If you happened to stop by Garber Park on the morning of April 18, you would have heard mentioned such mysterious-sounding places as Evergreen Hillside, Fern Glade and Horsetail Meadow. These are the beautiful mini-landscapes within Garber Park that are winter restoration sites for the Garber Park Stewards.
Winter is a time of rain and thus the best time for the Stewards to put plants in the ground. Although we are currently experiencing the fourth year of a drought in California, the native plants in Garber Park don’t seem to notice.
This past December marked the fifth year of winter restoration workshops in Garber Park headed up by Lech Naumovich of the Golden Hour Restoration Institute. Lech’s monthly hands- on teaching and planting sessions combined with year-around maintenance by the Garber Park Stewards have proven to be mighty successful.
In honor of this success and to celebrate Earth Day, the Stewards along with other community volunteers gathered on the morning of April 18 to “free the ferns.” This meant mostly attacking invasive Algerian ivy at the Claremont Avenue entrance to the park that leads up to the lovely little Fern Glade. Clearing the ivy gives our native ferns a chance to spread their leaves and thrive. It also provides improved fire safety along the roadside, which will become import- ant later in the year as fire season approaches and vegetation dries out.
While Garber Park’s winter workshops have ended, monthly activities in the park continue (see next article). All are warmly invited to participate.
John Garber Park is a City of Oakland park located just behind (east of) the Claremont Hotel. For a three-minute video tour, click here. Garber Park Stewards is a nonprofit volunteer organization headed up by Shelagh Brodersen in order to safeguard the wildland resources of the park, reduce the risk of wildfire and maintain trails. Winter Workshops in Garber Park were funded by the Claremont Canyon Conservancy.
