Spring Is Here

Just went by the Library today to see the progress of our babies. They seem to be doing very well!
The first California Golden Poppy in Area 3 has finally bloomed, adding a nice accent of color to that section (Above)

Also, the replacement Baja Bush Snapdragon under the pepper tree in Area 2 is flowering:

And thought it's been blooming for a while, the Coral Bells in the back entrance provide a nice pollen snack for a bee:

Everything's Just Poppy'ing Out!

The first poppy is gone, but now we have three!

Spring has finally come, and what an appropriate time for this!

Bad news: The poppy that bloomed on Monday is now gone, its petals made victim to the wind. Good news: We have three of them now!

Our front planters will soon be a nice array of purple and orange (with some tiny white flowers and teeny-sized red fruit from the strawberries).  Spring has just begun...

We Like The Flowers, The Flowers That Go Bloom

Our first poppy!

This past weekend's rainstorm gave us a much-needed soaking, and no doubt our native plants were happy. Now that the sun is back out, the first California Golden Poppy has finally opened up for us! 

Unfortunately, it's missing a petal, which was probably brought on by the rain and/or wind. But, it's finally here, with more to come!

Thank You Very Mulch!

Just in time for this weekend's rainstorm (hopefully), we just got a fresh 5 cubic yard supply of mulch from The City's Bureau of Street Servies - Urban Forestry Division. This was immediately placed over Area 2 and Area 3 of the garden, so as to not see a bunch of weeds growing a few months from now. 

It was a lot of work, but fortunately I got some help from Azniv and Lilit (left), two Hollywood High School students who volunteer at the Cahuenga Library every week. They seemed to have no problem transporting 5-gallon containers of mulch, and their help speeded up the process. They normally help sort out books inside, but Cathie, the Young Adult Librarian, suggested they lend a hand.

Hopefully we'll get a good amount of rain this weekend, which will soak the mulch and keep the ground moist. Unlike last Winter, we've hardly gotten much rain whenever the storm clouds gather.

Job well done!

I also gave the youth volunteers a short tour of the Penstemons, the Woodland Strawberries and the California Golden Poppies growing on the front planters.

Speaking of which, there's about three Golden Poppy bulbs that have shed their "wizard hats" and are about to bloom soon.  There's over a dozen bulbs on that one plant! 

As for the mulch, the minimum the City can give is 5 cubic yards, due to the types of vehicles they use. We obviously have more than we need, so we're giving it away to the community for free! I even made up a Craigslist ad and a tweet on Twitter to spread the word. Please pass it on!

In the meantime, if you need 5 cubic yards or more of free mulch from the City, just call Brandon Brookman at the City of Los Angeles' Urban Forestry Division at 818.489.6909 to schedule a delivery.

Thanks Brandon, and thanks Azniv and Lilit for your help today!

Almost There!

C'mon Golden Poppy!

In more positive news, this first California Golden Poppy bloom of 2012 is almost ready to open up!

Ready To Bloom...

Yankee Point Ceanothus (California Lilac) already blooming!

Daylight Savings Time us almost upon us, which means Spring is almost here. Though we hardly got any rain this winter, we've been constantly watering our new plants. The flowering blooms are an indicator that we're doing something right. 

This Ceanothus (California Lilac) is planted below the pepper tree in Area 2, prone to being stepped on, prone to water sliding down the slope of the ground. But today to our surprise there were already flowers blooming, where there weren't any just days ago!

Hummingbird Sage ready to flower any moment now.

Its neighbor, one of the newly-transplanted Hummingbird Sages is starting to produce its flower stalk. Soon, its magenta-colored flowers will start protruding.

The other plants that were transplanted last week seem to be doing well, none of them stepped-on or torn out. So far so good!

We're getting a new 5-cubic yard supply of mulch this Friday the 16th. The mulch will cover the bare spots of  areas 2 and 3, and in the north margin of the parking lot. We will have more than we need so anyone who wants free mulch, grab some after Saturday! We'll be Tweeting and Facebooking it too!

One of the three Oregon Grape Berberises (Berberi?) is starting to show some flower buds. Again, these plants look like they're doing rather well!

The front planters (Area 1) are coming along. A recent blog entry showed the first  Margarita BOP Penstemons starting to bloom, and this theme is continuing in 3 of the other planters as well. The fourth one, the easternmost one, is partially in the shade, but buds are starting to come out, so their time to bloom will eventually come.

Sorry, no strawberries to report this time! The last one was gone, hopefully a bird got to eat it!

Green Wizard Hats? No, just poppies ready to bloom!

The mature accidental poppy growth in front of one of the planters is showing four "wizard-hat"-shaped buds, and one of them has a faint yellow tint to it, which means it's going to bloom very, very soon! 

The newly-seeded poppies are still coming along. They're still a couple months from blooming. But hopefully we'll have a nice purple-and-gold display in our front planters (for you Lakers fans)!

There are two other mature poppies growing in the ground in Area 3, next to one of the Cleveland Sages and a newly-transplanted Hummingbird Sage. No "wizard hats" there just yet...

In all, things are coming up for our Library garden...Here's an overview of the front planters, you can see the purple starting to show!

March Cleanup/Planting Report

We had four volunteers come out today - Amanda, Elson, Liza and Luis - the same four who planted the back entryway plants back in December.

The main goal this month was to transplant most of the Hummingbird Sage that had been divided and growing in the pots since early December. Not only did no one steal any of the pots, but all but one of the potted divisions grew back nicely on their own! We placed these in areas 2 (the mostly-shaded area under the pepper tree) and 3 (where the Cleveland and White sages are growing and where the City ripped out most of an established Hummingbird Sage last month.

A Hummingbird Sage makes its new home.

There were about five Hummingbird Sages planted in areas 2 and 3. One of them was a rather large one, ready to flower, that had been growing in a 5-gallon pot. Luis planted it under the pepper tree. The removal of the weed barrier back in January was a smart move, as now the soil was much easier to dig (and better for the roots to grow now).

We actually had very little trash this month, which is always a good thing. Amanda took care of most of what was there.

We also attempted to sow some leftover California Golden Poppy seeds. Elson tilled the soil in Area 4 (East side of the Library property) and sprinkled the seeds across a 20-foot area.

Hopefully some CA Golden Poppies will grow here!

The biggest challenge is working with Rik Martino, the homeless resident who lives across from the Library, better known as "The Birdman of Silver Lake." But this is East Hollywood, and we also have our share of trash and blight here, so we're trying to make him understand that the leftover bread he leaves behind does nothing but attract more trash and blight to the neighborhood.

We did have success in telling him not to spread breadcrumbs and water containers on the low masonry wall that borders Area 3, and he abided.

Fortunately, we saw a sight today that, quite literally, represented the fruits of our labor.

A berry sweet addition to our garden!

It was the first Woodland Strawberry, growing in one of the Area 1 planters!

Just two months after we planted them there, it bore the first fruit!

Granted, these are tiny strawberries and probably not as tasty as the ones you'd find at the local farmer's market, but it's such a cool thing to see them grow up right here on Santa Monica Boulevard!