Photos courtesy of Fred Caldwell.
Remember a few years ago when flowers bloomed in Leucadia's center medians? Our state flower, the California Poppy was especially prevalent. California poppies bloom in the winter and added rich color to the coast highway. If you drive north up the California coast towards Pt Conception you will see orange poppies growing wild everywhere.
These flowers were planted by members of the community with no irrigation and no outside funding and very little follow up maintenance.
So what happened to our poppies? For some strange reason city crews removed all of our center median flowers and then poisoned the dirt so no more would grow. You'll notice that today, this winter, the only thing growing in our center medians is the hardiest of scrubby weeds.
Was this scorched earth policy accidental, with a miscommunication between staff and workers? Or, was this just another way for former city manager Kerry Miller to make Leucadia look 'blighted"?
The tree next to the big euc is no longer there.
ReplyDeleteWhats new? Staff must have had an arborist visit the site. When an arborist comes a calling, trees start a falling.
ReplyDeleteMy old friends in front of Paul Ecke Central will be cut down in the next year. At least they won’t be in such pain from the slow death they are currently feeling due to starvation.
ReplyDelete10 more trees down in Leucadia.
I guess my Mom was right. People don't care about trees. My school sure taught me a lesson about my community and the lack of respect for old growth trees.
I want to become an anti- arborist when I grow up and actually help trees.
JP, That is a great photo of the flowers in the median. Make sure you show it at the streetscape workshop.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes!!
ReplyDeleteFill the medians with flowers!!! Bright colorful flowers that draw birds and bees and the public to Leucadia.
Screw that native species crap, that crowd of native species lovers want to keep Leucadia ugly and junky!!
Tell the workshop people that you want flowers, lots and lots of flowers!!!
Cindy
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you go talk to the Encinitas School District Superintendent about this and then let us all know by blogging back what he says. Maybe they don't even know about it.
My mom wont let me. She saids that complainers are called activists and community leaders such as school officials don't like activists. She saids if I say anything to them, they will make my time at school a living H-ll (naughty word).
ReplyDeleteHumans definately have their darkside. I guess its all part of learning about the real world.
Remember when the city spent $37,000 to seed the Hall property with wildflowers after the greenhouses were torn down? The plan backfired. The city ignored the fact that the land was contaminated and that Robert Hall had heavily used herbicides. So almost nothing germinated, except on the land east of Somerset where Tom Turner had farmed and not used herbicides.
ReplyDeleteThere was a front page story in the North County Times on June 7, 2003 headlined "Encinitas land covered in weeds despite flower seeding." City officials tried to say that there hadn't been enough rain to germinate the seed. However, rainfall figures from the nearby San Elijo Sewer Treatment plant showed that the statement was a lie.
The following week the city, in its embarrassment, ordered the mowing of the wildflowers on the piece farmed by Turner. The wildflowers were 14 inches high, coming into full bloom, and very dense. The rest of the land was mowed some weeks later. It was barely worth doing, as it was mostly hardy weeds and very sparse.
Almost five years later the weeds are filling in as the herbicides gradually decompose. It seems like a good time to try the wildflower seeding again. With continuing rains the results should be quite spectacular
If the city waits long enough all the herbicides will wash into the ocean and be someone else's problem. With the rains we had this week I'll bet that made a great start for the city. I think the council people should have to camp out on the Hall property for a few weeks and lets see if it is cleaned up prior to their holiday at the park.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 2:24, the orange poppies are native species. Hence the name, California Poppy.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of native flowers perfectly suited for the midians along 101. Indigenous, beautiful and everybody wins. Nice, right?
ReplyDeletePerhaps Toyon could be planted as well along the curbside landscaping. I suggest the corner of 101 and Daphne, in front of the F Book Store, as an ideal location. Toyon is a small tree that flowers white and produces bright red berries.
whatever they are, they better be able to thrive with recycled water with all of its water quality characteristics.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't say no irrigation, because without some water its going to look like dirt.
Consideration should also be given to the parking for beach goers. Some Carlsbad beaches and Cardiff beaches are on the state's proposed closure list.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that the city would take flowers out that are not bothering anyone. Especially the California poppies, they need little in the way of maintenance, that is why they grow on their own along the highways and in the deserts.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of staff would order flowers to be taken out? I guess the ones that order trees to be cut down!!
Sadomka is a joke!!! I got on th efreeway at Santa Fe recently and thought of " poisoned ground" Sodomka.. What a schmuck he is! The ground on the Hall property he proclaimes as poisoned is covered with plants!!!
ReplyDeleteAngry schmuck's like him should just go away quietly and let the rest of us live the life that will come.
The city is still clear cutting trees and plants in other parts of the city. A few trees at a time are cut down on the hillsides at the community center. The hillside is eroding.
ReplyDeleteSave trees. Down Tree Surgeons ortherwise known as Arborists.
ReplyDelete