Winter and Spring Park Fun Days

So hard to know what to call these events. Cleanups is so boring, and I can't decide whether it should be "cleanups" or "clean ups" or "clean-ups." "Workdays" sounds unfun. How about "Park Playdays?" No, that sounds like something you do with toddlers. Maybe, "Park Fun Days?" Got a bad feeling about that. Suggestions anyone?

The next scheduled fun days are:

• January 16 (Sat, 9 - noon)
• January 17 (Sun, 9- 11 am) in cooperation with Hahamongna Cooperative Nursery
• January 23 (Sat, 9 - noon)
• February 27 (Sat, 9 - noon)
• March 19 (Sat, 9 - noon)
• April 16 (Sat, 9 - noon) in cooperation with Hahamongna Cooperative Nursery
• May 14 (Sat, 9 - noon)

Map of park with areas labelled.

Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately once a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).  

Fall 2015 Park Cleanups

The next scheduled cleanups are:

• Aug 15 (Sat), 8:30 - 11 am
• Sept 19 (Sat), 9 - noon
• Oct 17 (Sat), 9 - noon
• Nov 21 (Sat), 9 - noon

There are enough weeds to go around, so if you would like, pull a few whether it is an official cleanup or not. You can find pictures of many of the weeds at the following link. Tumble pigweed (Amaranthus albus) is not shown in the booklet. Click here for pictures of this noxious weed. If you are unsure, leave it be.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately once a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).  

Park Clean-up, July 26

I have not been to the park nearly as much as I would like but I did manage to do a quick stroll on Saturday. It is looking mighty fine! Most of the greenery is horseweed (Conyza condensis). Not a lovely plant but it is native and it is green during the summer. And it is easy to get rid of once it has finished blooming (a very scythable plant).

There will be two park cleanups this summer. I usually do not schedule these, but rather wait until I hear from high school students in need of service hours. I try to accommodate as many as possible. As such, we will have a cleanup on Sunday, July 26 from 8:30 AM to whenever we are too hot to work (around 11). We will be spreading mulch since there are very few weeds to deal with. There will be another cleanup in August before school starts (8/20/15). Check back for time and date.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately twice a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).  

Nature Park Cleanups: 5/13 (Wed) & 5/16 (Sat)

The next scheduled cleanups are:

• May 13 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 am
• May 16 (Sat), 9 - noon
• June 17 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 am
• June 20 (Sat), 9 - noon

There are enough weeds to go around, so if you would like, pull a few whether it is an official cleanup or not. You can find pictures of many of the weeds at the following link. Tumble pigweed (Amaranthus albus) is not shown in the booklet. Click here for pictures of this noxious weed. If you are unsure, leave it be.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately once a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).  

Nature Park Cleanup, Sat. 3/21

The next scheduled cleanups are:

• Mar 18 (Wed) (CANCELLED)
• Mar 21 (Sat), 9 - noon
• April 15 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 am
• April 18 (Sat), 9 - noon
• May 13 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 am
• May 16 (Sat), 9 - noon
• June 17 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 am
• June 20 (Sat), 9 - noon

There are enough weeds to go around, so if you would like, pull a few whether it is an official cleanup or not. You can find pictures of many of the weeds at the following link. Tumble pigweed (Amaranthus albus) is not shown in the booklet. Click here for pictures of this noxious weed. If you are unsure, leave it be.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately once a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).  

Celebrate Arbor Day

I will be leading a walk in the nature park this Saturday (March 7, 2015) from 10 - 11 am in celebration of Arbor Day. Learn a bit about the history of the park and become acquainted with the beautiful native wildflowers, shrubs and trees. There have been an amazing number of monarch butterflies in the park, along with birds including red tailed hawks. I'm sure we will see some wonderful things as we enjoy our lovely native habitat park. Tell your friends! Hope to see you there!

Nature Park Cleanups, Wed, 1/21 and Sat, 1/24

Oh how I miss the park! Although I was able to visit a couple of times in December, I haven't been down there for several weeks. At last glance it was looking very nice, though the weeds are enjoying the moisture as much as the natives.

Next week we will be weeding, cleaning up, and planting. Huntington Botanical Gardens was kind enough to donate 35 native plants to the nature park. These new additions will be joining other recently planted natives that were purchased with donations from local residents. This is a great year to be planting, and I am so pleased to receive these generous donations.

UPCOMING PARK CLEAN-UPS

• JANUARY 21, Wednesday, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
• JANUARY 24, Saturday, 9 - Noon
• FEBRUARY 18, Wednesday, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
• FEBRUARY 21, Saturday, 9 - Noon
• MARCH 18, Wednesday, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
• MARCH 21, Saturday, 9 - Noon
• APRIL 15, Wednesday, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
• APRIL 18, Saturday, 9 - Noon
• MAY 13, Wednesday, 8:30 - 10:00 AM
• MAY 16, Saturday, 9 - Noon

Remember to:
- wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
- bring water
- bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
- comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots)
- binoculars for bird watching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park, which we will point out before we start.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

Please pass this info along to anyone else you think might be interested in the park. If you know of anyone who doesn't use the internet, let me know so we can be sure they are kept in the loop!