Jackie Robinson Post Office
Saturday, October 22 — 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Jackie Robinson Post Office
1355 N. Mentor Avenue, Pasadena
Did you know that the Jackie Robinson Post Office recently moved? The new J.R.P.O. is at the old Catalina Post Office on the corner of Mentor and Washington.
After Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation passed the post office a few months ago, she challenged us (Transition Pasadena) to create a native plant landscape in the 2,000 square feet of fallow beds that surround the plain, boxy building. A posting on Nextdoor.com, a local social media website connecting very local neighbors, yielded 20 excited neighbors willing to make it happen!
Placemaking? Yes! Local networking? Yes! Support for water conservation, local pollinators, public awareness raising? Yes, yes, yes! The proposal we gave to the Postal Service was met with enthusiasm!
Four native-garden designers, including Lisa Novick of TPF and Nick Hummingbird of Hahamongna Cooperative Nursery, and two others who stepped forward from Nextdoor, have created a deliciously beautiful garden design. Lisa said, “It has to be drop dead gorgeous!”
The final design considers year-round color, blooms, berries, leaf color and texture and even leaf-litter. It incorporates plants that are host or food for a variety of butterflies, bees and birds. It softens the architecture with variety of height and patterns and keeps low maintenance as a priority. It will be gorgeous and hopefully inspiring to passersby.
The City of Pasadena Water Conservation Program has offered to install an efficient irrigation system. The City's Forestry Dept. has agreed to deliver 15 cubic yards of mulch to the site. The two nurseries will collaborate to source the plants. And neighbors will be volunteering the labor and ongoing maintenance.
Jackie Robinson Post Office
1355 N. Mentor Avenue, Pasadena
Did you know that the Jackie Robinson Post Office recently moved? The new J.R.P.O. is at the old Catalina Post Office on the corner of Mentor and Washington.
After Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation passed the post office a few months ago, she challenged us (Transition Pasadena) to create a native plant landscape in the 2,000 square feet of fallow beds that surround the plain, boxy building. A posting on Nextdoor.com, a local social media website connecting very local neighbors, yielded 20 excited neighbors willing to make it happen!
Placemaking? Yes! Local networking? Yes! Support for water conservation, local pollinators, public awareness raising? Yes, yes, yes! The proposal we gave to the Postal Service was met with enthusiasm!
Four native-garden designers, including Lisa Novick of TPF and Nick Hummingbird of Hahamongna Cooperative Nursery, and two others who stepped forward from Nextdoor, have created a deliciously beautiful garden design. Lisa said, “It has to be drop dead gorgeous!”
The final design considers year-round color, blooms, berries, leaf color and texture and even leaf-litter. It incorporates plants that are host or food for a variety of butterflies, bees and birds. It softens the architecture with variety of height and patterns and keeps low maintenance as a priority. It will be gorgeous and hopefully inspiring to passersby.
The City of Pasadena Water Conservation Program has offered to install an efficient irrigation system. The City's Forestry Dept. has agreed to deliver 15 cubic yards of mulch to the site. The two nurseries will collaborate to source the plants. And neighbors will be volunteering the labor and ongoing maintenance.
The one day "barn raising" will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 22.
Our wish list includes a few (or even one) Arroyo stones to punctuate the garden with reminders of our beautiful wilderness area, the Arroyo Seco. (They must be too big to throw, or roughly, larger than a basketball.)
Stay tuned for more details! To get involved with digging or dig support on October 22, kindly RSVP: Therese
— Therese Brummel
Our wish list includes a few (or even one) Arroyo stones to punctuate the garden with reminders of our beautiful wilderness area, the Arroyo Seco. (They must be too big to throw, or roughly, larger than a basketball.)
Stay tuned for more details! To get involved with digging or dig support on October 22, kindly RSVP: Therese
— Therese Brummel
