We are very excited to share that Arlington Garden reopened today Tuesday, August 19th, minus fire damaged and under construction areas. Your ongoing support via our GoFundMe campaign has made this reopening possible – thank you! We are free to the public as usual – 8:00am to sunset – though we anticipate a brief closure of the garden again in early September for debris clearance. We look forward to seeing you (and your leashed pet companions) around the garden soon. As well if you have been meaning to contribute, there is still an opportunity and need. More on that below.
July brought many monarchs to Arlington, thanks in large part to the Narrowleaf Milkweed plants offered by the Santa Monica Mountains Fund which we planted on a Volunteer Saturday last November.
UPDATES
Over the last month, we completed testing the soil throughout the entire garden. We discovered some possible fire impacts along the northern side of the garden, so we have fenced off that area for additional work. Unfortunately, this means that the garden temporarily no longer has a publicly accessible restroom and, due to the fire, we are also without a water bottle refill station. When you visit the garden, please remember to bring water.
We also ask that you please respect the trees and shrubs by staying on the paths: it is summer and many of our mediterranean climate species are dormant.
This morning we secured a permit to remove the fire debris, and we hope to start clearance very soon. While the fire rubble is being removed, we will again have to close the garden to visitors. Thankfully, the pause will be quite brief compared to our initial closure.
GO FUND ME
As we move on, the costs of rebuilding and clearing the debris are becoming clearer, so we continue to keep the GoFundMe open for donation support. The fencing around the burn area cost around $5k. Our soil testing and permit costs have already added up to around $6k. Our limited equipment replacement costs so far are over $2.5k. These expenses do not include either clearance or rebuilding. With the benefit of experience, we have updated our campaign goal to $55k.
Most of our regular hosted programs have restarted: please see our social media or website for details. In September, we will offer free yoga with Living Earth, a special meeting of the fantastic fungal Exploring the Mycoverse, a rad nature journaling workshop with Terri Mando that benefits the garden, and the very first session of Seedy Sundays (a plant propagation workshop with Artemisia Nursery) at the garden!
Thank you to everyone so far who has supported the garden during this unexpectedly long reopening process! If you are able, please share this fundraiser with your friends and family to help us reach our new $55k goal!
We hope to see you in person soon!
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