A ‘living organism’ still growing strong
It took four tries, but a magnolia tree was planted Tuesday in Golden Gate Park.
Trees are complicated things, especially ceremonial trees, like the one that went into the ground at the Rhododendron Dell. This particular tree was the first of 150 trees to be planted by the Recreation and Park Department to celebrate the park’s 150th birthday this year.
A gardener had already dug a hole at the designated spot, but when Rec and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg put the baby tree into the
hole, it turned out the hole was too deep.
The general manager grabbed a shovel — since it was a ceremonial day, it was a golden shovel — and shoveled in some dirt. Too much dirt, it turned out. Now the hole was too shallow. The tree came out and Ginsburg removed some of the dirt he had just added, then put the tree back in.
But he removed too much, so he added back some of the dirt he had just taken out. Finally, the tree fit the hole, which was a good thing, he said — too deep a hole means the trunk rots, too shallow a hole means the roots wither.
“That’s my tree now,” said Ginsburg, who is in charge of all the park’s trees but whose hands do not usually get as dirty as they got on Tuesday. “I’ll be back to check on it.”
It was a great day to be a tree, old or new, in Golden Gate Park. A dollop of rain drenched the trees and the dignitaries, including Mayor London Breed, who had shown up to make speeches about how wonderful trees and parks are.
Breed said her fondest memory of Golden Gate Park was roller skating there as a kid. And she said she plans to be just as thrilled about taking a ride on the giant Ferris wheel that is going to get plopped into the park at the music concourse in April for a year, although she acknowledged not everyone was.
“Like it or not, I’m excited about (the Ferris wheel),” she said.
Nancy Bechtle, celebrated good works maven, said the best thing about Golden Gate Park is that there will “never be a sign than says, ‘Keep off the grass.’ ’’ She also said she used to take horseback rides there as a kid, and Ginsburg told her she still could — the horseback riding center reopened last year after being closed for 18 years because of money woes.
Although there appears to be no shortage of trees in Golden Gate Park, gardeners say appearances are deceiving. Trees tend to drop dead eventually, like everything else.
That’s where the 150 new trees come in.
James McCormick, a park supervisor, called the park a “living organism” and said its human caretakers try to be proactive about stuff like death.
“We take pride that the public doesn’t see when a mature tree falls over,” he said.
Scores of volunteers and gardeners were on hand to plant the new trees, mulch them and fuss over them. Every volunteer got a free Golden Gate Park Tshirt and a pair of gardening gloves. A few lucky volunteers got umbrellas.
The tree planting was the first official event in the park’s 150th birthday celebration. Coming up are concerts, movie nights, a kids’ carnival, yoga sessions, a giant picnic, free park shuttle buses from all over San Francisco — and the Ferris wheel.
Rides on the wheel won’t be free — a 12minute spin will go for $18. Meanwhile, bird watchers fret that the illuminated behemoth will be an irresistible magnet for birds to crash into.
The 150 new trees means there are now about 30,000 trees, 77,000 trees or 100,000 trees in Golden Gate Park — no one seemed sure exactly how many.
One groundskeeper said the number of park trees was 100,000. Ginsburg said he thought there were 77,000 trees. Then he checked with someone and said there were only 40,000 trees. Then he checked with someone else and said there really were 77,000 trees and that the one he planted raised that number to 77,001 trees.
One thing’s for certain: There are trees in Golden Gate Park.
“We take pride that the public doesn’t see when a mature tree falls over.”
James McCormick, park supervisor.