Last Post on Native by Design

I am discontinuing this blog. For information on the South Pasadena - Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park (aka. South Pas Nature Park) go to WeedingWildSuburbia.com/nature-park, or South Pasadena - Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Facebook Page.

Nature Park Cleanups - Fall 2018

Park work days are usually scheduled for the third Saturday of the month. Dates, however, are tentative, please confirm on Facebook or email Friends of So Pas Nature Park.

We are planning to hold our regular park cleanups on the following Saturdays (9am - noon):

• Sept 15
• Oct 20
• Nov 17

Nature Park volunteers should:

• Wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• Bring plenty of water
• Bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden), there are extra tools and gloves for those who need them.
• 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.

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS:
Sept. 22, 2 - 4 , Wild Suburbia Garden Talk, LA Arboretum Library
Oct. 13, 10 - 11:30, Gardening with Native Plants, Theodore Payne Foundation
Nov. 3, 9 - 2, CNPS-SGM NATIVE PLANT SALE, Eaton Can Nature Ctr

For more info on the park:

* South Pasadena - Arroyo Seco Woodland & Wildlife Park
* Nature Park (Weeding Wild Suburbia)

Nature Park Cleanups - Spring/Summer 2018

Park work days are usually scheduled for the third Saturday of the month. Dates, however, are tentative, please confirm on Facebook or email Friends of So Pas Nature Park.

We are planning to hold our regular park cleanups on the following Saturdays (9am - noon):

• May 19
• Jun 16
• NO OFFICIAL WORKDAYS UNTIL SEPTEMBER

We will weed, apply mulch, water, and care for the park.

Nature Park volunteers should:

• Wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• Bring plenty of water
• Bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden), there are extra tools and gloves for those who need them.
• 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 plant of the month is globe gilia, Gilia capitata. This is one of the many wildflowers that we have sown in the park. Others include California poppies, tansy-leafed phacelia, owl's clover, bird's-eye gilia, desert blue bells, chick lupines, arroyo lupines, tidy-tips, elegant clarkia, and more. (Don't you just love their common names!) Anyway, as you can see – if you look super carefully –  the bee on the top of the flower informs us that this is a great pollinator plant. Its flowers range in color from lighter blue to this lovely rich color, and it looks wonderful with poppies. We will collect seeds in a few weeks to save for next year, though it is doing a fine job of reseeding itself without our help! According to Sandra Strike (Ethnobotany of the California Indians, 1994) the seeds were eaten by Native Americans. If you look carefully in the park you will find many lovely native wildflowers.

In other news, I will be giving a talk at the California Native Plant Society - San Gabriel Mts. Chapter program meeting on our work in the nature park on May 24. I will discuss our successes, challenges, and what we have learned in over a decade of efforts. CNPS-SGM events are free to the public and I hope you will come by.

For more info on the park:

* South Pasadena - Arroyo Seco Woodland & Wildlife Park
* Nature Park (Weeding Wild Suburbia)

Winter/Spring 2018 Nature Park Planting Party and Cleanups

MLK Service Day Planting Party
January 27, 2018, 9 AM – 3 PM

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., students from Occidental College and local volunteers will be planting native plants in the South Pasadena - Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park (South Pas Nature Park, for short) on January 27, 2018. Volunteers are welcome to come anytime during the day. We plan to start at 9 am and finish around 3 pm. 

The next scheduled cleanups are on the following Saturdays from 9 am to noon:

• Feb 17

• Mar 17

• Apr 21

Be sure to confirm dates on Facebook page before coming or email me (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com). 

We will be watering new plantings, weeding and spreading mulch. 

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). 

Fall 2017 Nature Park Cleanups

The next scheduled cleanups are on the following Saturdays from 9 am to noon:

• Sept16

• Oct 21

• Nov 18

Be sure to confirm dates on Facebook page before coming or email me (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com). 

We will be watering new plantings, weeding and spreading mulch. We will concentrate on preparing the park for a large scale planting in January.

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). 

Spring 2017 Nature Park Cleanups

The next scheduled cleanups are on the following Saturdays from 9 am to noon:

• April 22

• May 13

• June 17

Be sure to confirm dates on Facebook page before coming or email me (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com).

We will be watering new plantings, weeding and spreading mulch. We will concentrate on planting in the Monarch Butterfly Waystation at the east end of the park and on the slope below the main Outlook area.

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). 

Winter 2017 Nature Park Cleanups

PLEASE NOTE THE FEBRUARY DATE CHANGE DUE TO FORECAST OF HEAVY RAINS.
 
The next scheduled cleanups are on the following Saturdays from 9 am to noon:

• January 21

• February 18  February 25

• March 18

Be sure to confirm dates on Facebook page before coming or email me (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com).

We will be planting and weeding in the park. We will concentrate on planting in the Monarch Butterfly Waystation at the east end of the park and on the slope below the main Outlook area. We may also be planting some oak trees in the Park Annex area adjacent to the golf course driving range.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Some of you may be wondering about the sign in the central sign holder. It is part of the SPACELAND III - Aftermath biennial art exhibit. The exhibit which ran from September 10 - October 9, 2016 and is described on the Bermudez Projects website as:

Approximately 10 works, ranging from two large-scale mural installations, mixed-media drawings, fiber based sculpture, paintings, and photography, will be made specially for this exhibit. An originally produced soundtrack will be available both in the gallery and online. And, a site-specific installation will take over a local park along the Arroyo Parkway.

Interestingly, the sign has remained undamaged for many months. Maybe it is time to put in new interpretive signage in the park? If you are interested or know of any scouts or environmental science students who are interested in working on the design and execution of signage for the park, please have them contact me. 

*********************************************************************************
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).