22nd Street Jungle Stairs

Great April 11 workday. Major amount of weeding and brush hauling accomplished. Woo-hoo!

Jungle Stairs will be having its monthly workday on April 11, the Sunday after Easter. We will be starting on the west side at 10. At the top of the to-do list is hauling brush down to a sidewalk staging area for Monday pickup. Also urgent at this time of year is weeding. Every weed we let go to seed will come back at us 100 fold!

The California bush anemone--Carpenteria californica--is one of our state's most spectacular flowering shrubs, as this photo from Mostly Natives Nursery shows. in 2018 we planted three on the west side of our hill. By now they should be approaching their mature height, with a mass of dark green leaves and swelling buds about to burst into bloom. Instead they look like a bunch of little sticks with just a few scraggly leaves. Why? Now that I've dug one of them up, I know. Th...e root zone is a tangled mass that traces out the shape of a one-gallon pot. That is, the roots are encircling each other rather than reaching out in all directions. It's a lethal condition. In another year or two, the roots will become so tightly bound that nutrients and water will be unable to reach the leaves and branches. We have two options. The first is to try to save the plants by slashing through their tangled root balls. That will afford them a chance to regrow in a healthier configuration. If the salvage attempt fails, however, then the only thing to do will be to dig them out and replace them, this time making sure the roots are not encircled before the plant goes into the ground.

Just a reminder: Workday coming up on Sunday March 7.

Coyote Near Our Stairs: A rather large coyote made an unexpected appearance in two backyards not far from our stairs. First it explored Pierre Hurter's back deck, then it dashed upslope. Here is a photo shot through Christian Byza's kitchen window. The coyote is just below the lower branch of a big Monterey cypress, in the lefthand corner. It looks alert, with perked ears and eyes staring straight on.

Rest of rainy season not looking good... https://twitter.com/GardenerMad/status/1362923377271300096

Don't miss the magnolia show at Golden Gate Park. https://www.sfbg.org/magnolias

FAREWELL DOOR FENCE 22nd Street Jungle Stairs West underwent a major upgrade last month when the old door fence was replaced by a new redwood fence along the property line of 3975 22nd St. in December 2020. Built around 1978 by Jack Smyth, San Francisco fireman, and his friend John Anastos, the fence consisted of a row of doors once belonging to the historic Hotel Oakland, which narrowly escaped demolition to become what it is today, affordable housing for seniors. As the H...otel Oakland website notes, it once had an elegant ballroom boasting Corinthian columns, oak-paneled grill room, and sophisticated dining room with spectacular chandeliers. The glorious lobby with gold-leafed, 30-foot ceilings made an immediate impression on the upscale guests. Among these guests were Presidents Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover and Roosevelt; Aviator Charles Lindbergh; Hollywood idols Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. https://www.hoteloaklandvillage.com/about-us/history/ The fence had charm and whimsy, but time had taken its toll. Thanks to Jo Schmidt and Sam Smyth and the Reuben Borg Fence Company for the new fence.

Walking down the western stairs on our regular Sunday workday I spotted a new yarn critter perched on a low-hanging branch of our buckeye tree. Wonderful that neighborhood artist Huib Petersen has once again graced us with one of his creations. They are so much fun. Photo courtesy of Pierre Hurter:

July 5 is our first Sunday of the month workday, from ca 10 in the morning until noon. During the COVID pandemic, volunteers are asked to bring masks and wear them if less than 30 feet away from people not in their households.

Workday Sunday June 7. We will be holding the usual first Sunday of the month workday at the usual timeie whenever folks start to show up, which is usually around 10 in the morning. Since our last workday, San Francisco’s social distancing guidelines for outdoor activities have tightened.... Even outdoors we are now supposed to Wear a mask whenever walking or jogging within 30 feet of anyone not in our immediate household. Otherwise have a mask visible and handy so that it's easy to slip on. It is hot to work in a mask, so if you’re way out on the slope, feel free not to wear one. For me just leaving the mask in place seems simpler than removing it and putting it back on multiple times. And, of course, there’s no enforcement. But I’ve become a big fan of mask-wearing as it’s an important key to getting the spread of Covid-19 under control.

KUDOS for us. This year Jungle Stairs is one of the gardens featured on the virtual tour organized by the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Check it out! http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/22nd-street-jungle-stairs/

Jungle Stairs West 2020 Status Report To say that Jungle Stairs West is a challenging site is an understatement. It is not only shady and extremely steep but also cold and foggy (in summer) and wind-scoured. Gusts here can top 50 mph. The soil consists of an organic layer atop clay and rock. The staircase is flanked by established trees that either planted themselves or, in some cases, were purposefully planted. There are also younger trees and shrubs, including coyote br...ush, that were planted in an earlier phase of this project. In 2016 an expert arborist, the late Ted Kipping, assessed the health of the trees (many were in poor condition), then pruned them, which not only helped the trees but also opened up the canopy so more sunlight could reach the ground. Having more sun has helped us establish new plantings. Among them, red-flowering currant, California bush anemone, evergreen currant, coffee berry, rosy buckwheat, Hummingbird sage. coastal wood fern, mock orange, snowberry, blue witch, ceanothus spp. The choices were made by our plant designer Todd Gilens, who specializes in native plants. At our request Gilens also included some non-natives, including the showy Chilean succulent, Calandrinia grandiflora. A number of these plants are clearly flourishing. The red-flowering currants were spectacular this year. But along the southern boundary you can see three California bush anemones that are struggling. Yet just alongside, evergreen currants planted at the same time are doing splendidly. Why? We don’t know. See more

Jungle Stairs East 2020 Status Report Jungle Stairs East lies on the lee side of Collingwood Hill. It is steep, with soil that’s clay-rock amalgam, but unlike the western slope it is sunny and wind-protected. Monterey pines and cypress once dominated the view-scape, but all died of disease. The plants we have chosen to replace them are cultivars or selections of native chaparral plants along with rock roses and olive trees, their Mediterranean cousins. All are suited to thi...s challenging environment. Among our show-stoppers is a large Flannel Bush with yellow saucer-size flowers. We also have a multitude of blue-flowering California lilacs, which are now spreading out and helping us with weed control. There are buckwheats, including rosy buckwheat, and several types of manzanita: Sentinel, Paradise and Sunset. Plus there are perennials like yarrow, blue-eyed grass and Douglas Iris. Among the plants we like best are the California poppies, which have sown themselves far and wide. Mostly we are very pleased with how our plants have performed and the way the slope looks now, although we have lost some plants. A few were very young plants, not yet well established, but others died in their third year. The heat wave last summer seems to have provided the death blow, but they were showing signs of stress before then. Among the casualties were a coffee berry and the Douglas irises that were planted along the upper corner of the staircase.One reason may be the death of the big Monterey cypress that used to shade them. For now we’ve sown Clarkia seeds to take advantage of the empty irrigation rings. This coming fall we will plant something more permanent.

If you haven’t walked the Western stairs recently, you might want to. The crochet artist of Diamond Street has a new installation at the entrance: A pink and yellow gnome (I think it’s a gnome) and two brightly colored mushrooms. The artist's name is Huib Petersen; to learn more about him, see this 2018 article in the Huffington Post. https://www.huffpost.com//one-man-two-needles-and-an-accid

A reminder of the monthly Sunday workday on July 7, 9:30 to 12:30.

Next Sunday workday is coming up: June 2. If you can make it a week earlier, on May 26, that would be even better as the soil should still be moist, making the weeds easier to pull.

An early reminder of the weekend work days coming up: Sunday April 7 and Sunday May 5. Most urgent is to get the weeds before they go to seed; after the trees come down, there are plants waiting to go in the ground.

A few days ago, my niece was here visiting, and we paused to take a photo midway down the east side of Jungle Stairs. She captioned the photo with these lines from A.A. Milne. Halfway down the stairs is a stair where i sit.... there isn’t any other stair quite like it. i’m not at the bottom, i’m not at the top; so this is the stair where I always stop... See more