Fill

Today Mike Godsy from DPW was tasked with dropping of some fill soil for the project. He promptly brought 4, 2CU FT bags of this mix- Soil & Stone. Very good potting soil. Lots of sand, lava pebbles and loam. I had asked for a 1/2 cubic yard- not really knowing how much I would need and didn't want to be saddled with too much soil to move if it was way too much. Being raised on a farm, you'd think I could have guessed much better. I could actually use three times this, but I am not going to push my limits.

I called Mike back, explained that I underestimated and he will be able to bring 2 more bags. Thanks Mike!!

Below are the before and after examples of what I am filling in. I planted lots of Senecio mandraliscae, Crassula muscosa and Oscularia deltoides to root in and hold the new soil. All this is done in preparation for winter rains when all the run off tries to create this gully again. Preventative measures at work. I hope I am right on this one- so much soil eroded away over the winter...

Also, here is an update on the Agave vilmoriniana.                                                        I suspect that it may have reached full height by now- all things considered that is. Look at the double picture below. The red line in the picture on the right marks my height of 5'8". Really, it is at that height- yes I know it looks wrong- too low, but it is correct. So if that is 5'8",  I am putting the flower stalk at 11'. Remember, this is not all that impressive. This agave grown to maturity under normal circumstances can have a flower stalk much larger than this. One in Palo Alto at the Stanford Arizona Cactus garden is a good 25 to 30' right now- go see- it is up into the Oak tree. Because this particular specimen was stressed it shot this flower stalk out as a last-ditch effort, thinking it was going to die. It is the best it could do.                                                                               Still, a lovely show I think.

Poppies!

Poppies galore! 
They are the state flower you know.

I don't often show the median up at Malta and O'Shaughnessy, but it really is looking good. With the help of the Supervisors office, I am trying to get the walk sign raised in the interest of safety. I prefer not to have to cut down the plants or worse...

From the picture right below here, you can see how a driver can see the crosswalk, but not the walk sign.

The California state flower is the orange color, but the cream color flower is not. I couldn't resist spreading lots of seeds last fall and here we are now reaping the benefits. I have been asked to collect some seeds for my neighbor here on the block. She especially was interested in this color. She calls it white- the seed packet says Buttercream.

I brought a truck load of plants to install today. Among them was this beautiful Agave americana variegata specimen. It came from the generosity of Dilyara in the North Bay. I think the name Buttercream for the poppies here, in this picture at least, makes perfect sense. Behind it you can see the Furcraeas and the large Agave americana from Joanna in El Cerrito- and peeking into the frame from the lower left is another agave- A. weberii.

I planted several Euphorbia characias (I think) from Channing, some Aloe striatula from Christy, some Aloe nobilis from Fanny, an Opuntia and a clump of Aeonium arboreum
from the South Bay. That is it as far as I can recall. It took me around 3 hours. I had one driver pause and exclaim a big 'thanks it looks great'.  That sure goes a long way for me. It makes it all worth while... To finish off the time there, I did lots of weeding. Below is the haul before installation.

Beautiful

This morning, Channing arrived on time as usual of course, and we headed over to El Cerrito to extract a large Agave americana from Joanna. I think this is the largest agave retrieved for this project. It is really a beautiful plant. After moving around a few plants to make room, I located the spot to plant it. I am trying to create a bit of a windbreak for the Furcraeas. I hope it works.... Later, I had lots of small Agave americans and I added to a couple of other medians around the neighborhood. Treasure hunt anyone?

Eureka!

They're in! The promised signs from MTA were installed last week. Each end of the center median is adorned with one of these yellow diamonds. I trust these will save the lives of the growing agaves and succulents that are being nursed along. I am so happy. The trick was to contact my district 8 supervisor's office, and ask for their help with MTA. Literally the next day, Bam- they're in. Raised reflectors and raising the walk sign at the Malta median were also part of the deal. Maybe one more email...


Behind the yellow sign in this second image, you can see the Agave vilmoriniana really making a show. Actually, had this plant been in the ground longer, this stalk would be much larger- we will see how big this one will get. I am counting on lots of bulbils.....

(Bulbils are tiny plants that form on the inflorescence of certain agaves.)
















The poppies are bursting.......the Lychnis and Euphorbia are all in full go mode, flowering up a storm! It is very pleasing to see all this. It now looks like a real garden.  Cool.

Generosity

So this truck load holds contributions

from Jillian, Peter and a few stragglers from the last donation from Fanny. Thank you kindly. Because of the generosity of these lovely folks, the project is getting better looking by the day. The Cotyledons are from Jillian, who was giving away tons of these very healthy succulent cuttings. I had so many, I kept some for myself and shared some with a neighbor to brighten up her side yard. The cacti are from Peter, who also was giving away lots of cuttings and was so complimentary of this project, he was able to bring them to me! That is a wonderful thing. While looking over the plants today, I see evidence all over that Spring has sprung. The Sparaxis are in flower, the poppies are sprouting up all over and the Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives' that came from the south bay are growing with a vengeance! I hope so because it would be lovely to have this planted all over O'Shaughnessy Green! See below.

Look at this Euphorbia lambii (right) in full flower too!

When I went up to the median at Malta, I was amazed. Back on November 27th (see images in post with that date below) I planted some CA natives. They have quadrupled in size! They are Lupinus arboreus(right)and Lupinus nanus (center). There is also a very noticeable growth rate for the Sedum spathulifolium.(left)

Lastly, I had to give pause. I know from transplanting a very large (4 person job) Agave weberi into my yard and in two years it flowered. I learned that when an agave thinks it is dying or stressed and potentially dying, it will flower, making seeds, in order to survive. Here is this large, but not huge Agave vilmoriniana, or octopus agave, and it is flowering. I know it has stress as you can see the tips of the leaves are dry, but it also was growing to this size in a one gallon pot. So it was stressed and now it will flower prematurely, in my opinion, and because it is monocarpic, that's it - dead by a year from now.

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Three

Today as I was about halfway done adding some Gazanias, bush ice plant and (not pictured) aptenia and some agaves, Chrissy the lovely and supportive neighbor came out to tell me that just the other day, shortly after I finished my work in the median and left, a three car accident happened at the curve.

This explains the reflector that was laying there.

More

Today I added lots more plants to the center median. Originally I wanted to make this an all agave bed to demonstrate how many different shapes, colors and textures are in this huge family of plants.

No longer is that the plan and I have to say it looks really good with the Senecio and the calindrinia cuttings I received from Fanny.

Her generosity is superb!

Right now, the plants are really growing and starting to fill in and look like some cool healthy plants, see?

Wait?

My plan was to wait to clean up the month old damaged plants until DPT came to survey the damage first hand. They still have not. But, Julia asked that I clean it up as some complaints were received. That is good because people out there are noticing the plantings. I agreed to clean and add new plants by today or tomorrow and believe it or not, it got cleaned up yesterday, before I could do it today. A few agaves got scooped up in the removal that I know were salvageable, but that is my fault for not collecting them sooner. It is now replanted and looking really good with even larger plants than the original plants. It's no longer a stick Agave bed, but it is good.

Due to the generosity of Fanny, and the keen watchful eye of Annie, I was able to score these fantastic HUGE plants to reclaim the median! They are Furcraea bedinghausii. Fanny was giving away 3 plants that her crew had already removed and were waiting to be picked up when I arrived. Wow, they were larger than I expected, and very healthy.

I barely could get them on the truck even with her help. Channing was called in to assist in unloading them and he was a great help to me as usual. Now the median is beautiful again and as these beauties relax, they will really look stunning! Thanks Fanny for providing such great plants. Oh, the front plant in the picture below is an Agave vilmoriniana (octopus agave) that came from Marsha a while back. (so did the others that were plowed down) I was saving this one because it was the largest, and lucky for it I did, as it survived. I hope these will be all right for a long time to come. Steer clear people!!        S  L  O  W   D  O  W  N,  please !

Also, I noticed that the plants have been growing really fast in the smaller side medians! Compare with the similar view below from August 2011, when it all first began.

All in all, I am very excited to have the median looking good again.

One experience that helps this restored excitement was a passer by that shared his frustration with the past moths damage and asked if there were plans to add any means of preventative nature, like more reflectors. I explained that I am lobbying for this and a sign, he told me he would go home and send the city an email. Cool. I am thinking something like.....

                    

Meeting

I just returned from meeting with Julia, with San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) and Sandy, Assistant Superintendent with DPW. They are now seeing the situation first hand, collected some of their own photographs and will now get in contact to set up a meeting with DPT (Department of Parking and Traffic). They are the ones who have say over anything that would be added as a preventative: more reflectors, two big trees, a mound of soil or even extending the median bed to round the corner. All these are ideas and the last one being a big-ol-pipe dream. Sandy says why not have those! I will report the next phase.

Damage

On Friday 1/13, a vehicle plowed through the center median. It did so much damage, that I am not sure how to move forward. I am working with the Parks Alliance to see if DPT will add some way to make this median more visible before I replace the plantings. For now, here is how it looks.

More

I added so many additional plants today. Here is the before and after of the truckload.

Report

• DPW secured the walk sign at the Malta median and it is well done. (perhaps too low however)
• The plants have been really growing and filling in fast.
• The neighbors to the East have been super supportive and helpful.
• I have been able to include some natives (in the box) to bring a bright smile and a sigh of relief to Denise, who is really an advocate for local natives.

• Then, unbelievably, there have been three instances of vehicles driving into the medians. The most recent was Nov 22. The photos below were made by Chrissy and I really appreciate her efforts. Remarkably, the plants were dragged but not destroyed and I was able to replant them comfortably.