Mr Wood Rat and I had occasion recently to cross Kezar Triangle on our way to eat a picnic lunch and watch the lawn bowlers in Golden Gate Park.
We've crossed Kezar Triangle before, and enjoyed watching people play sports or exercise their dogs on the extensive green space.
It was not otherwise very interesting, just a threadbare grassy field worn into rutted paths here and there that got soggy in the rain, bordered by three roads.
But that has all changed.
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| Salvias and a mallow and California fuchsia make a lovely combination at Kezar Triangle |
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| Closer look at the native California mallow, not sure what species. |
Now there are beds of beautifully laid out native plants, new pathways, art installations, and interesting low woven willow fencing. The greensward has also been repaired.
Community involvement is clearly very strong. There is a Friends of Kezar Triangle organization that I hope will stay active for the life of the park.
Above we see the Plot to Grow Art. The idea is that it will "help connect people to place through temporary plantings and agriculture," growing and harvesting plants of special interest, such as those used for dye. I like that it changes often, giving people a chance to try out their planting idea. The first idea was to plant barley, which was used in the 1860s to stabilize the dunes out of which Golden Gate Park was created.
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| "Wood Wave" by Chuck Oakander, made from a Monterey cypress log. Better picture and more info here |
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| Very low growing coyote bush, California fuchsia (Epilobium), and looks like young madrones in the back. |
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| There was a variety of grasses too. |
The native plant landscaping is tucked into the three corners and periphery of the park, leaving lots of room for field games. The old paths have been replaced with permanent ones. Lots of trees, mostly coast live oak and buckeye are in the plan. I saw, I think, madrones, and an ironwood.
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| Young madrone, pretty sure. |
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| Santa Cruz Island Ironwood tree |
You can see the planting plan and links to more details here. It might reward study, if you are thinking of doing some landscaping yourself this fall - as I am!
If you want to visit, look for Kezar Stadium, which you'll see to the right of Kezar Triangle on this Google map.
Comments
This is the starting season, have you started anything to plant out this Fall and Winter? This year we may have rain; in fact, we may have too much rain. Such are the joys of California gardening.
It's fun to explore the neighborhoods of SF, I agree!
I would have been starting a lot of different seeds I have collected in the past year - but as I'm taking a three week vacation in Aug/Sept to welcome a new grandson in the UK - I didn't want to leave my own "babies" at home without TLC that long. Mr Wood Rat is great with wood but... So I'm planning to get going as soon as I get back and plant things out very small as soon as I can, and then baby them in the ground for the most part. I'll keep some things in pots too, and see how each group does. If we get the torrential winter, very small plants may not do so well - or they may get good roots quicker? - we'll see! What are you doing this year?