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Farewell to Spring and Blessed Calendula

Farewell to Spring and Blessed Calendula

Happy Solstice everyone. Gotta say, it snuck up on me. I’ll still be in spring mode for a couple of more weeks, though the plants seem to know what time it is. A few days ago, the first Clarkias opened. Farewell to Spring.

Somewhat unrelated (though I see that clarkias are blooming in the relevant photos from last year) Landscape Architecture Magazine has an article, From Gray to Green, about PlantSF.org, a non-profit that works to take out pavement in San Francisco and replace it with permeable and planted surfaces. Basically, too much of San Francisco is covered with buildings and concrete — between 60 and 90% according to the article — so the sewer system often gets overloaded during rainstorms, dumping dirty runoff and raw sewage into the bay. Yuck. Richmond has the same problem, clearly visible every time it rains. The solution is to replace concrete with surfaces that allow stormwater to infiltrate into the soil. Enter PlantSF.

Plantsf.org Planting

We went to a PlantSF planting party last year (according to the article, that particular project was called ‘Mission Roots,’ who knew?). These photos are from two PlantSF plantings, taken several months later, sometime around June to judge from the blooming clarkias. I can’t remember which street we worked on, but it was somewhere in the Mission a few blocks from Humphry Slocombe (Oolong or Guinness Gingerbread ice cream anyone?). It’s not too often I use an ice cream shop as a landmark, but that’s how I found the sites when I went by afterwards to see the finished plantings, and I’m sure I could never find them again without having a cone first.

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3 Responses to “PlantSF”

  1. June 24th, 2010 at 9:33 am

    keewee says:

    I love all the color in the gardens.

  2. June 26th, 2010 at 9:22 pm

    lostlandscape (James) says:

    BIG improvement! If I come back in my next life as a nectar-loving insect I’ll be heading straight up that way.

    I almost spaced on the solstice myself. For me it’s kinduv a sad event–I really like the long days, and the solstice means we’re headed for the dark maw of winter.

  3. June 27th, 2010 at 9:08 am

    ryan says:

    Yep. The color is great, and a very big improvement.

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