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Showing posts from September, 2007

Finding Temescal Creek

The UC Botanical Garden plant sale had been noted in my calendar since the summer. We set out this morning to purchase local natives for three spots in our garden. I had no particular species in mind, just plants that would thrive in three conditions: below a roof spout with late afternoon sun; below a roof spout with intense afternoon sun; and below a thin-crowned shrub with afternoon sun. The outing was a miss for several reasons. One, the nearby parking lots were full (perhaps I should have biked but I don't have a carrier yet and my knees are quite sore from race training). Two, we realized that we did not bring enough cash. Three, the crowd was off putting. We did not want to be jostled by red wagon carrying buyers and other eager plant enthusiasts. I thought it might be too difficult to browse leisurely on such a fine day. Instead, we drove along Grizzly Peak, stopping to admire downtown Oakland and San Francisco from a scenic viewing area. After that we drove to

Photo of the week: Whole Foods Oakland

A grocery store search on Yahoo for the Grand Lake neighborhood of Oakland, in which the new Whole Foods is located, yields three other stores: 7-Eleven, Grocery Outlet, and K&S Store. The Yahoo Maps tool does not capture all grocery stores in the neighborhood. For example, there is a corner market on Grand and Perkins, specializing in Ethiopian food stuff. Furthermore, the definition of grocery store is unclear if a convenience store like the 7-Eleven is included in the map. Anyway, the point is that Whole Foods Oakland has filled the need for a large grocery store in the Grand Lake neighborhood, and in Oakland generally. 27th and Harrison "Market hall" interior design right, Road to upper-level parking is behind the grey and yellow walls Cafe style seating (also located in the store); 10 bicycle racks; recycling center; narrow shopping carts Neighbours

Tree Walk Wednesday: Observations of tree conditions

This blog and its parent website began as an online urban tree reference in 2002. Although the focus is no longer exclusively on trees, I began to look closely at the health of trees on my daily routes after reading about the tree canopy goals of cities like Boston ( 100,000 trees by 2020 ) and New York ( 1 million trees by 2017 ). Why? Well, the significant factor in achieving canopy goals might seem to be the number of trees planted in the time period alloted, but planting trees with proper form and applying appropriate cultural and care practices to these trees will help to sustain a healthy urban canopy. With this in mind, here are several sets of photographs to consider. New Trees left, Sparse leaf cover versus right, Fairly good leaf cover Both trees are located on the same block on a major street in Oakland. The trees are the same species, purpleleaf plum ( Prunus cerasifera ). I could not determine if the tree on the left was planted in its present condition or if

Contested streets

"Contested Streets" is the title of a documentary about the successful limiting of auto use is Paris, Copenhagen, and London and the strategies that can be implemented in New York City. There is a Toronto screening in October, you can watch a preview on You Tube, but I have not heard of a local screening. Today is International Car Free Day. I don't think many Cal Bears fans celebrated this occasion given the numerous cars on the street whose drivers were heading to the stadium and searching for parking. We drove to the grocery store today after an 8-mile run so I voted "Yes I have to do it today" in Spacing Toronto's Do you plan to drive on Car Free Day? poll . If you drove today maybe you pre-absolved yourself by participating in one of Friday's international Park(ing) Day celebrations. (The parking space to public park project is sponsored nationally by the Trust for Public Land and now has its own website.) Although Park(ing) Day sets out

Tree Walk Wednesday: Self-guided tree walks

On Wednesdays I will post about trees in the landscape - on a block, in a park, on a campus, or in a garden or yard. * Image: Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Today's Tree Walk features bi-coastal tree walks.** Canopy Tree Walk No. 8, Old Palo Alto : trees along this walk include Nyssa sylvatica (Tupelo), Fagus sylvatica 'Atropunicea' (Copper beech), and Quercus suber (Cork oak). The Palo Alto urban forestry nonprofit, Canopy, has completed 13 tree walk guides. Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco does not offer self-guided tree walk information, but the organization does host tree walks ( view the calendar ). Two tree walks in Mountain View are available on the Mountain View Trees website. The Sacramento Tree Foundation has added a new tree tour - Gibson Park - to its neighborhood tree tours portfolio. UC Berkeley Campus Trees : not a formal tree walk, but you can click on individual photographs to learn the location of selected trees on campus,

Nearby nature of rock outcroppings

Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, environmental psychologists at the University of Michigan, coined the term "nearby nature." Its definition is straightforward: nature in the form of natural elements and/or processes near to home (or work or play). The Kaplans have found that nearby nature promotes human well-being. Although the authors have focused on vegetative nature, they do not exclude inert elements like rocks. I have never been to the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, but I imagine the sight of El Capitan in Yosemite is psychologically restorative [ Editor's Note, 4/3/2013:  I've since been to Yosemite!]. Of the three outcrops, the one in Northbrae is the only one that has occurred spontaneously on site, but presumably the cognitive benefits from all three are similar (which is not to say that one should remove naturally occurring rocks from the landscape knowing we can design them in place). It is unlikely that everyone will have yards of spontaneous outcroppings

Calendar: Berkeley Parks Centennial

Celebrate 100 years of Berkeley's parks this fall. The calendar in this post was provided by Berkeley Partners for Parks. For more details about each event, visit the BPFP news blog . September 16 Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Musical Block Party at Peralta Community Garden – hosted by the Friends of Westbrae Commons. Meet at 1400 Peralta Avenue, by the corner of Hopkins. September 23 Sunday, 12 to 3 p.m. East Bay Labyrinth Project – Walk the future labyrinth at the Marina. East Lawn just south of University Avenue past the Marina Blvd. September 23 Sunday, 3 to 5 p.m. Berkeley Partners for Parks Fundraiser in Aquatic Park. At the EGRET Center/clubhouse, on Bolivar Drive just north of Ashby. September 30 Sunday, 5 to 7:30 p.m. Halcyon Commons - Community Potluck with Live Music. Halcyon Court at Prince St. October 13 Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon School House Creek Commons-Fall Clean Up and Sowing of Wild Flower Seeds. At Virginia and Curtis Streets-Eastern end of the Berkele

No Berkeley parks on John King's list of "Great City Parks"

The cover photo of this month's AAA magazine, Via , is of the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and the park is one of "great city parks" listed by John Kin, urban design critic for the San Francisco Chronicle . The list also includes Forest Park (Portland, Or), Balboa Park (San Diego), Bidwell Park (Chico, Ca), Stanley Park (Vancouver), Truckee River Whitewater Park (Reno), and Library Square (Salt Lake City). His secondary list of parks includes Crissy Field (San Francisco), Tanner Springs Park (also in Portland, Oregon and one of my favorite neighborhood parks), Freeway Park (Seattle), Confluence Park (Denver), Charlie Kellogg and Joe Zahar Sports Complex (Las Vegas), and Steele Indian School Park (Phoenix). Why is a sports complex listed as a great city park ? Okay, it is 110 acres, but very few of its amenities - 11 soccer fields, 3 dog runs, covered picnic areas, 2 playgrounds, 2.44 mile track, and 22 tennis courts - evoke "

Pollinators: on your stamps, in your yard

I have Forever stamps and Pacific Lighthouses 41-cent stamps. The last stamps I purchased with a nature theme were the Common Buckeye and Florida Panther postcard stamps and the Crops of America 41-cent stamp. These stamps are what I call portrait stamps. One new portrait stamp set, called Beautiful Blooms, features flowers like the chrysanthemum, tulip, and iris. The latest relational stamp set is titled Pollination. According to the USPS website , Steven Buchman, the stamp's artist, " created an intricate graphic scheme for the stamps that emphasizes the ecological relationship between pollinators and plants and also hints at the biodiversity necessary to ensure the future viability of that relationship." I recently used my local post office to mail a gift but did not purchase the Pollination stamps so the photo (below) is from the USPS website. The pollinators featured are the bat, hummingbird, honeybee, and butterfly. (Species information is not included.) Oth

Specialty bookshops

A while ago I shared photographs of the shuttered Barnes & Noble on Shattuck Avenue . I was surprised at its closure. It is usually the independent book shop that closes its doors, like Cody's on Telegraph. Luckily, Berkeley has an enviable population of independent booksellers: Pegasus on Shattuck (across from the old Barnes & Noble), Shakespeare on Telegraph at Dwight, Black Oak on Shattuck in North Berkeley, among others. I used to be a frequent buyer at the independent shops in my neighborhood, but recently I am have been borrowing from the main branch of the Berkeley Public Library. In particular, I like to borrow habitat and wildlife books, and most recently gardening mysteries! I enjoy mysteries and detective fiction. Berkeley does not, to my knowledge, have a mystery specialty book shop. The Ecology Center carries gardening books and Mrs. Dalloway's in Elmwood also has a selection of garden references and literature. But the best specialty gardening bo