WINTER
2002 GPOA LANDSCAPING REPORT
submitted by Scott Sherman, February 12, 2002
Landscape
Maintenance
Gardeners' Guild Incorporated (GGI) continues to maintain and improve the community's
landscaping under my guidance and per the detailed guidelines within the
•
Highly-detailed GPOA-GGI Agreement
•
GPOA standards and specifications.
As part of a standard annual review to continuously improve operations, we are reviewing our Agreement and performance specifications. GGI will not be raising their costs from the 2001 rates.
I regularly drive, walk, and jog the community and complete monthly (and even semi-monthly) 'drive-arounds' with our GGI site supervisor, Kevin Davis, to monitor needs and maintenance. Virtually daily I call and talk with Kevin on issues from light bulbs burning out to pruning needs and the full gamut of ongoing landscaping requirements that arise and to which my attention is drawn by calls to the GPOA hotline, 461-7338. Similarly, several Block Captains contact Kevin directly to address needs and local requests.
(Please don't call my home and disturb my family. We have a system in place to get me messages from 461-7338.)
Landscape
Improvements
We have a revised (lower) bid for irrigation system installation from a local
professional firm for areas for which we have detailed, professional landscaping
plans: Almenar Drive, Bretano Way, and the north end of Via la Cumbre. I also
spent significant time on site and on the phone with another company for a competitive
bid, yet was told many weeks later that they were unable to bid due to downsizing.
With irrigation, we can then plant out the areas. Then, as plants get established,
we will reduce irrigation greatly.
Several areas on La Cuesta, Los Cerros, Almenar, and Bretano Way have colored flags in the ground specifying plants to be installed where others have died or not thrived. I have selected the species, with some input from local neighbors, and the Capital Improvements Committee recently gave the green light to proceed.
Along the Sir Francis Drake Blvd. path, just east of the Corte Morada Park frontage planting, the path takes 2 ninety-degree turns…a vestige of the Sanitary District pumping station that was there about 12 years ago. Pedestrians and bicyclists tend to bisect the path across the dirt and gravel. I monitored the recent work to underground a new Sanitary District 'force main', and requested that when they re-do the pathway they create a more natural curve in the path for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Sanitary District (Russ Greenfield, 461-1122), County of Marin Public Works (Jack Baker, 499-6523), and Nute Engineering who is overseeing the technical work (Mark Wilson, 847-2085) seem inclined to repave the path as requested, but the Sanitary District balked at paying the nominal cost. I need someone to help pick this up to see it through. Any volunteers? I've gotten all the right folks involved and out to the site and it may just take gentle follow up with the parties to make this happen.
Corte Comoda's entrance recently was re-planted with promising species taken from the 'plant palette' thriving in the medians along Sir Francis Drake and in other local areas. Plants that were already thriving were kept and new species were added to in-fill. This is how we are approaching most of our landscaping improvements…we retain thriving trees and plants and in-fill only where there are gaps. Similarly, we are adding some new plants to fill in the Manor Road entrance and anticipate pruning the large trees and flowering shrubs to create a nice blend of canopies with our typical respect for their natural growth forms.
Our arborist recently pruned and removed dead and dying trees in many medians across the community. In particular, many acacias and coffee berries suffered from the extended dry season last year and many smaller trees and shrubs seem to be coming to the end of their natural life spans. Our hydroseeding and landscaping plans take this into account and as areas open up from removals of plants, we can tie into any existing irrigation system to establish new, well-adapted plants and subsequently pull back the irrigation as they get established.
Annual
Heritage Tree Pruning is Completed
I toured the community several times with our arborist, Uriel, of Sonoma County
Tree Experts, to identify heritage trees again ready for pruning. Over the past
5 years, all heritage street trees and median trees have been pruned at least
once. Some trees pruned several years ago have been pruned a second time. Each
re-pruned tree typically requires less work than at first--though we still are
working to help some trees recover from chronic topping done by the County and
homeowners over previous decades. My letter to the neighbors on streets to be
pruned describes the process (the letter
is posted on www.greenbrae.org.)
Annual
Hydroseeding and Greenbrae.org
Just after we sprayed the 31 species of wildflower and perennial seeds
onto the medians and north frontage of Sir Francis Drake, we had the significant
December rains. We're hoping for a really nice spring and summer show of flowers
and growth. Many areas where we sprayed seeds in the past are filling in
permanently with large and small perennials…that means we won't have
to irrigate and plant there.
One can see the full list of seeds, by botanical and common names, on our newly updated web site, www.greenbrae.org. Neighbors and others can order seeds online, in any quantity at a good price. And I've provided planting guidelines in a separate document.
I've added a new email address, landscaping@greenbrae.org to help us respond and keep a tally of issues.
Here's wishing you a warm winter and beautiful spring!
Scott
Scott Sherman,
MS (UC, Davis, Horticulture), Ph.D.
GPOA Landscaping Chairman, ISA Certified Arborist