Why Natives? • Native Plant Gallery • Native Plant Bike Tour • Native Plants in Residential Designs • Native Plant Nurseries

yellow monkey bush

dune strawberry

Douglas iris

Presidio Native Plant Bike Tour

This bike tour stops at Mountain Lake Restoration Area, the Presidio Native Plant Nursery and Crissy Field. It includes interviews with native plant specialists which cover the following areas:

• Irrigation methods
• Restoration seed preparation
• ??? (in progress)

Bring a camera, food and water.

Start at Arguello entrance to the Presidio. Take a left onto the perimeter road that runs along the south side of the golf course. The road continues west along the border of the Presidio and is popular with joggers and dog-walkers. There's no car traffic, and this section is downhill so relax and roll along. Eventually, the road curves to the right and opens up into a view of Mountain Lake.

At Mountain Lake, the Presidio Trust has ripped out the blackberry and other invasive species and replaced them with native plants.

Stands of sticky yellow monkey bush rise from lush coverings of dune strawberry. Douglas irises poke out with their elegant blue and white flowers. There is a seating space along the lake and an information board. The only downfall is the noise as 19th Ave blasts by to the north.

All the new plants look great and unlike other some other restoration sites in the Presidio, they are irrigated. So we asked Brian Hildebidle, who coordinates the mountain lake restoration project, how he designed irrigation for this site?

Brian set up the system to water the woody species with 1 gallon per hour emitters. The other herbaceous plants receive water from the overflow because the site is on a slope.

The system's watering schedule lasts for three years and becomes less frequent each year. The first summer the plants are watered every two weeks, for about 2 hours. The second summer, they get one hour every 3 weeks. The third summer, the plants receive one hour, or one gallon of water per month.

This is a typical decreasing watering schedule. Additional water is given until the plants establish themselves then they are left to natural water conditions. SF-garden suggests a residential variation upon this theme with decreasing water for the first couple of years and then periodic additional water after the plants are established.

At Mountain Lake they don't use a timer but water manually as conditions dictate. When it's foggy Brian waters less, when it's hot and sunny, he waters more.

No soil amendments were used in the project but straw mulch was applied for erosion control and weed suppression. Otherwise the plants went straight into the sand.

From Mountain Lake follow the perimeter road under 19th Avenue around along to Battery Caulfield; Turn onto Battery Caufield.

Climb the hill past the old Veterans Hospital which is currently an outdoor graffiti gallery of sorts. At the top of the hill, turn left onto Washington.

Follow Washington as it curves along the bluff (there is a real nice view point of the entrance to the Bay and the Marin Headlands along this stretch). Bear right onto Harrison. From Harrison, turn left onto Upton. When you come to the white buildings turn right on Upton again (Upton circles the old barracks and parade ground). Past the Presidio Park Police station turn right onto Buckman. Then you will see the sign for the Presidio native plant nursery.

The nursery supplies all of the native restoration projects in the park. Interested persons can drop in to volunteer there on Wednesday and Saturdays, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Much of the seed used at the nursery is collected from within the Presidio, often from as close to where the restoration project will be as possible. According to Breanna Schaefer, this allows the nursery to preserve the local genotypes of each plant. Genotypes are characteristics that develop based on the plants adaptation to their specific environment.

As an example, Schaeffer offers the Elymus glaucus (wild rye) that grows near Battery East in the Presidio. This genotype of wild rye is more upright and robust then the type that grows at Inspiration Point.

Sometimes however, the existing native populations are too scattered and isolated for seed producing cross-pollination to occur. If the nursery can't grow the plant successfully from cuttings, then they import new plants from the closest native population to the park. The large, naturally occurring native populations of the Marin Headlands offer many such transplanting opportunities.

Once the seeds are collected they often need to be prepared to get them to sprout and root.

"Each seed has its own internal clock", Schaefer says, "we just try to mimic that" The nursery staff simulate the seasons by heating or cooling the seeds. Or they imitate fire conditions with strong coffee, boiling water or actual flames.

They also "scarify" some seeds by roughing them up with sand-paper as sand or a bird would. Many native plant seeds have a thick outer coating which protects them from abuse in the wild until it is time to grow. If the shell is left intact the seeds will not start.

Residential native gardens typically use purchased plants propogated form cuttings, but is always nice to know what the experts are up to.

Schaeffer says the best way to have a hassle free garden is to incorporate native plants. Many of these varieties flower throughout the year, with little water, or pruning, and will keep down pest populations by providing habitat for beneficial insects and birds that also act as pollinators. "there is nothing more beautiful or harmonious." she concludes.

From the native plant nursery, the tour heads to Crissy Field . . .