Help Us Save Our Natives This Thursday!

The Cahuenga Branch Library will be fumigated on August 24-27 and the library staff have notified us that the City plans to remove or cut any plants within 18 inches of the building next week! The six varieties of California native plants (Giant chain fern, hummingbird sage, coral bells, Douglas iris, evergreen currant and western sword fern) in the rear entrance of the library that we planted in December, are  the highlight of our garden, and so we have to temporarily transplant them into 5-gallon containers for the next couple of weeks in order to save them. 

We're looking for a few volunteers to help us out on the evening of Thursday, August 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. to dig up the plants and put them in the containers. If there's anyone with a pickup truck or cargo van that can transport them to a temporary location four blocks away that would be great as well! We have tools, but you're welcome to bring your own shovel. 

The Cahuenga Branch Library is at 4591 Santa Monica Blvd (corner Madison) in East Hollywood. Map here:  http://goo.gl/maps/AI20A For more info, email elsont@easthollywood.net.

Oh No, Not Again...

This Hummingbird Sage did not last long at its new home.

The Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks, the wonderful and responsible (cough-cough) caretakers of our City's library grounds, recently wreaked havoc again today, this time doing some tree pruning.

It was resident birdman Rik Martino who told me that "They ruined your plants again" and the almost-blooming Hummingbird Sage that was recently transplanted to Area 2 was carelessly trampled-on by the work crews.

If you've been following us, the 'Wreck' and Parks Department destroyed and removed some of our plants in February after their annual "landscaping" work, which wasn't even done with prior notice to the Library's staff. After this was brought up to the Library staff and the LAPL, the regional supervisor from Rec and Parks reportedly toured the Library grounds, gave a 3rd-hand apology and said "We will be mre careful next time." Uh...right.

Of course, just like last time, there was a positive side, a few of the dead trees along the wall in the back were finally removed. 

The two right-most trees in this section (Area 7) were finally removed.

There might be some potential for planting something there in the future...As long as Rec & Parks knows or cares about it.

Update: (3/16/12) Jie, the Sr. Librarian at Cahuenga, just informed me that it was the City's Department of General Services that pruned/removed the trees (and smashed the plant), not Rec & Parks (Sorry bout that guys...). Though this makes things even more complicated!

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!