Share Ideas & Resources

• Take a walk on Caledonia Street from south to north, admire sites recently improved by Sausalito Beautiful and it’s partners
  • Firehouse and Police Station
  • Johnson Street Trees
  • Sausalito Optometry
  • Robin Sweeney Park
  • Trees on Caledonia
  • Bolinar Plaza
• Identify native plants at the Bay Model (native plant brochure)
• Volunteer for GreenThumbs
• Admire the vista from Southview Park
• Journal about Richardson Bay from Dunphy Park. Watch this video on nature journaling.
• Do you see a landscape maintenance problem that you want to report to the City of Sausalito?  Here is the form for an issue inside a park or playground, and here’s the form if the issue is outside a park (e.g., medians, streets).

• Monitor the Planning Commission agenda, looking for tree removal permit requests and new construction. Speak your mind during the period for public comment.
• Pick up litter in one of our parks (Dunphy, MLK, Gabrielson)
• Monitor the Parks & Rec Commission meetings for major developments.
• In your own yard, plant nectar-rich native species ideal for the disappearing Western Monarch Butterfly such as California Fuchsia ‘Everett’s Choice’ (Epilobium canum) or Yarrow ‘Sonoma Coast’ (Achillea millefolium)

• How could you beautify and unify your immediate neighborhood—street trees, bulbs, succulents?
• Is there a common space that could use help like a median strip?
• Talk with your neighbors about your ideas
• Start a neighborhood beautification effort.  Here is a structured program that might give you some ideas. Sausalito Beautiful will help!

Plant ornamental Trees

• Marin Master Gardener’s advice on Trees & How to Choose Them
• Trees for backyards and patios from Marin Master Gardeners
• Trees that thrive in Marin,
• Nationwide Tree Selection tool from UFEI (Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute)

Plant Street Trees in the public right-of-way (between your property and the street)

• 22 Benefits of Street Trees
• Sausalito’s approved Street Tree List
• Encroachment permit needed to plant a Street Tree in Sausalito
• Case Study of Johnson Street Trees

Plant fruit trees

• Selecting Fruit Trees for Marin,
• Citrus Tree Video

Read about tree pruning

• Prune like a Pro
• Pruning Fruit Trees

Local Tree Nurseries

• Urban Tree Farm, Fulton, CA

Use native plants

• Why use Native Plants? by Doug Tallamy
• Advice on planting natives in Marin
• Easy California Natives
• Designing a Native Garden
• Bird-friendly native plants from the Audubon Society
• Planting tips for native plants from CNPS
• Native Landscape Planting Guide for Bay Area/Marin County
• Designing a Rain Garden from the City of Pacific Grove

Native Plant Nurseries

• CNL Native Plant Nursery, 254 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley (415) 888-8471
• California Flora Nursery, Somers and D Street, Fulton (707) 528-8813
• Mostly Natives Nursery, 54 B St, Point Reyes Station (415) 663-8835
• The Watershed Nursery, 601-A Canal Blvd., Richmond  (510) 234-2222
• Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, 740 Market Ave, Richmond (510) 215-3301

Native Seeds:

• Larner Seeds Bolinas, CA (415) 868-9407
• Home Ground Habitats Novato CA  Can be found at various retail outlets in Marin including CNL Native Plant Nursery.

• Here are 5 wildflower hikes and 6 wildflower hikes for families, all in Marin.
• Before you go, print out photo identification sheets of typical wildflowers at Mt. Burdell, Chimney Rock, Abbots Lagoon and Pt. Reyes (courtesy of the CNPS). And here’s a video about identifying common wildflowers in the Bay Area.
• Based on their flower color, here’s a list of which wildflowers typically bloom in which months in the Marin Headlands.
• Photos from current wildflower treks in Marin can be found on the Facebook page of the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS).
• The currently blooming wildflowers in Homestead Valley are on the Homestead Valley Land Trust website, along with a map showing where specific wildflowers are typically found.
• Read up on the western monarch buttery on the Western Marin Environmental Action Committee website.

• Why succulents are great for Marin
• An MMG video about succulents in Marin
• Succulent list for Sausalito Police/Fire Station

Plant a vegetable garden

• Getting started with food gardening
• Marin Master Gardener portal on all food gardening
• Planting Calendar for Sausalito: foggy areas, sunny areas
• How to start vegetables from seeds
• Growing vegetables from the grocery store food
• Videos on Organic Vegetable Gardening in Marin, Backyard Composting
• No raised bed? No good soil? Grow vegetables in straw bales instead!

Where to find veggie starts in southern Marin

• Green Jeans, 690 Redwood Highway, Mill Valley  (415) 389-8333
• Sloat Garden Center, 657 E Blithedale Ave, Mill Valley (415) 388-0102

Vegetable Seed Companies

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
• Seed Savers Exchange
• Botanical Interests

Do you have extra fruit or vegetables? These non-profits can put them to good use (contact ahead of time for hours):

• Whistlestop: 415-456-9062, 930 Tamalpais Ave, San Rafael
• Community Action Marin: 415-491-4670, lwalton@camarin.org, Central Kitchen, 4308 Redwood Highway, Suite 100, San Rafael
• Sanzuma: 510-599-9621,  lori@sanzuma.org (Lori Davis), San Pedro Elementary School, 498 Point San Pedro Road, San Rafael
• North Bay Children’s Center: 415-883-6222, 932 C Street, Novato (Admin Office)
• Homeward Bound of Marin: 415-332-5521, Arey@hbofm.org (Andrea Rey)
• If you have extra fruit on your trees, email Share The Bounty, who will pick it and deliver it to donor organizations: sharethebountymarin@gmail.com

• Explore Marin Master Gardeners portal on fire smart landscaping
  • Watch this video, hosted by Sausalito’s own Fay Mark, is a great place to start
  • Read these printable tips for fire smart landscaping
• Ideas for replacing your fire-prone plants, from large trees to grasses.
• Learn about Fire Safe Marin Plants
• Trees in the fire-safe landscape
• Borrow a weed wrench to remove the fire-prone French broom (Genista monspessulana), which has invaded Marin County and acts as “ladder fuel” from a ground fire to the tree canopy.

• Pollinator Party – Check out these fun activities for the young at heart.
• Science @ Home from California Academy of Sciences: Activity Packs for Kids 4-11 on butterflies, the sky, coral reefs, etc.

• Richardson Bay Resilience: a story map showing sea level rise in our “backyard” and what possible mitigation steps could be taken.
• Sausalito Sea Level Rise Summit on 1/20/21: panelists, slides, additional reading, further steps
• BayWAVE Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment for Sausalito: A detailed vulnerability assessment for Sausalito dated April 2017. BayWAVE = Marin Bay Waterfront Adaptation and Vulnerability Evaluation.
• Sea Level Rise in Sausalito: October 2017. As part of the General Plan update, Mott MacDonald reviewed the present scientific consensus surrounding projections of sea level rise in the future,and summarized the information in this Technical Memorandum.
• Flood Explorer from Adapting to Rising Tides
• CoSMoS/Our Coast Our Future: PointBlue tool. Rather than relying on historic storm records, CoSMoS uses wind and pressure from global climate models to project coastal storms under changing climatic conditions during the 21st century.
• NOAA Sea-Level Rise Viewer: allows users to select the nearest NOAA tide gauge and identify relative sea-level rise scenarios based on the NOAA 2017 Technical Report. Areas are only shown as inundated if there is a feasible pathway for water to flow.
• Marin County Sea Level Rise information

• Dream about the possibilities for public spaces in Sausalito.
  • What makes a great public space?
  • 10 Principles for public spaces
  • 11 Rules to Follow When Creating Vibrant Public Spaces
• What can we do to preserve more Cultural Landscapes?
• Where should we be planting more trees in Sausalito?
• Where could we benefit from public art?
  • Good Public Art depends on Good Public Spaces

Articles & Brochures:

• Birds are linked to Happiness Levels
• How to kill weeds so your plants will grow
• The Watershed approach to Landscaping: From Marin Water, provides a thorough overview of water-wise landscaping.

Books:

• Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy
• Gardens are for People, a seminal work by Thomas Church
• Golden Gate Gardening:  the Complete Guide to Year-round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area, by Pam Pierce

Websites:

• UC Marin Master Gardeners
• California Native Plant Society
• Bay Nature
• Pacific Horticulture Society
• Plants for Summer Dry Climates: gorgeous inspiration and information about the best plants for our summer-dry gardens.
• UC Integrated Pest Management: University of California’s official guidelines for managing home and garden pests with environmentally sound methods.
• Yard Smart Marin: when you have a weed or pest problem but don’t want to use toxic chemicals

Videos:

• Nature’s Best Hope: A talk by Doug Tallamy for the California Native Plant Society
• Restoring the little things that run the World: Another great talk by Doug Tallamy for the California Native Plant Society
• Compendium of recorded talks:  Gardening webinars from Sloat Garden Center, Bay Area flora and fauna talks from Bay Nature, Native Plant talks from the California Native Plant Society

Interactive Tools:

• Climate Toolbox: See climate change predictions and how climate zones are changing for your own home (works best with Chrome browsers)
• i-Tree Design: Make a simple estimation of the benefits of planting a tree in a specific spot related to greenhouse gas mitigation, air quality improvements, stormwater interception, and energy use.