Volunteers and landscapers will gather on Saturday, March 12 at the Dolores Street median at Market Street to plant pollinator-friendly plants in place of water-starved turf. BASE, a landscape architecture firm that has led the effort to revamp the street’s flora, has been planning the new median in order to create a habitat for bees.
In their own words, here’s the plan:
Vivid California Poppies, Sages, spiky Spider Aloe, and other bright, drought tolerant, and pollinator friendly plants can create a much needed habitat for our bees. The pollinators, essential to the reproductive cycle of a third of our food crops, can take advantage of the continuous ribbon of Dolores Street as a pesticide-free urban garden sheltered from the heavy pesticide use on agricultural lands. As mono-culture farming and careless use of pesticides make agricultural habitats less hospitable to pollinators, cities have the potential to play a valuable role in their conservation. We believe every garden/open space in the urban environment should be a pollinator haven!
The median is in the process of being made a historic landmark, so the process of planning the new plant arrangement was a little tricky. But BASE did eventually secure the support of the city, the local neighborhood association, and the developer of a nearby residential building.
The planting will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with tools provided by San Francisco Public Works and snacks from Whole Foods.
