Point Loma Native Plant Garden

Volunteer in San Diego

2011-08-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Friends of the Point Loma Garden wish to let you know about a new website for those of you looking for volunteer opportunities in San Diego:

www.volunteerinsandiego.org

The Friends are a chapter of the San Diego River Park Foundation and support the River Park Foundation in promoting volunteerism for a better future for the San Diego River and the communities along the river. The River Park Foundation just turned 10 years old and has made a huge and positive impact for our region's namesake river. If you wish to get involved and make a difference for the river and for San Diego, please visit the new website where you will find a variety of fun and meaningful volunteer opportunities including helping us at the Point Loma Native Plant Garden.
The Friend group meets for regular gardening parties on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-Noon. All tools and supplies are provided and community service hours can be verified for those that need them.
call 619.297.7380 for more in or email us at volunteer@sandiegoriver.org

Summer Rolls in at the Garden

2010-07-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

As San Diegans prepare for the onset of summer, the plants at the Native Plant Garden go through their preparations as well. While they may lose some of their beautiful blooming flowers, their water-saving skills kick in as the plants brace themselves for the hot, dry summer.

We've had a lot of good help in the garden so far this summer. On Sunday, June 20th, a group of about 20 volunteers came out to have fun and get some work done, and work they sure did. They helped to create a new picnic area by clearing out invasive plants, spreading out mulch, and positioning a picnic table just right so our visitors can enjoy a picnic lunch in the beautiful garden.

We have another work party planned for tomorrow, July 3rd, and invite community members of all ages to come out and celebrate this holiday weekend by giving back to their community and country. Work tools and drinking water will be provided.

Another exciting project underway at the garden is the continual growth of our native plant nursery. What once consisted of tiny plant sprouts now boasts of tall shoots of some of our most cherished native plants, like buckwheat, lavaterra, walnut trees, and sages. These plants will be planted both in the garden and along the river to help restore San Diego's native habitat for people and wildlife alike. Some will even be on sale to the public, so keep posted for any upcoming plant sales.

If you're interested in helping out with the nursery or the garden, please contact the San Diego River Park Office at 619-297-7380 and/or join us at one of our work parties held on the first Saturday and third Sunday of every month.

Last, but not least, a special welcome to all of our summer interns- Damian Roman, Dana Jennings, and Luke English. It's through the hard work and dedication of the interns and all of our other volunteers that the Native Plant Garden continues to thrive.

Group Events at Point Loma Native PLant Garden

2010-04-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Friends of the Point Loma Garden have been fortunate over the last few months to have very wonderful and hardworking groups come to help us out.
On February 21st, over 75 people, adults and children came from the Solana Beach Presbyterian church to help us ready the garden for Spring. During the event we loaded a large dumpster (Provided by Debris Box) full of invasive weeds, we cleared trails and just had fun in the sun. All in all everyone had a great time, kids were finding all manner of lizards and insects. Truly a Chamber of Commerce day!
On March 24th we had a group of students from Northern Arizona Academy in town for their "alternative Spring Break" program of visiting another city and state to perform volunteer work. What a great bunch! I don't believe we've seen a group of High School kids ever work so hard and with such great focus.
If you are seeking a group volunteer opportunity for your club, church or company give us a call at 619.297.7380 to discuss some ideas.

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-31T17:02:00.001-07:00

This is the prime time of year to visit the Point Loma Garden if you've never visited before or been there during this time of year. It's so amazing the transformation that occurs. From a dry and brownish (yet still lovely) collection of sleeping native plants into an explosion of color, life and wonderful scents! It's such a pleasure to walk through the garden, visiting old friends that were dormant and now awake with vibrancy. To watch the scrub Jays as they play in the oaks and the tree mallow, to come across large Alligator Lizards as they hunt for the bounty of insects and other tasty morsels known only to themselves. This is the time of year I truly look forward to.
However, and there is always going to be a however, our abundant rain these passed few months have also awakened all manner of weeds and other nonnative plants and grasses. In my almost three years of working in the Point Loma Garden I am seeing weeds I've never seen before let alone had the pleasure to remove. Looks like another Summer the Friends of the Point Loma Garden will spend catching up with the weeds.

Join us on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday from 9am-noon for some garden fun! We provide all tools and supplies or just swing by to say hello!

Garden Update 2010

2010-01-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh, Winter along the coast, upper 60's, bright sunshine (until 5pm or so that is)and the occasional rain storm. With our little bit of rain in December the Point Loma Native Plant Garden is waking up for the season. The Sunflowers are on the way as are the Salvias, Bladderpods and more. Of course all of their nonnative bedfellows are starting to wake up too. We spent the Summer and Fall keeping the natives safe from the nonnatives, applied thick layers of mulch to the planting beds and crossed our fingers. Hopefully this will work to lessen the amount of nonnative grasses and weeds we will have to deal with later in the year. But what would gardening be without weeds? Too easy and probably a bit boring.
Some great news, our native plant nursery has been completed. Thanks to the Boy Scots and the Point Loma Garden Club for their hard work and funding. At present our interns Gordon and Shingo are collecting seeds and working to get the nursery up and running so we can have a plant sale this Spring.
Consider joining us for our regularly scheduled work parties on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-Noon. We provide all supplies and tools.
For more info call 619.297.7380 or email volunteer@sandiegoriver.org

Garden Update Nov. December

2009-12-01T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello Again from the friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden! Well it seems as though fall has finally kicked in, with our bit of rain last Saturday the long dormant California Sunflowers are finally waking up as are other plants at the garden. Of course we all know what else rain brings.....WEEDS! The PL Gardeners have been working all Summer spreading thick layers of donated mulch in hopes that we can lessen the amount of weeding we end up doing every year. Cross your fingers and pass the mulch!

In other news, during our first work party in December (12/5/09) we will be working at tree trimming, additional mulching and, now here's the exciting part: Helping Eagle Scout candidate William Ross finish up creating our very own native plant nursery. This is very exciting and a long awaited addition to our garden. Soon we will be able to replenish our garden with plants whose seeds were taken and grown there. We will also be able to hold plant sales in hopes giving people another option when they go to landscape their own homes and gardens. We also hope to raise a little money to help support garden operations. Thanks to William Ross for all of his great work.

If you've been to the garden lately you will also notice that we have had installed 5 more seating benches that are strategically placed in different sections of the garden affording wonderful views of the landscape and our plant collection. Thanks to William Croke from BSA troop 500 for yet another great project benefiting garden visitors.

As always volunteers are welcomed and encouraged to join us for our regularly scheduled garden events on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-Noon. Community service can be verified for those that need them.
For more info call the San Diego River Park Foundation at 619.297.7380

Garden Update October 09

2009-10-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been another long and dry Summer but our native plant collection is still looking great! With the recent cooling I've noticed that our bladderpods, sages and sunflowers are starting to show new leaves! The Garden awakes, get the coffee ready!

Some exciting new developments----
We wish to welcome our two new interns from UCSD, Shingo Minato and Gordon Tong. These gents will be tasked with leading our twice monthly work parties and getting the nursery started and maintained, which leads me to another development........William Ross, an Eagle Scout candidate from Del Mar Troop 713, has been working diligently all Summer toward outfitting the nursery with a gravel floor, drainage system, irrigation and work benches. This is a large and exciting project. Soon we will be able to grow our own plants for replenishing the garden and be able to hold plant sales to support our garden operations. We hope people will realize the beauty and benefits of native plants and decide to buy them from us for use in their own landscaping. This helps to save precious water while supporting our native birds and insects and besides, native flora just looks so wonderful.

As always we are always looking for new friends to join us during our twice monthly gardening parties. These happen the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-noon. We provide all tools and supplies. If you can't join us for some light gardening activities please consider supporting the garden with your Von's or Albertson's grocery club card. Every time you shop a portion of your spending is donated to our organization to help us keep the garden healthy. Paste this link into your browser window to sign up:
http://www.sandiegoriver.org/escrip.php

or, keep up to date on garden happenings and river related news by signing up for our free monthly email newsletter:
http://www.sandiegoriver.org/enews.php

Of course annual donors are always needed and appreciated. For just $35 year you can help assure that the PL Garden remains a place for the community to gather and enjoy:
http://www.sandiegoriver.org/membership.php
If you need more info please call the River Park/Point Loma Garden office at 619.297.7380

Garden Update

2009-08-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Our most recent work party at the garden on Saturday 8/1 was a huge success. We had over 30 volunteers pour through the gate and help us with caring for the garden. We accomplished so much. It was a great day and thanks to all who showed up.
I wanted to get the word out about the change in hours for the work parties. We have decided to increase the hours to three per event so we are there the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-Noon. With the size of the garden and the amount of projects we have going three hours seems to be enough to get things done.

The nursery fence is now installed and Scout W. Ross from Carmel Valley has been working on plans to build the nursery plant stands and install irrigation.
We are hoping to have this completed by end of Summer so we can start to grow in the Fall/Winter. Two new interns have signed on for Fall through Spring. Gordon and Shingo will be tasked with getting the nursery up and running so we can have a plant sale early next year (I hope).

The 1st of three interpretive panels is nearing completion. Artist volunteer and OB resident Katya Khan is doing an awesome job of producing these panels. She has been creating original works of art using watercolors to give us all original pictures of plants and the garden trail system.
Until Next Time!
Richard Dhu
San Diego River Park foundation and the Friends of the Point Loma Garden.

Community Gardening Project (Native Plants)

2009-05-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

On June 21st from 9am-Noon please join us for our quarterly gardening event at the PL Garden. We will work to clear the rest of the weeds and ready the garden for the long hot dry months ahead. We need your help to assure the garden flourishes and thrives until the next rain.

River Days Open House:
The open house for River Days was a success as we gave tours to first time visitors and had a little bagel lunch. I wish to thank Kathy (Xiaoxi) our former garden intern from UCSD and garden president Joel K. for setting up the event and doing the tours.

Garden Open House on 5/16/09

2009-05-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

As part of San Diego River Days, The Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden will host an open house and garden tours on May 16th from 11am to 1pm. Join us for food and drink and come discover how beautiful California Native plants are.
Don't miss the Matilija Poppys now in full bloom. These are the largest bloom of all California native flowers and one of this bloggers favorites (pictured here).
As a note, our regularly scheduled 3rd Sunday work party has been canceled due to the fact that we are having an open house on Saturday.
We will return to our regular schedule in June which is the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-11am. We hope to see you there!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Richard at 619.297.7380 or email richard@sandiegoriver.org

Kiosk Installed & Nursery Fence Erected

2009-03-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Point Loma Troop 500 continues to show that they care about the preservation of our native wildlife through their support of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden. On March 15th they installed an informational kiosk and began building the long awaited plant nursery. The kiosk, located near the garden shed, will provide visitors with information and display storyboards about the garden. The plant nursery will be used to cultivate native seeds and expand the garden’s native plant life.
The garden, as if to show its appreciation, greeted the scouts with lush greens and bright blooms on the warm spring morning. The scouts, joined by many of their parents, set to work erecting the nursery fence and digging the post holes for the kiosk. In a little over two hours, the kiosk was standing and the fences were up. In spite of their great effort there is still more work to do. One of the scouts, Nick Gizzi, described how the nursery will eventually house starter shelves to cultivate seeds picked from the garden.
The kiosk and nursery fence are just the latest of the Eagle Scout projects that the troop has completed in the park. Previous the troop has installed plant name tags, built fences, built benches,

and created a riverbed. Their efforts demonstrate how much can be accomplished when young people get involved with protecting and preserving their native plants and wildlife. The impact of their involvement speaks for itself.

The San Diego River Park Foundation and the Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden cannot thank Point Loma Troop 500 enough. We invite you to come to the garden and check out the troop’s handy work. We would also like to remind you that you don’t have to be a Boy Scout to get involved. The garden is always in need of a little TLC!
If you would like to come and lend a hand, join us on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday every month. No experience necessary and we will provide all of the tools. Community service hours can be verified for those that need them. For more info call Richard at 619.297.7380 or email richard@sandiegoriver.org

ID Signs Installed

2009-01-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

Great News!
Will Mellor, an Eagle Scout Candidate from Point Loma Troop 500, along with several of his fellow troop members spent many hours on Sunday 1/18 installing over 30 plant I.D. signs. Thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) that was applied for by the California Native Plant Society, the Garden was able to purchase the nicely engraved stone signs that list the plants Latin name, common name as well as the plants attributes such as water usage, fire resistance and other information. Now garden visitors and regular volunteers can learn about the plants or do self guided tours and learn about the plants in our collection.
With the balance of the grant money we were able to purchase 35 more signs. Many are duplicates of the first round and ID plants that we have more than one of. Some of the new signs will ID plants that were left out of the first round...Confused yet?

On another note, we will soon have another informational kiosk installed by the scouts near the Garden tool shed and a second phase of the MWD grant wil soon come through to help us design and pay for some larger storyboards. Also be on the lookout for a new picnic area and benches soon to be completed by another scout as well as a long awaited plant nursery.

If you have an interest in gardening or California native flora, visit the garden or drop by during one of our regularly scheduled work parties that occur the 1st saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-11am. No experience ncessary and we will provide all of the tools. Community service hours can be verified for those that need them.
For more info call Richard at 619.297.7380 or email richard@sandiegoriver.org

Power Tools Stolen!

2009-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

Has anyone seen our our gas powered post hole auger, weed-whacker and water pump?
Our tool storage area at the garden was broken into last week. Someone cut a hole in the chain-link fence and helped themselves to our power tools as well as several cases of water we give to our volunteers during work parties.
I certainly hope whomever did this dastardly deed was thirsty, or at the very least looking to go to work with their new tools.
The Boy Scouts will now have to pay to rent a post hole auger to continue with installing the ID signs. Looks like we'll be weeding by hand too since we no longer have a powered weed-whacker.
Aside from this news, the garden is looking great and coming back to life after the long dry spell.
We will be working there this Sunday, 2/18 from 9am-noon. Feel free to drop by and see what we have going on! We'll save a pair of gloves for you!
Call Richard at 619.758.5807 if you need directions to the garden or have any questions. He'd be glad to hear from you.
PL Gardener

A Tecate Cypress for Aspen

2009-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

On December 21st Joanna and Wayne gave their daughter Aspen a gift that she will be able to appreciate for a lifetime. On a warm winter morning the family, joined by several friends, came to the Point Loma Native Plant Garden to plant a tree in celebration of their daughter’s first birthday. Wayne shoveled out a spot and together the family planted an endangered Tecate Cypress. They took a picture of Aspen with the tree planted in her honor, and intend to come back every year to document the growth of both their daughter and the tree.
The Tecate Cypress that the family planted is a native tree that is endangered due to habitat destruction. This is why purchasing a tree from the San Diego River Park Foundation and planting it in the Point Loma Native Plant Garden is not only a wonderful gift, but a significant way to protect the environment by saving our native flora. Anyone is eligible to participate in this n program offered by the San Diego River Park Foundation.
For a small donation you will receive a hand selected native tree which you can then plant with family and friends. You will be provided all the instruction in what to do and you will be provided all the tools to do it yourself. It is a great way to enjoy a special part of our city while contributing to its beauty at the same time. For more information about this program, please contact Richard at 619.297.7380 or via email at richard@sandiegoriver.org.
You can also join the Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden and the San Diego River Park Foundation on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of every month from 9am to 11am for two good hours caring for the garden. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors while helping to sustain them.

Open House A Success

2008-12-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

Our open house event on 12/6/08 went very well. Many new people whom had never visited our garden came for tours and hopefully came away with a little more info on the beauty and importance of our native plants. Our thanks to our awesome volunteers for their help and dedication.
The Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden and the San Diego River Park Foundation, the organization that provides resources such as staff, interns, marketing, tools, supplies and other support to the garden, invite you to join us as we see the garden into the new year. Visit the web page for the garden at:

http://www.sandiegoriver.org/plnpg.php

All great and worthwhile things require support and your garden is no different. Donations of time to help keep the garden healthy and beautiful, donations of gardening equipment, donations of expertise and of course money. If you are short on all of the above you can still help.
By registering your Ralph's, Von's or Alberston's loyalty or club cards with our organization, you can make a donation each time you shop...at no cost to you.

Here's how:
Go to this link and follow the easy steps:

http://www.sandiegoriver.org/escrip.php

(If this link doesn't work, please copy and paste the address into your browser window)

We invite you to join our fun little group for gardening or just to have a look around on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-11am. This Sunday's event falls on the Winter Solstice, finally the days will start to lengthen!

If you haven't been to the garden lately you should see what is awakening from a long and dry Summer's nap!

The California Bush Sunflowers (Encilia californica) have already started to get new leaves which means flowers are soon too follow!

The Matilija Poppies (Romneya coulteri) are also taking on leaves, I cannot wait until the giant, fried egg blooms appear! Did you know that the blooms are the largest of all California native flowers?

And of course this authors favorite plant at the garden, the Island Bush Mallow (Lavatera assurgentiflora) New leaves and blooms are already in evidence and the scent is heavenly. Our Bush Mallow at the garden is well established and spreading like mad. We did not put one drop of water on it this Summer or Fall and it looks as great as ever.

It just goes to show that anyone can have a beautiful garden populated with wonderful plants and shrubs and still save a ton of water.
With California native plants in your yard you will:
Save water and money.
You will not need any pesticides (save more money and the environment)
You will have more feathered visitors to entertain you.
You will have a great garden that will be the envy of your friends and neighbors!

Garden Tour and Open House 12/6/08 10am-Noon

2008-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Garden Tour and Open House
Hello Friends,
The Point Loma Gardeners wish to invite you to our open house and garden tour on December 6th from 10am-Noon at the garden. With all of the recent completed projects and the native plants waking up for the Winter, now is perfect time to see what we've been up to. We will honor the scouts who have completed the fencing, new trails, faux stream bed and installed plant ID signs. We will have food and give tours to show people how wonderful and important California native plants are.
Our garden, at 2 acres, uses 1/3 of the water that regular lawns and landscape require. Our plants are fire resistant, an important attribute given all of the destructive fires that have happened over the last few years and they attract all manner of birds, butterflies and other beneficial insects and wildlife.
Visit the garden, sit on one of our many park benches and watch the show. Birds playing in the trees and bushes, the wonderful scent of our native sages and bush mallows, the beautiful butterflies that float by on leisurely errands known only to themselves.
During our last gardening party this past Sunday(11/16), we had over 30 volunteers come to help us. The giant mulch pile at the front gate is now almost completely spread out, the trails cleared and detailed and more. We also have a new member, we wish to welcome Joe Iacino who has kindly decided to join us as both a fellow gardener and a donor. Joe really likes the cactus section of the garden and will be seeing to the surgical removal of the invasive weeds around the cactus thorns...Welcome Joe, and please be careful!
Our garden president Joel Kalmonson also met with another Eagle Scout candidate who has decided to help us create a picnic area complete with planting beds and picnic benches. Another scout should soon begin to build and install new park benches to replace the current ones that are falling into disrepair.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!
IF you don't have time to join our group in caring for the garden, you can still help...If you shop at Von's, Ralph's or Albertson's you can make a donation to the Garden at absolutley no cost to you everytime you shop. The grocery store makes the donation for you. For more info and to register your card, follow this link and follow the prompts:

Autumn Update

2008-10-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Many new and exciting projects have taken place at our garden lately and we have a new UCSD intern who is dedicating her internship to helping us better care for our collection.
Kathy (Xiaoxi) was born and raised in Liuzhou, a very small but beautiful city in southern China. She and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was fourteen. currently Kathy is an undergrad at UC San Diego majoring in both Environmental Systems and International Studies. Kathy had this to say "I love Mother Nature a lot. I have always considered it as the greatest artist on the planet". Her special interests include plants, insects, and rocks (Yes, rocks too). Kathy says that this is why she enjoys her internship at the San Diego River Park Foundation very much--taking care of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden is really something that she likes to do. "For me, it’s not only fun and exciting to see every little improvement in the garden, but it’s also touching and heart warming to discover that the garden is actually maintained by enthusiastic volunteers".
Thanks Kathy, we really love having you around to help us out!

As for updates, Eagle Scout candidate Soren Umstot from Boy Scout Troop 500 in Point Loma finished the faux riverbed and foot bridge project on Saturday 10/11/08. That was a huge job and it looks great! Pictures will be posted soon.
Another scout, Will Mellor will soon begin to install nearly 40 plant ID Signs which is very exciting. Now garden visitors will be able to learn the names and attributes of these wonderful plants and hopefully use them in their own gardens. We have also just installed a new garden entry poster that is full of excellent information on the garden and its plants. Our thanks to Elizabeth Hanley, an SDRPF volunteer, for her design prowess. We would also like to thank Peter St. Claire of the California Native Plant Society for all of his guidance and dedication. Another thank you goes out to the Metropolitan Water District for their funding of the poster and ID Signs.

Finally a huge, giant thanks to Guthrie and Sons Heating and Air Conditioning. Brothers Ben, Matt and Andrew have adopted the garden as business sponsors and make monthly financial contributions to help us keep the garden healthy. Aside from money, the brothers have also donated two shiny new wheelbarrows to the garden and will join us for the twice monthly work parties. These guys are Ocean Beach locals and very dedicated and conscientious. If you need any heating or AC work, these guys will take great care of you. And for every service they perform for you, they will have a plant or a tree planted in your name at the garden. Call them at (619) 269-3013 or check out
http://www.sustainableheatingandair.com/index.htm

If you would like to join our fun little group for light gardening activities, we meet twice per month, the first Saturday and third Sunday from 9am-11am. We can verify community service hours for those that need them. For more info or, if you would like to be a garden sponsor, contact Richard at 619.297.7380 or via email at richard@sandiegoriver.org

ON another note, we plan to hold an open house at the garden on December 6th, 2008. Times to be announced. We will unveil the newly completed Eagle Projects and honor the scouts for their time and dedication.

Stay Tuned!

Point Loma Native Plant Garden Clean Up

2008-08-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

9/6 9am- 11am Point Loma Native Plant Garden
Join the Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden for a morning of caring for this garden. Learn about native flora and see how beautiful a water wise garden can be. Tools provided. No experience is necessary. Contact Richard at 619.297.7380 or by email at Richard@sandiegoriver.org. Directions will be provided.

Point Loma Native Plant Garden Clean Up

Mendocino and Greene Ocean Beach, 92107

Eagles in the Garden

2008-08-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

Eagle Scouts anyway.

Point Loma Troop 5oo was at it again in the garden. Scouts Ryan and Robert (R2) completed some very important projects for us. Ryan extended and improved the trail system at garden and R2 completed a split rail fence along the ridge for safety and as a nice hardscape feature.
The next big Scout project will be performed by Soren Umstot. He is the fine young gent that will extend the riverbed from the entry kiosk to the beginning of the current riverbed. This should help to address the erosion problem from the street run-off and create another nice hardscape feature. Included also will be a small footbridge over the riverbed.

The PL Gardeners would like to thank Guy Page and his clients from Hanbleceya for their hard work in helping us to move the giant mulch pile at the August 2nd gardening party. We still have some mulching to do but we are starting to see the botom of the pile at last. It's our hope that this mulch, which garden president Joel had donated, will prevent us from getting a new crop of invasive weeds duringthe next rains. As the friends of the garden know all too well, we spent months trying to get rid of the weeds that showed up after the sporadic rainy season we had.

The next big projects at the garden will hopefully be another kiosk at the Palm Canyon entrance
and the construction of a plant nursery. Our hope is that by growing our own native plants we can replenish our collection and hold plant sales to help with funding other projects.

As always, The Friends of the Point Loma Garden seek new members to help with light gardening and to join our fun group. We also need some new wheelbarrows and any kind of financiall support you could offer.

Thanks and talk to you soon.

Point Loma Native Plant Garden

2008-06-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Point Loma Native Plant Garden

On Saturday, July the 5th, Join the Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Garden for a morning of caring for this garden. From 9am to 11 am, learn about native flora and see how beautiful a water wise garden can be. Tools provided. No experience is necessary.

Contact Richard at 619.297.7380 or by email at richard@sandiegoriver.org

New and Exciting Updates

2008-03-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hello and Welcome.
While this Blog has been dormant for over a year, I am excited to say the Point Loma Native Plant GARDEN has not been. The reason that the word GARDEN has been capitalized is because the Friends of the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve have decided to change "Reserve" to "Garden". We feel, and we hope you agree, that the word Reserve sounds uninviting, like one is not allowed to enter and enjoy our little corner of Point Loma/OB. Quite the opposite, we encourage anyone who has a love of nature and a passion for living things to come and enjoy this hidden gem. We also welcome you to come and join our fun little group to help ensure that the garden remains a place for people and wildlife to enjoy. Call Richard at 619.297.7380 or just show up to our twice monthly work parties.

Some exciting projects are in store for our Garden. a small core group of volunteers including Peter St. Claire, Barbara Peugh, Garden President Joel Kalmonson and Rob and Richard from the San Diego River Park Foundation have assembled a work plan for the Garden.
Our first motion was to change Reserve to Garden....Done.

The work plan contains many exciting projects all designed to increase awareness and usage of the Garden. Projects such as a picnic area with benches, a wonderful new entry way to highlight the Garden among other items.
We've also decided to keep our twice monthly volunteer events but have reduced the hours so now we work the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month from 9am-11am.

On Sunday, March 16th we'll be having our quarterly work event from 9am-Noon. Please join us as we ready the Garden for Summer.

Here is a link to our website with directions and additional info on the Garden:

http://www.sandiegoriver.org/PLNPPProject.html
More great blogging to follow!

Key Volunteers Meet

2007-01-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, January 21st, saw a key meeting of core volunteers and community members at the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve.

The meeting resulted in several decisions about the organization of the garden:

Weeding work parties will take place on the 1st Saturday and 3rd Sunday of each month
In 2007 we will aim to work on Eagle Projects including a new kiosk in palm canyon and a new sign for the garden to be seen from Nimitz blvd.
We will plan for a big cleanup on March 3rd to clearout the grass and wildflower area.
John Noble and Jude Mendez from Coastal Sage Gardening will work on a plant palet for our planting party on February 3rd.

A morning of Art and Planting

2007-01-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce a very fun event we have coming up on February 3rd in the Point Loma Garden. February 3rd is set to be a morning of Art and Planting. The Point Loma Artists will be coming down to the garden to do a spot of 'plein air' painting of our native plants. Some of these paintings and sketches will then be submitted to the Point Loma utility box painting project!

As the artists work on their pieces we will be working on making our beautiful garden look even better by planting some new Native plants. These plants have been generously donated by John Noble of Coastal Sage Gardening!

I hope to see you all there whether Artist or Gardener!

Eagle Scout Project This Weekend

2007-01-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

A reminder to all that Willie Grenis' Eagle Scout project will take place this weekend the 13th and 14th of January. We encourage lots of volunteers and community members to come down and lend a hand to this great effort. A local caterer has kindly offered to provide lunch both days, so please let me know if you would like to join us. E-mail me at Khunter@sandiegoriver.org !

I look forward to seeing you all down at the garden for some wonderful restoration work.

Eagle Scout Project Set in Motion

2006-11-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce the start of a new Eagle Scout Project in the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve. Boy Scout Willy Grenis was walking through the garden a few weeks ago and remarked on how much progress the Friends of Point Loma Garden and his own Troop 500 have made over the past year. Eager to contribute his efforts to our wonderful native plant reserve he quickly signed up to start work on an Eagle Scout project!

Willy will be working in the lower end of the garden, the area often known as 'Palm Canyon'. The project will include rebuilding the fence above the Canyon and rebuilding the steps down into the canyon itself. This project will really help to resurrect an area of the garden that was sadly starting to look a little shabby. In addition to his building projects Willy hopes to clean up Palm Canyon itself removing invasive species and trash, and possibly even planting some new native plants!

We wish Willy the best of luck and look forward to working with him on this project. More details will be posted when we have finalized the project dates. Members of the community are welcome to come out and help Willy in his efforts!

Thank you Willy!

2007 Work Party Dates Finalized

2006-10-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Our dates for 2007 Work Parties have been finalized!

Events will be quarterly on the 1st Saturday of the month from 9am-12pm.

February 3rd

May 5th

August 4th

November 3rd

October Work Party

2006-10-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

Friends, Volunteers and Community Members!

We have a work party coming up in the PLNPR on Sunday 29th October. The work party will run from 9am-12pm. We hope that many of you will be able to join us.

Activities will include:

Painting the Point Loma Garden Sign
Trash Removal
Footpath Restoration
Invasive Plant Removal

As usual we will provide refreshments for all in attendance.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Kiosk Installed

2006-09-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Derek Snyder has finished his Eagle Scout project and installed a beautiful new kiosk in the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve. This kiosk will serve as a wonderful way for community members to keep in touch with what is going on at the garden. Our regular watering schedules have already been posted and we hope to add some information about the history of the garden shortly.

May 13th Work Party

2006-05-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to all who came and leant a hand at the May 13th work party. Everyone worked extremely hard and we got a great amount of work done. The pathways are looking much clearer and neater now, and lots of the invasive plants have been removed. Thanks again to the OB People's Food Co-op for thier generous donation of drinks and snacks at the event.

A Kiosk in the Making

2006-05-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Great news for the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve.

Derek Snyder, an aspiring Eagle Scout with Troop 500 is working on a kiosk for the reserve.

Here's a picture of Derek standing next to the proposed location for the kiosk.

PLNPR in the News!

2006-05-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to the Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Co-op for offering us the oppertunity to post an article about the Point Loma Garden in thier Monthly newsletter.

If you didn't get to see the article check it out on page 4!
http://www.obpeoplesfood.coop/pdfs/2006_May.pdf

This all serves as a reminder that the next big PLNPR work party is coming up on May 13th from 9 am-12 pm. We will be workign all morning and then joining together to celebrate the birthday of one of our Star volunteers Matt Colvin!

Poppies

2006-04-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

If you have been down to the reserve lately you will have been immediately struck by the beauty of the poppy display.
The California Poppy Eschscholzia californica has been our state flower since 1890 when the California State Floral Society nominated it alongside the mariposa lilly and the ginat poppy- the California Poppy was the clear favorite and won by a landslide.

Did you know that April 6th is no designated as California Poppy day!

California Poppies are a true symbol of our Golden State and have been around since long before Europeans ever reached California- the leaves of the poppy were used medicinally by Native Americans and the pollen was used cosmetically.

I hope you will all come down to the garden and enjoy the Poppies- for now you can make do with these photographs taken at the garden just this week.

Plant Inventory

2006-04-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week at the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve we were fortunate enough to joined by students from Point Loma Nazarene University. The students worked away tirelessly at the garden to produce a detailed plant inventory. We hope to use the information they gathered to update the plant labels throughout our wonderful garden so that visitors to reserve can be better informed about California Native plants.

A big thanks to all the students who worked on the inventory, and most especially to their teacher Dianne Anderson who made the day possible.