!

FUF offers a subsidized planting package at $75 ($450 value) which includes:

- Utilities check
- Concrete removal and disposal
- Species recommendation by FUF's Arborists
- The TREE itself
- 18 months of tree care!

That's a steal. And all you have to do is tell them you’re interested.

To participate either contact Megan at 415-561-5890, ext. 114 or click here to visit the FUF site!

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