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Native plant garden tour April 28

April 22, 2013 by Elizabeth Weise

This steep hillside garden, in the area of Malta Drive near O'Shaughnessy Blvd., will be a new one on the tour this year.  The owner/gardener has done wonders with adaptable native plants in this challenging terrain. Photo by Margo Bors.
This steep hillside garden, in the area of Malta Drive near O’Shaughnessy Blvd., will be a new one on the tour this year. The owner/gardener has done wonders with adaptable native plants in this challenging terrain. Photo by Margo Bors.

By Jeanne Halpern

T. S. Eliot notwithstanding, April is not the cruelest month.  In Glen Park, in fact, it may be the kindest month for the senses, when native plants in public and private gardens seem to have no goal other than to delight.  Walk the trails in Glen Canyon Park and, at the boardwalk, savor the bright yellow of seep monkey flowers beside the deep blue of Douglas iris.  Or visit any or all of more than twenty private gardens open to the public for one day only on the San Francisco Native Plant Garden Tour.

Lush hillside garden at 34 Valletta. Photo by Margo Bors.
Lush hillside garden at 34 Valletta. Photo by Margo Bors.

That day is Sunday, April 28, and this year, about half of the gardens are in the Glen Park-Noe Valley-Sunnyside-Mt. Davidson area.  You’ll discover native plants in sun and shade, in front and back yards, in driveways and on small sidewalk strips, and in flower pots on decks, porches and patios.  You’ll see traditional gardens where native plants have been combined with exotics from far and wide.  You’ll find gardens with California natives only – and even gardens with only San Francisco natives.  Some gardens are easy-access and others are webbed with trails and stairways.  Fortunately, the garden lists provided on the website (see below) indicate the few gardens that some people might find challenging.  In any case, a walking stick and sturdy shoes can be helpful.

Lupine in all native garden at 34 Valletta. Photo by Margo Bors
Lupine in all native garden at 34 Valletta. Photo by Margo Bors

Sponsored by the Yerba Buena chapter of the California Native Plant Society, the 2013 tour will also offer opportunities to talk with local gardeners about starting native plant gardens and which plants thrive in this area.  You’ll be able to pick up pamphlets about the advantages of natives, such as saving on water bills, attracting more birds, insects and butterflies to your garden, and keeping your garden colorful all year round.  In my garden, for instance, forty-eight species of natives were in bloom last April and sixty-two in May, but even January boasted thirteen, including manzanita (pink and white), ceanothus (many shades of blue), tree mallow (bright fuchsia) and the graceful silk tassel (luminous white).  There’s never a month without a bloom, and where there are blooms, can birds and bees be far behind?

Poppies and phacelia from above garden. Photo by Margo Bors.
Poppies and phacelia from above garden. Photo by Margo Bors.

The self-guided tour is free and open to the public on Sunday, April 28, from 11am—3 pm.  For information and maps for the 2013 tour, go to http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/gardentour in April.  To get a general sense of what the tour has been like in recent years, go to the same website and look at the 2012 or 2011 tour any time.  If you have specific questions, contact the tour chairperson, Susan Floore, at sfloore@att.net and be sure to write “Garden Tour” in the subject line.

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IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Arlington Path Beautification
Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. to noon
Meet at 300 Mateo (x Arlington) for an exciting day of weeding, watering, seed collecting.
Tools, gloves and good company provided.


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Monthly cleanup on the Greenway
First Saturday of the Month (usually)
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Friends of Glen Canyon’s
Glen Canyon Habitat Restoration
Every third Saturday 9:30 a.m to noon
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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Greenway.
13 hours ago
Glen Park Association

Saturday’s Glen Park Greenway Work Party is Cancelled.

“I’m very sorry to say that
we have cancelled our Work Party for this Saturday July 12, along with all organized volunteer activity on the Greenway until further notice.
As you may have read in the news, our fiscal sponsor, San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), has shut itself down. Just as SFPA has shut itself down, the Greenway, as an organized part of SFPA, has also been “shut down.” We are busy looking for a suitable alternative fiscal sponsor that is willing to replace SFPA. That search is going well but it is a slow process. We had hoped to find temporary ways to enable the Greenway project to function responsibly as a community activity without a fiscal sponsor. Sadly, despite our best efforts and the help of many others in Glen Park, we have failed. That is why we must cancel our Saturday Work Party and discontinue future work parties and other organized volunteer activity on the Greenway (like weeding and watering) until further notice. We recognize that the Greenway is public open space and that the organizers of the Greenway project have no control over the activities of you or of anyone else on the Greenway. However, if you do venture onto the Greenway to satisfy your urge for outdoor recreation, please be aware that your activity is not in any way organized or sanctioned by the organizers of the Glen Park Greenway project. I’m well aware of the efforts that many of the
Greenway’s supporters are making to get the Greenway organized with a new fiscal sponsor and I’m confident that this will be arranged within weeks or perhaps a few months.
However long it takes, I will contact you with news of our progress.
Many thanks for all that you do for the Greenway.”

Nicholas Dewar, volunteer Project Director

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco @rafaelmandelmand8 @danielluriesf @crosstowntrail
#crosstowntrail #sfparksalliance #publicspace #nature
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Wonder what’s stopping just organizing it separate from that non-profit. It seems like the volunteers largely come from Glen Park.

Glen Park Association is at Laidley Street SFO.
4 days ago
Glen Park Association

It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street!

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street! 

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein 

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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Coyote Yipps
Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
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Upper Noe Neighbors

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