Guest Blogger: Colin Nitta

Hi. I'm Colin Nitta, son of John and Sarah. I attend California College of Arts, and this last summer I had an opportunity to take a class which focused on landscape design and public architecture. The intensive three week class, called Pavement to Parks centered around a project that focused on a beautifying a rather drab stretch of boulevard that ran between two buildings on the college's San Francisco campus. The teacher, John Bela had two aims for the project: the first was to complete construction of unfinished planter beds on the east side of the street that had been started by another class. These are the oblong, raised wooden beds visible in the photos, and feature mainly edible plants. The second objective of the class was to start a ground level landscaping project on the west side of the street from scratch, starting with the demolition of concrete sidewalk and ending with finished beds that featured ornamental plants and drought resistant shrubs.

The budget for the class was fairly minimal, so almost all building materials were found or donated. Believe it or not, those beautiful raised beds are completely made from second hand lumber and reused plumbing pipes. However, plants were not as easy to obtain, and this is where High Ranch Nursery's generous donation came into play. My teacher was thrilled when I notified him that my parents would be willing to help out with this rather tricky part of the project. The majority of the plants in the ground level beds on the west side were HRN specials, featuring many from the All Star California natives collection. I photographed them about three months following their planting, and they seemed genuinely happy!

Altogether, Pavement to Parks was a good experience in seeing a task from start to finish, all the while managing to overcome setbacks and accomplish ambitious goals. In addition, I was able to affect a positive change for my school that is long lasting and beneficial for the community. The project is located in the Mission Creek neighborhood of San Francisco, at the intersection of 8th and Hooper Street. Thanks High Ranch for making it all possible!

View from the north: ornamental and drought resistant plants (courtesy of HRN) at the left, edibles on the right.

Edible plants in raised planter bed.

Benches make the planters into a liveable space.

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