SEED COLLECTION + WORKDAY
Ohlone Hillside at Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley
"xǔčyun" the region that is part of the ancestral and unceded homeland of the East Bay Ohlone (pronounced "HOOCH-yoon" in Chochenyo language)
By Will Macfarlane
DATE: June 13 2025
TIME: 12pm
TEMP: 60°F – mostly sunny, moderate breeze
VOLUNTEERS: 8
My name is Will Macfarlane. I’m a landscape architecture student at UC Berkeley and an intern this summer with Terremoto and Test Plot. I’m interested in slow work – working with the land, building relationships, and supporting spaces where plants, animals, and people can all heal.
We began the morning at the roundabout in front of the Lawrence Hall of Science, where Margaret – a longtime volunteer with Skyline Gardens has spent seasons tending and seeding this area with local natives. Skyline Gardens is a 20+ year restoration project led by an amazing team of volunteers and shares the same geology, a high ridge volcanic plateau. Some of the plants were grown from seed gathered in her own backyard, others from Skyline, and some from nearby wild species. A quiet, patient experiment. Some were direct sown. Others were transplanted. All were part of a slow effort to reintroduce local ecology.
We harvested what we could, with the intent to process and reapply these seeds within the LHS Test Plot, which is about a 5 minute walk away. Being able to collect from some seed originating from Skyline Gardens, which sits on the same volcanic shelf as the LHS Test Plot, means the seeds carry local adaptation – rooted in the same soil. This kind of hyperlocal sourcing feels essential. A way to deepen our reciprocal stewardship and add resilience.
Collected seeds + Methods:
– Uropappus lindleyi / Silverpuffs (dandelion like - just grabbed handfuls of puff)
– Agoseris grandiflora / CA Dandelion (same method)
– Eschscholzia californica / California poppy (crack open the long pods when brown)
– Salvia mellifera / Black sage (turn the seed heads upside down into an envelope and tap)
– Lupinus succulentus / Succulent lupine (pop open when black)
Later in the day, we shifted to the Test Plot itself. We focused on pulling invasive oat grass and watering the established native plantings. A handful of species stood out – still holding strong after a dry spell:
– Arctostaphylos manzanita
– Pteridium aquilinum
– Ceanothus
– Stipa pulchra
– Achillea millefolium
– Gilia capitata
– Gilia tricolor
– Artemisia douglasiana
Beyond the active plot, we noticed a small stand of Eriogonum nudum / Nude buckwheat growing through oat grass on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Bay. Untouched by us, but persisting on its own.
Next steps: continue supporting what’s thriving. Maintain the edge between the plot and the surrounding weeds. Begin seed cleaning, and wait for the right season to sow. Timing, as always, matters.
GETTING AHEAD OF BRUSH CLEARANCE
Ohlone Hillside at Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley
"xǔčyun" the region that is part of the ancestral and unceded homeland of the East Bay Ohlone (pronounced "HOOCH-yoon" in Chochenyo language)
By Jen Toy
Test Plot Director
DATE: May 23 2025
TIME: 10am
TEMP: 56 degrees
︎WEATHER: Sunny, no clouds
We’ve been prepping this new plot for brush clearance season. Up here in the East Bay, this happens in May. The Lawrence Hall of Science works with an outside contractor to bring in 6 guys with string trimmers that work their way down the UC Berkeley owned slopes and hillsides, cutting back the browned out invasive grasses and thistles to the ground. I got a heads up that the crew would begin work May 12th. To prep for this we did a few things:
- Fence the plot + put up a sign about the project. We debated whether we needed to fence this plot but decided we should demarcate the area for brush clearance (and to help us not feel too overwhelmed by the size of the area!)
- Vinegar spray inside the plot (3 rounds through March-April. See pics of the trial here)
- Weed whip a 15’ buffer upwind of the plot
- Flag newly plants outside the plot (mainly existing naked buckwheat)
A few days before the crew arrived, we also did an emergency weed whack inside the plot and around the fence to make it spotless. With 2 electric string trimmers going, we got it done in an hour (thank you Sandra!). I checked out the plot today and am happy to report the men with machines stayed out of our area! Things are growing in nicely with weeding and spot watering the shrubs as the sole forms of care.
︎PLANTS SIGHTINGS: April showers bring May Flowers. There is definitely herbivory happening, most likely by deer that have gotten into the property. Many flower stalks have been decapitated. In terms of blooms, I noticed:
Grown from locally collected seed by Margaret:
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Gilia tricolor / Bird’s Eye Gilia we have both white flowers with lavender and pink edges
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Gilia capitata / Blue Field Gilia with blue spherical flower cluster
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Hemizonia congesta / Hayfield Tarweed
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Madia elegans / Elegant Tarweed fragrant leaves, growing large, no flowers yet
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Achilliea millefolium — Yarrow naturally occurring in the seed bank. We discovered a patch and have been weeding around it
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Artemisia douglasiana — Mugwort
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Chlorogalum pomeidianum var. Pomeridianum— Soap plant (at the bottom near fence) The plants outside the fence were all weed whipped bye bye.
- Dipterostemon capitatus — Blue dicks also naturally occuring. Found 2. One flower stalk got chomped.
- Marah fabaceae
—
Wild cucumber
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Pteridium aquilinum — Bracken fern
Planted from Xerces Society:
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Arctostaphylos densiflora subsp. — Manzanita
- Baccharis pilularis — Coyotebrush
- Ceanothus 'Concha' — California lilac
- Diplacus aurantiacus — Sticky monkeyflower
- Lupinus albifrons — Silver bush lupine
- Phacelia californica — California phacelia
- Phacelia imbricata — Imbricate phacelia
- Ribes malvaceum — Chaparral currant
- Solidago velutina ssp. californica — California goldenrod
- Stipa pulchra — Purple needlegrass
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Verbena lasiostachys —Western vervain
Planted by not observed:
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Grindelia camporum — Gumplant
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Penstemon heterophyllus — Foothill penstemon
- Symphyotrichum chilense — Pacific aster
︎WEED SIGHTINGS:
- Euphorbia
- Chinese St. John’s Wort (newly cropping up)
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Wild oats (mainly gone to seed, though areas where we weed whipped are still green and growing back. I hand pulled a dozen that had new flower stalks)
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Vetch (mainly gone via weed whip)
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Russian thistle (present at the fence edges)
WILDFLIFE SIGHTINGS: 2 Turkeys
VINEGAR SPRAY TRIALSOhlone Hillside at Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley
"xǔčyun" the region that is part of the ancestral and unceded homeland of the East Bay Ohlone (pronounced "HOOCH-
yoon" in Chochenyo language)
By Jen Toy
Test Plot Director
DATE: April 4th, 2024
Last fall, we got a grant from the Xerces Society (more insects!) to plant milkweed and other nectar plants. We quickly mobilized to make a new home for them on a degraded hillside overlooking the SF Bay, just outside the Lawrence Hall of Science, a beloved science museum operated by UC Berkeley. Our partnership includes Vincent and Luis, Ohlone tribal members and the phenoms behind Cafe Ohlone/mak-’amham, Dee their business manager, Jedda from The Lawrence and Story and Sarah from Terremoto SF.
Long term, we have big plans to restore the former grazing land, currently dominated by fireprone annual grasses, into a T
est Plot that establishes native food and medicinal plants across 1.5 acres. In the meantime, we’re getting going, experimenting with a site preparation strategy using vinegar spray. We’re fortunate that we have been learning from the stellar restoration project down the road called Skyline Gardens. As we share a similar geology - the Sibley Volcanic Ridge - we are able to share seeds and continue supporting hyperlocal genetic diversity. Here’s a summary of our process so far:
OCT 24 2024
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Inventory existing species both native and introduced (natives include a couple oak trees, coyote brush, naked buckwheat, horse weed, bracken fern, rooreh, goldenrod and wild cucumber.)
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Rake off dead thatch from annual grasses that browned out and finished their reproductive cycle
OCT 31 / NOV 8 / DEC 8 2024
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Three planting days (thank you volunteers and Xerces Society for the plants!)
JAN 23 2025
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The fall rains got things going and by January the hillside is looking green with non native grasses.
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“Collar” around existing plants by hand pulling immediate weeds and spray new weeds with vinegar spray. The “collar” protects them from inadvertent contact with the vinegar.
- Weeds included: six weeks fescue, plantain, thistle, vetch, oats and bromes
- We attempted to spray, but the fog rolled in as we were finishing and it rained over night so it did not work
MARCH-APRIL 2025
Two rounds of vinegar spray. We selected a small area at the top of the plot to spray. After we “collared” around the existing native plants we wanted to keep, we sprayed using a Solo backpack pressure applicator. The formula is:
- 5-7% vinegar (can use the 5% white vinegar from Costco - 2g pack for $7)
- Mix in a teaspoon of dish soap (to help with adherence to the plant material)
Tip: Spray on a sunny clear day when the plants are photosynthesizing a lot. You want the vinegar to burn the material. The motion should feel like you are “painting the plants.” Keep pumping to maintain a strong steady pressure to shoot the vinegar down into the roots. Go slower than you think. Come back after a day or two to evaluate your work and you’ll see where you missed a spot.
SUMMARY
The spray is effective, particularly on broadleaf dicots. The oat grasses with larger seeds that are below the soil (in the white part of the plant) are harder to kill and it takes multiple rounds of vinegar because they keep growing back. It is not 100% effective by any means, but the vinegar definitely slows things down. The patch that we concentrated on has noticeably less weeds and we are letting the yarrow and wildflowers and purple needlegrass do their thing.
I’m also happy that this year we were able to mow the grasses before they produced viable seed. We waited until they expended energy producing a nice flower stalk, but cut them back before the seeds ripened. We concentrated on doing this within the plot and in a 15’ buffer upwind. It will be interesting to see if there are fewer grasses next year.