RAINBOW RIVER
Elysian Test Plot / March 29 2023
By Jenny Jones, Dani Vonlehe, Dante Iniguez
Elysian volunteers
We eagerly await the growth and flowering of our seed mix that includes Phacelias, Clarkias, and Poppies. We call it the Rainbow River as we hope the curving path that we’ve scythed into the hillside will soon bloom into a winding curve of purples, pinks, oranges and blues. We’ve staked our river with wood triangles to indicate its path to those who will be carrying out future brush clearance. The unpredictability is somewhat tense, not knowing if the test would work when we began, and not knowing if it will be weed-whacked away after it’s bloomed. We enjoy the act of experimenting though.
Weather and what’s blooming
It has been a wet winter! As of March 25, we’ve received 26.32” of rain. A lot of cloudy days, sun appears in between rainstorms for a day or two. Mudslides elsewhere in park, but Test Plots have not been impacted. High winds.
New plants installed in Plot 4 are:
- Salvia mellifera
- Artemisia californica
- Heteromeles arbutifolia
- Penstemon spectabilis
- Rhus integrifolia
- Eriogonum fasciculatum
- Salvia apiana
- Quercus agrifolia
- Ceanothus ‘frosty blue’
- Isocoma menziesii
- Baccharis pilularis
- Epilobium canum
- Yucca whipplei
What have you been working on?
Plot 4: The big move this season has been dismantling the circular fence shape around the very first plot that Test Plot ever installed. Most of the plants in this plot are well-established, including black sage, Artemesia californica, and Penstemon.
The hope is to stop supplemental watering to these established plants, which means we are in a new phase in this greater Test Plot project–that of seeing how well our established plants can do on their own!
We opened up the original circular form, and reused the fence pieces, laying them out in lines to follow the topography as it steps both up and downhill. We have also expanded the planting upslope, towards the main trail. We planted about 50 plants in front of the newly laid out fences, and seeded behind them. We’ve had numerous volunteer days with our core group of volunteers this winter - planting, mulching, weeding, caring for this plot.
Seed
As noted, we’ve seeded behind the fences in Plot 4 - a combination of Rainbow and Hummingbird mixes from TPF, as well as Lupine seed that Jenny gathered and soaked. We seeded TPF shade mix in Plot 3. We also are in process of a large seeding experiment outside of the plot boundaries themselves. We call it the Rainbow River - a snaking path that starts south of Plot 4 and weaves around and behind it. The Rainbow River has been seeded with the Rainbow and Hummingbird mix from TPF, along with some random seed from the Terremoto office. We first scythed the path, roughed up the ground just a bit, then seeded on top of the scything, and have been weeding it every couple of weeks this winter to allow the seeds room to grow. There has been no additional watering. The path is marked by pyramidal wood stakes along its length.
What kind of maintenance strategies are you trying out?
When weeding around newly seeded areas, we haven’t been pulling the weeds out from the roots. Instead, we’ve been leaving a couple inches at the base and have been trimming off everything else, either by grabbing a bunch in our hand and simply ripping, or by using a hand sickle. We’ve found that leaving the weeds in the ground has actually been protecting the seedlings because it shades them and keeping the ground moist. Not pulling out weeds by the roots also reduces the risk of pulling out any seedlings when weeding around them.
What’s been happening with volunteers?
We’ve been really working with a smaller volunteer group this season composed of a core of about 5-6 of us. Rather than bimonthly larger group efforts, this core group meets every couple of weeks for a couple hours. Dante organized the big planting we did this winter. With all this rain, we’ve stopped using the weekly watering sign-up sheet. We might test doing monthly watering sessions for the first time this summer rather than weekly waterings.
Plant success and failures?
The new plants that we’ve planted in Plot 4 have been very successful. Satureja douglasii in Plot 3 has really died back. Out of the many species we’ve seeded, the Clarkias seem to be the most prolific. Lupines have also been successful from seed. White sage, buckwheat, and artemisia not so much — but curious to test out other seed propagation techniques in the future for shrubs. Other successes include: Penstemon, Mugwort, Pitcher Sage. Our one Yerba Santa failed, and we’re not sure why. Maybe we’ll try again…
Wildlife?
Gophers are still around, but don’t seem to be affecting the Plots as negatively. A hypothesis for this could be that we have continued to plant plants that are somewhat resistant, or just not as tasty, to gophers. We’ve also used gopher cages on most of our new plantings, which seems to be working! We’ve spotted numerous lizards, hawks, owls and a scorpion.
General reflections
Dani - I think the smaller volunteer workdays have been a great, lower stress way of getting together than have been the bigger volunteer events that we’ve historically coordinated. We also have a small group text which is has been an effective way to communicate - much easier than some of the app-based platforms that we’ve tried to coordinate before.
Dante - Some rogue volunteers have just started planting and flagging non-natives in the Plot so we’re going to have to find a way to manage community planting in Test Plot that is not directly affiliated with Test Plot.
Jenny - opening up the original Test Plot by removing and rearranging the fences felt like a symbolic, important moment for the plots. Like we entered a new phase, one more bold and open. Being in our 3rd year at Elysian feels momentous as well, as a new phase of
experimenting with how well ‘establishment’ goes.