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Welcome to the Test Plot log. Please check back for seasonal updates from our volunteers and stewards. You can also search by location in the footer.

2025

5/23 GETTING AHEAD OF BRUSH CLEARANCE
by Jen Toy

5/01 GARDENING IN THE GERMAN SPEAKING WORLD
by Max Kanter

3/31 “HEAVY HITTERS” UNDER THE EUCALYPTUS 
by Jen Toy

3/30 PHASE 2 AT STARR KING
by Théa Ryan

2/28 FERRY BOATS, VANS, & A BIT OF MAINTENANCE
by Scott Applebaum and Berit Cummings

2/27 BURN SCAR SEEDLINGS
by Hannah Pae 



2024

11/21 STARR KING TEST PLOT PHASE 2 BEGINS
by Elena Fox

10/24 RAINBOW CANYON KICKOFF 
by Tatianna Velicer 

10/22 GREEN RAVINE  @ CATALINA ISLAND TURNS 1!
by Alex Robinson

7/14 JULY AT THE BURN SCAR
by Hannah Pae

7/08 DISTURBANCE, ELYSIAN
by Jenny Jones

6/20 SUMMER SOLSTICE CHECK-IN
by Anthony Martin

6/08 BALDWIN HILLS TURNS 3!
by Jen Toy

6/07 DEBS FIRST FRIDAYS
by Cody Porter

5/25  EUCALYPTUS UNDERSTORY 
1 YEAR EVALUATION
by Jen Toy

5/17 MAY AT THE BURN SCAR
by Hannah Pae

1/15 EUCALYPTUS 2nd PLANTING
by Jen Toy



2023

11/13 UNDER THE EUCALYPTUS
by Victoria Bevington

11/06 STARR KING INTRO
by Terremoto SF

10/16 WATCHING WEATHER
Q&A with Joey Farewell

9/18 CATALINA SOIL TEST #1
Q&A with Alia Harris and Emersyn Klick

7/10 DEBS FIELD SKETCHES
by Hannah Pae

6/08 IT’S RAINING OAKS 
by Joey Farewell

5/25 SECRET SUPERBLOOM
by Jenny Jones

3/29 RAINBOW RIVER
by Dani Vonlehe, Jenny Jones, Dante Inguinez

3/23 VERTICAL MULCH
by Nina Weithorn

3/10 SPRING AT DEBS
by Adrian Tenney

3/07 WHAT’S IN BLOOM AT BALDWIN
by Arely Media Perez

2/15 USC NEW PLANTS
by Nina Weithorn

VALENTINE’S DAY AT RIO
by Daniela Velazco

1/30 ELEPHANT HILL RAINS
by Joey Farewell


2022

FIELD DRAWINGS FROM SAN BRUNO MOUNTAIN
by Lian Mae Tualla, Tera Johnson

10/22 RIO FIELD NOTES
by Daniela Velazco

STARTING THE USC CAMPUS PLOTS
by Alex Robinson

10/13 ELYSIAN AFTER 3 YEARS
Q&A with Jenny Jones

10/06 RIO AFTER 2 YEARS
Q&A with Jen Toy


2021

STARTING BALDWIN HILLS
by Daniela Velazco



MEET THE SUPER STEWARDS
All interviews by Daniela Velazco + Hannah Flynn

TANIA ROMERO

DANTE INIGUEZ + ANTHONY MARTIN

LUIS RINCON




PORTAL * INTERNAL USE
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:

  1. 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!)
  2. Vinegar spray inside the plot (3 rounds through March-April)
  3. Weed whip a 15’ buffer upwind of the plot
  4. 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:
  • Gilia tricolor / Bird’s Eye Gilia we have both white flowers with lavender and pink edges
  • Gilia capitata / Blue Field Gilia with blue spherical flower cluster
  • Hemizonia congesta / Hayfield Tarweed
  • Madia elegans / Elegant Tarweed fragrant leaves, growing large, no flowers yet

In the seedbank:
  • Achilliea millefolium — Yarrow naturally occurring in the seed bank. We discovered a patch and have been weeding around it
  • Artemisia douglasiana — Mugwort
  • Chlorogalum pomeridianum 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
  • Pteridium aquilinum — Bracken fern

Planted from Xerces Society:
  • 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
  • Verbena lasiostachys — Western vervain

Planted by not observed:
  • Grindelia camporum — Gumplant
  • Penstemon heterophyllus — Foothill penstemon
  • Symphyotrichum chilense — Pacific aster

︎WEED SIGHTINGS:
  • Euphorbia
  • Chinese St. John’s Wort (newly cropping up)
  • 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)
  • Vetch (mainly gone via weed whip)
  • Russian thistle (present at the fence edges)
 
WILDFLIFE SIGHTINGS: 2 Turkeys