NEWS FROM THE

Park Bench

info@friendsofhendrickspark.org • www.friendsofhendrickspark.org • 541-607-4066

Regulars Are on a Roll

Do you know that much of the weeding, trail raking, storm clean-up and gener-al upkeep of the Rhododendron Garden is done by volunteers? These dedicat-

ed folks show up on Tuesday mornings, March through November, rain or shine.Some have been doing it for decades. A few Tuesday volunteers specialize in cer-

tain tasks such as pruning and trail raking; others adopt particularareas for general maintenance. Mostly, they step up to help with what-ever needs to be done in any given week.

The volunteers’ efforts, in both the garden and the forest, are guidedby Volunteer Coordinator Assistant Mieko Aoki. Mieko has beenremarkably successful at attracting, retaining and motivating volun-teers and, with the help of staff members, leads very productive workparties. She issues advance emails letting the volunteers know what’son the agenda for the coming work party, and sends informative emailsafter each session, detailing what was accomplished. All this is in addi-tion to preparing materials, equipment and project ideas for work par-ties, keeping excellent records, and taking some great photos. Miekoalso attends meetings of the Rhododendron Garden Committee.

At the City of Eugene’s request, the Friends recently provided amoney-match to boost the hours allotted to Mieko for preparing forand guiding the Tuesday Morning regulars. Most of that work was

already getting done, but now Mieko’s paid for it! Here’s Mieko’s report for 2015: Average number of people per Tuesday: 13.7 (up

from 9.6 last year). Total number of hours contributed: 1461 (up from 1151 lastyear). Pause here, Mieko suggests, to reflect on just how much time that is: a full-

time worker for 9 months. Overall, 166.5 yards ofweeds and rhododendron limbs were extricated,131 yards of mulch were scooped and distributed,and eight big trees and 116 shrubs and perennialswere planted.

Volunteers continue to improve the look of thegarden as viewed from Summit Avenue. On the firstwork day of 2016, they took away about 5 yards ofweeds, blackberries and rhododendron branches,mulched around some muddy areas, dug out patch-es of lesser celandine, and removed winter protec-tion from “those crazy Gunnera plants.” Since then,they have pruned and mulched around hydrangeas,weeded and mulched around Ted Trombert’s bench,and hoed and raked the trails.

Mieko weeding withIsaiah Lightdancer

EUGENE’S FIRST PARK SPRING 2016

Volunteer Spotlight: Kit Kirkpatrick

Two years ago, Kit took on the important task of organizing and hostingthe Friends’ Hendricks Park tours. Her duties include persuading interest-ing and expert people to take time out of their extremely busy lives toopen visitors’ eyes to the park’s wonders.

Originally from the Bay Area, Kit moved to Portland in 1975 and lived therefor 6 months. “It was great fun, and the friends I made were the best, but I couldn’thandle the rain and high winds in the autumn. How could anyone live in Oregon?” she says. “I fled to theSoutheast for 4 or 5 years. In 1980, when it became obvious that I was not Southern Belle material, Ireturned to the West Coast—to Eugene.” Once here, Kit became “a complete aficionado of the outdoorworld. That’s what drives me. It’s my manifestation of God.”

Kit got to know the park through John Moriarty, who was then serving as Forest Management PlanCoordinator, and came to know it better through volunteering. Why did she offer to take on the tour pro-gram? “It just seemed a good fit,” she recalls. “The tours are wonderful. I am so impressed by how many eru-dite and fascinating people in Eugene have remarkable knowledge of and feeling for the natural world. Weare lucky to live here!”

Kit says she also enjoys working with the board of FoHP. “There’s just so much good energy all around.”

2 Spring 2016

Capital Improvement Award

Last year, Hendricks Park RhododendronGarden was the lucky recipient of a special

grant from a Parks and Open Space fund for capitalimprovements. Parks staff city-wide submit hun-dreds of projects each year from which two sitesare selected. The fund is intended for projectsdesigned to reduce future maintenance, and theaward must be spent in the City’s current fiscalyear, which ends July 2016. Goals already accom-plished in the Rhododendron Garden with thiswindfall include the new path built by NorthwestYouth Corps to replace the hazardous ‘giant steps’on the south facing slope above Summit Avenue;irrigation improvements; understory fern plantingfor weed suppression; tree planting; and the con-version of three prominent benches from wood tolonger-lasting metal.

Our Mission: To provide stewardship for Hendricks Parkthrough education, restoration and community support.

A Letter from Our President

Help the Rhodie Garden Bloom

News from the Park Bench 3

The rhododendron seasonis upon us — the flower

show we all await — the“fruit” of year-long labor inthe Rhododendron Garden.While it’s great to visit anytime, the best times to strollthe Rhodie Garden are surelyApril and May.

Flower time is also kick-offtime for the Friends ofHendricks Park’s newcapital campaign toestablish anEndowment Fund forthe RhododendronGarden. It is high timeto set the garden on asound financial footingthat will carry it for-ward into the future.We have learned howcritical an endowmentfund can be throughour experience withJerry Blakey’s bequest to theNative Plant Garden, so wewould like theRhododendron Garden toenjoy the same benefit. Ourinitial goal is $20,000, thethreshold for the OregonCommunity Foundation toestablish a separate endow-ment account. We havealready directed $3,000 into arestricted fund as a downpayment.

Here’s the case for an RGEndowment Fund. Cuts toParks and Open Space’sbudget during the GreatRecession left the RG with-out a head gardener in 2011for the first time since 1953.

Further budget cuts erodedmaintenance even more.Invasive weeds continuetheir inexorable invasions,and the 2015 drought didn’thelp the plants. The finalwhammy has been the azalealace bug infestation, discov-ered in 2014. The bugs haveto be killed with insecticidalsoap.

Hendricks Park staff andvolunteers have stepped upmagnificently. Friends ofHendricks Park has directedan increasing portion of itsannual budget to the RGsince commissioning theRhododendron Garden NeedsAssessment in 2012. Therehave been new plantings,and the rock garden has beenrenovated. In 2016, theFriends split the considerablecost of insecticidal soapspraying with Parks andOpen Space for a secondyear. The RG is holding itsown, but it has been touchand go, with a mountingbacklog of needs and tasks.

In recognition of theseneeds, POS last year crafteda 5-year Maintenance Planthat identifies specific proj-ects necessary to keep theRG blooming. High on thelist is the imperative toreplace shrubs that are agingor vulnerable to the lace bugwith new, more resistantones. The spray program is

working, but the finan-cial drain is unsustain-able.

It was no fluke thatHendricks Park wasincluded in The PacificNorthwest GardenTour guide publishedin 2014! Now it isFoHP’s turn to helpour vision bloom. Wehave an opportunity toreshape the garden forits next phase and to

burnish it for us lucky oneswho live here and for thetourists who come by, suchas those who will attend theupcoming track and field tri-als. Before the traditionalMother’s Day festivities atthe garden, we will be call-ing on interested citizens andneighbors for a special con-tribution. Think of it as akind of permaculture—help-ing the RhododendronGarden hang tight and growright for many springs tocome.

Erik Fisher, President, Friends of Hendricks Park

4 Spring 2016

A Little Weed, but Vicious: Shining Geranium

More Hours for the Native Plant Garden

It looks so small and harmless, but it’s abeast! This geranium makes herb-Robert

look innocuous. Shining geranium (Geraniumlucidum) is a small, non-native weed withround, deeply incised leaves and small bright-pink flowers. It grows fast and spreads rapidlyby seed—it can shoot its seeds 20 feet. It hasbeen in Hendricks Park for about adecade, and staff have tried manymethods of control without com-ing close to eliminating it. G.lucidum has also been the bane ofMt Pisgah Arboretum and otherpublic lands for several years, andsome people consider establishedpopulations untreatable. NaturalResources staff are testing newmethods of control, but the bestcoping strategy is to prevent newinfestations.

What makes this little plant sovicious is that it inhibits the growth of otherspecies, a quality called allelopathy. This char-acteristic is often mentioned with reference toblack walnut trees, but G. lucidum is far moreeffective. In spite of the best efforts of staff and

contractors (and volunteers, whose main con-tribution is to report sightings), the weed isincreasing its territory. It is most abundantaround the shed and lathe house north ofFairmount and across the road east and westof the rock restrooms. Most of the time, you’llsee it as a low carpet of glossy, bright-green

leaves. Our great fear is that it willget established in the forest, whereit could rapidly displace the small-er native flora.

Staff and volunteers are moni-toring the forest, especially inareas adjacent to those alreadyinfested, and plants are immedi-ately removed. Visitors areadvised to recognize the plantwhere it is abundant, and refrainfrom walking through it or allow-ing dogs to run there. It’s easy tocarry seed into the forest and

home to your own yard as well as other publicareas. So leash your dog at all times (it’s thelaw!), and please stick to the trails. G. lucidumis the biggest threat to forest diversity sinceEnglish ivy, and it may be even worse.

The Friends provided funding to extend theNative Plant Gardener position by 100

hours last fall and an additional 100 hours inlate winter of 2016. We trust that the positionwill be extended again in2016/17, with the cost sharedby the City. The job previouslyran from March through theend of October, pushing workthat could be done in late falland winter into the very busyspring season. The increasedhours allow the gardener tostart each year in mid-Februaryand continue to the end ofNovember. The change wassought by the Friends and by

Sasha White, who currently holds the position. Sasha provided a cogent, detailed written

argument for the extension, pointing out thatlate autumn is the best time for planting

natives and February is a goodtime for pruning, as well as theeradication of invasive species.Sasha added, “Approximately400 new plants went into theNPG this season, not includingdirect seeding. Thanks to theextension of my position, I wasable to work into the rainy sea-son and feel much more confi-dent about the survival of thenew plants.”

Photo by Sasha White

Photo by Bruce Newhouse

Donors from10/16/2015 to 4/10/16

BenefactorsTerry West & Jack

Viscardi FundBeth & Brad CopelandErik FisherPauline Rear

Guarantors Scott Pope

Sustaining Nathan Markowitz &

Jill HendricksonCynthia & Tom DreyerDan GiustinaPhyllis HamelDonna HeinDavid & Catherine

JohnsonTamara StenshoelRay & Elise WeldonRobert Leary

Sponsoring Elizabeth & Frank

KochGayle Landt & Martin

JonesPaul NicholsonSteve Gab & Hillery

KyablueJerry Lidz & Melinda

GrierMarna BroekhoffRichard Larson &

Barbara CowanJane BeeghlyMargot FetzDavid & Ann

FidanqueRachel Foster

Gary Moye Architect,Inc.

Hannah & DanielGoldrich

Art & Anita JohnsonLee & Mary Jean

MichelsJo Ann MooserRobert Nelson &

Kathleen PengellySharson & Michael

PosnerMartin & Linda SageChris JonesAnn BettmanJames Coons & Mary

NuwerElizabeth & Vin

LanannaGary HagueRay & Chris ScofieldPauline AndrewsJohn MoriartyMichal Young &

Cynthia WenksEugene Garden ClubAlexis Norelle &

Steven StwertkaJan & Curtis BrownPaula & Ted HewittFranchia LorenSusan Macomson

Family and FriendsDaniel Kaye & June

BrooksEric Johnson & Karen

GuilleminHoward Bonnett &

Judith HorstmannRick Minor & Kathryn

Toepel

Alan Zelenka & SusanSmith

Jeanne MaaschDorothy & Frank

AndersonTree BressenPeggy DameNancie FadeleyArt FarleyJim & Mary GentRobin & Mark

GrediaginMarci & David HiltonHarold Hushbeck, Jr.Theresa & Bob JonesLinda & Joseph KintzJim & Maria KiplingerKit & Marylyn LarsenChristine NordensonSue & Hugh PrichardCatherine SiskronCharles & Vicki

SwansonMarion WalterDavid HammerLarry LeveroneKathleen & Walter

PettyAndrea WolfJames & Jane BartaJohn Curtis & Janne

UnderrinerMagnus Persmark &

Rosalie HammondSusan & James

DouglasJohn & Nita

PostlethwaitSharon PotichaLarry & Wendy MaltzMichael & Connie

ManleyJill Hubbard

Jim Beyer & CindyFitzgerald

Sallie & Bill AndersonLynn FrohnmayerDoris BurklandKeith Eddins & Anne

BridgmanErik & Jessyca BurkeJay Silverman & Diane

Bolte-SilvermanPeter SaracenoEdward BlackAlan ReederJon HeritageDick & Nina

HendersonTheodore & Laramie

Palmer

Darbi HaffnerJason SolbeckStephen RameySteve LongtinWalnut Street Co-opJeff Lange & Melissa

WooChris StebbinsSmith Family (James

& Jennifer Smith)Paul & Mary Sue

EdgecombJoe SpivakBarbara & Christer

MossbergDarcey PooleSally Wellborn

Please Support our In-KindContributorsRudy Fox, Fox

Graphics

Thanks to all our con-tributors, and weregret any omissionsor errors.

New and Renewing Friends of Hendricks ParkOn behalf of the FoHP Board, thank you to the many people who contribute financially to our organization.

Your donation allows us to fulfill our mission with Hendricks Park.

News from the Park Bench 5

PayPal is AvailableIf you would like to join FoHP, renew yourmembership and/or make an additional contribution, you can use PayPal on ourwebsite (www.friendsofhendrickspark.org).

Go to the “Join Us” webpage, where you’ll find two ways todonate to FoHP using PayPal. We have suggested amounts forMembership Dues, but any amount is greatly appreciated. Simplycontribute the amount that fits you. For the “AdditionalContributions” donation, when you get to the “Checkout” page,click on “Please indicate the area of contribution.” That way, youcan designate a category (if any) for your extra contribution.

You don’t have to use PayPal. A check in the mail works also.Thanks for all the donations you make to Friends ofHendricks Park. The great work we do is supported by yourgenerosity! – David Moon, Treasurer

In memory of HalliePoole-Moseley fromDarcey Poole

MemorialContributions

Friends of Hendricks ParkP.O. Box 3784Eugene, OR 97403-0784

Board of DirectorsPresident Erik FisherVice President Rachel FosterSecretary Jim BeyerTreasurer David Moon Sandra Austin Beth CopelandMolly CraigPhyllis Hamel

Newsletter byRachel Foster,Linda Sage and Beneda Design

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDEUGENE OR

PERMIT NO. 609

Save the dates! • Tuesday Morning in theRhododendron Garden

Join the Tuesday MorningRegulars every Tuesday, 9a.m. – 12 noon, Marchthrough November. Meet atHendricks Park office at thenortheast end of theRhododendron Garden(below the restrooms).

• Friends of Hendricks Park Forest Work Parties

5/14/16 – Park Bench Spring 2016 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. 6/4/16 – 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.Meet at the F.M. Wilkins Picnic Shelter, 2200 Summit Ave., Eugene OR.

For updates on forest stewardship opportunities, pleasecontact Mieko at Mieko.e.Aoki@ci.eugene.or.us or 541-510-4636.

2016 Hendricks Park Tours

April 24, 1 p.m. Sasha White Native

plants

May 15, 1 p.m. Jack Olsen Rhododen-

drons

June 5, 7 a.m. Mieko Aoki Birding

June 26, 1 p.m.

AlbyThoumsin

Forest ecology

November 6,10 a.m.

BruceNewhouse/Peg Boulay

Mushrooms

(Daylight Savings Time is over!)

Volunteer Opportunities