Dear Greenway supporter,
The Greenway’s Native Meadow is at a key moment in its development and it urgently needs us to protect it. You’ve probably noticed how well the native plants are doing, but the Oxalis that escaped our weed suppression methods is just getting going and, if we’re quick, it presents us with a great opportunity to control it.
I’ll explain this below, but the bottom line is:
Today (Thursday), and whenever it’s not pelting with rain during the next few weeks, please join us in the Native Meadow to carefully remove the Oxalis plants.
Kathy Keller is leading our efforts and will typically be in the Native Meadow when it is not raining. If you see an opening in your calendar (even half an hour of your time can make a big difference), here’s what you can do:
Contact Kathy Keller at
greenway@glenparkassociation.org
to coordinate your work with her.
Bring your favorite hand fork and kneeling pad (these are the preferred tools for this task; we have a supply of them if you need to borrow them).
Come to the Native Meadow (beside Bosworth St between Brompton and Lippard Avenues) so that Kathy can show you how to remove Oxalis most effectively.
It is no exaggeration to say this is a most critical time for the Meadow. It’s a do or die moment and it’s all about the life-cycle of the Oxalis.
The variety of Oxalis that is infesting our Meadow reproduces by bulbs and bulbils (not by seeds). Right now it is coming up from single bulbs, formed at the end of last summer. Soon it will start forming small white bulbils along its single taproot as shown in the archival photo above. There are maybe half a dozen bulbils on each root. All will grow into new plants. So this time of year, before most of the bulbils are formed, is actually when Oxalis is most vulnerable; at its weak point in its reproductive cycle. This is an opportunity we must not miss.
The good news is if we succeed, future weeding will be a breeze compared to what is required now.
The next few weeks are critical. Is it a coincidence that Oxalis is at its most vulnerable during the time of the year with the worst weather? Well, it’s time to show what stuff we are made of. This a test of our community. Let’s seize the moment and beat the bulbils.
Thank you for all that you do for the Greenway.
Nicholas
Nicholas Dewar
Friends of the Glen Park Greenway
– a project of SFPA
The Greenway is on the unceded ancestral lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples
