Leland Avenue Rain Gardens Revival

Let’s get Leland Avenue Night Market ready!

August’s Leland Avenue W**d Walk is happening in conjunction with the weekly cleanup, giving us a chance to spruce up the bulbouts while our neighbors tackle the street.

We’ll move from bulbout to bulbout, removing pesky w**ds, tidying planting areas, and giving our native plants and pollinator habitat some breathing room before the upcoming Night Market.

Tuesday, August 25
10:00 AM–11:00 AM
Meet at Mission Blue

Gloves and tools are provided. Bring your favorite w**ding tool if you have one!

Lend a hand and help make Leland Avenue cleaner, greener, and Night Market ready.

**dWalk

We’re excited to be part of the Visitacion Valley Night Market, representing the Visitacion Valley Greening Initiative alongside the Visitacion Valley Greenway, McLaren Native Plant Garden, Elliot Path, and Pasadena-Velasco Open Space Project!

Come by and learn more about the green spaces that make our valley special, upcoming volunteer opportunities, and the native plants and pollinators that help support our local ecosystem.

Whether you’re interested in gardening, habitat restoration, caring for neighborhood green spaces, or simply getting involved in your community, stop by and find out how you can volunteer and make a difference right here in Visitacion Valley.

Where: Leland Ave between Bayshore & Peabody
When: Friday, August 28 4:00–8:30 PM

Free admission!

Come say hello, learn something new, and find a way to get involved!

GET UP!

Garden for the Environment, the city’s premier teaching garden, is celebrating 30 years with a new cohort of their Gardening and Composting Educator Training Program.

Dates: September 12 → December 12, 2026
When: Every Saturday, 10am–3pm, plus six Thursday evenings
Where 1590 7th Avenue, San Francisco

This program turns you into a certified community gardening and composting educator, taught at the garden that’s been training SF’s growers for three decades. It’s hands-on, it’s local, and it’s a direct way to bring more green skills back into our neighborhoods.

Applications close Friday, August 14th. That’s this week, so don’t sit on it.

Scan the QR code on the flyer to apply. Know someone who’d be great at this? Tag them below! Word of mouth is how these programs fill.

See what’s blooming now at the Visitacion Valley Library bulbout on Leland Ave.

This Lupine is beginning to bloom alongside a Seaside Daisy in the Visitacion Valley Library Street Bulbout, creating a beautiful pairing that’s both beneficial and colorful.

Lupines (Lupinus spp.) are California-native wildflowers in the pea family. They are easy to spot: tall spikes of blue and violet pea-shaped flowers above silvery, fan-shaped leaves.

Lupines aren’t just beautiful; they’re ecosystem powerhouses. Their roots partner with beneficial bacteria to naturally enrich the soil with nitrogen, and their blooms provide nectar for native bees, especially bumblebees. They also serve as host plants for several California blue butterfly species, depending on the lupine species.

Next time you’re visiting the Visitacion Valley Library, take a closer look at this native duo. Every bloom is helping support a healthier, more resilient urban habitat.

Have you spotted lupines blooming in your neighborhood yet?

July W**d Walk recap

This month we teamed up with Refuse Refuse for their weekly Leland Avenue cleanup. While their crew handled litter and debris up and down the block, we focused on the bulbouts, pulling w**ds and clearing beds so the native plants can breathe.

Small but mighty crew this time around, and we knocked out all bulbouts in under an hour. It was a great reminder that a dedicated team can accomplish a lot together.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to help make Visitacion Valley cleaner, greener, and more beautiful. Every hour volunteered makes a difference for our neighborhood and for the native plants and pollinators that call these rain gardens home.

See you at the next W**d Walk!

Come join our friends at Elliot Path for a special work party this month.

It’s their one-year anniversary! A whole year of volunteers coming together to w**d and mulch the lot, preparing it to plant California Natives.

To celebrate (and say thank you), they’re hosting a special volunteer lunch and work party:

Sunday, July 19th | 1:00–3:00PM
1 Elliot St, between Campbell and Teddy Ave

They are looking for all hands on deck to help finish mulching the lot in preparation for planting. Afterward, everyone is invited to enjoy a delicious lunch together.

All tools provided. All ages welcome. Bring a neighbor, bring a friend, come hungry.

One ask: if you’ve got large cardboard lying around (furniture or appliance boxes are perfect), they can use it for mulching prep. Email [email protected] if you’ve got some to donate.

Help grow a greener Visitacion Valley while meeting your neighbors.

JOIN US: July Leland Avenue W**d Walk

For July’s Leland Avenue W**d Walk, we’re teaming up with the Leland Avenue Street Cleaning Team to help keep our neighborhood looking its best from curb to curb.

While the street-cleaning crew tackles litter and debris, we’ll move from bulbout to bulbout, removing invasive w**ds, giving our California native plants room to thrive and creating a healthier habitat for pollinators.

No experience needed. Come for 20 minutes or stay for the whole thing. Every bit of help keeps these bulbouts thriving in the neighborhood.

Meet at Mission Blue
Tuesday, July 21
10:00 AM

Gloves and tools are provided. Feel free to bring your favorite w**ding tool if you have one.

Together, we can make Leland Avenue cleaner, greener, and more welcoming for everyone.

Tiny Blooms, Big Impact!

Baby Blue Eyes are blooming alongside Seaside Daisies at the Leland Avenue Rain Gardens. Small flowers, big role: together, they’re feeding pollinators and adding seasonal color to the neighborhood.

Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii)
A delicate California native annual that blankets the ground with sky-blue each winter and spring. It thrives during the rainy season, attracts native bees and other beneficial insects, and often reseeds itself for next year’s bloom.

Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus)
A hardy, coastal California-native perennial with lavender to white daisy flowers from spring through fall. Drought-tolerant once established, it keeps nectar flowing for bees and butterflies long after the Baby Blue Eyes have finished for the season.

Together, these native plants create a resilient, water-wise landscape that supports biodiversity, enhances habitat, and showcases how beautiful California native gardens can be in an urban setting.

Stop by the Visitacion Valley Library bulbout to see them in person.

Did You Know a New Green Space Is Growing in Visitacion Valley?

Our friends at Elliot Path have spent nearly a year transforming an unaccepted street, a public right-of-way not maintained by the City, into a beautiful community green space for neighbors to enjoy.

Every work party brings us one step closer, and they’re inviting the community to lend a hand!

This Sunday, June 28
1:00 to 3:00 PM
1 Elliot St. (between Campbell & Teddy Ave.)

They’ll have:
All the tools you need
Drinks and snacks
Good tunes
A welcoming group of volunteers

Do you have large pieces of cardboard? They’re looking for clean furniture or appliance boxes to help suppress w**ds as they continue building the garden. If you have some to donate, please get in touch with them!

As partners in making Visitacion Valley greener, we’re excited to support the amazing work underway at Elliot Path. If you’ve been looking for another way to get involved in the neighborhood, this is a great opportunity.

Save the Date!
On Sunday, July 19, they’ll celebrate Elliot Path’s first Anniversary and Volunteer Appreciation Day!

It’s hard to believe they’re already approaching a full year of transforming this space.

Congratulations to everyone who has volunteered, donated materials, and helped bring this vision to life. We look forward to celebrating this incredible milestone with them!

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One of our Sticky Monkey Flower plants planted back in April unfortunately did not survive. That is the reality of gardening with native plants sometimes, especially in tough urban conditions.

The good news: thanks to a generous donation from Mission Blue Nursery, we now have a beautiful replacement plant ready to go. To give it the best possible start, we will be planting it once cooler temperatures arrive.

Huge thank you to Mission Blue Nursery for supporting local habitat restoration and community greening efforts.

If you have not visited them before, they specialize in locally native plants, including species native to San Bruno Mountain and the surrounding peninsula. Their plants support native pollinators, butterflies, and birds while being adapted to our local climate.

🪴 Their Summer Plant Sale is this Saturday!
📍 3435 Bayshore Blvd, Brisbane
🕙 10 AM – 3 PM

This is a great opportunity to bring home truly local native plants and support an amazing community resource.