I hate to complain about our winter temperatures while other parts of the United States hunker inside from cold weather warnings BUT, it was rather chilly for our succulents and tender plants on the island last week. Seldom do we receive a frost in San Francisco, let alone on Alcatraz, but the low temperatures and wind did cause minor damage to our Aeonium arboreum, Zantedeshia aethiopica (calla lily), and Tropaeolum (nasturtium).

Cold damage to Aeonium arboreum. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

It is difficult to have an exact temperature that the damage occurred on these plants, but Aeonium can tolerate freezing for a half a day to a day before the plant would actually die. Our plants look like they are all nodding their heads and will make a strong recovery.

As for the calla lilies, the leaves are mottled green and are turning mushy, resembling spinach that has been frozen in the back drawer of a refrigerator. The tough rhizomes will send up new leaves, and might just have a later bloom than normal. The nasturtiums we ended up removing as the leaves looked very tattered and were turning yellow. There are enough seeds dormant in the soil from years of these annuals setting seed, so they will replace themselves soon enough.

Damage to emerging Calla leaves. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

Damage to Nasturtium leaves. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

An interesting fact about cold winter temperatures is that in 1933, the California Horticulture Society began because of an “in the winter of 1933 an unusually frigid air mass withered gardens in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. A small group of concerned gardeners met to compare plant survival information, and they became the nucleus of the present Society.” – Which also happens to be the oldest plant association in California!

It’s always interesting to compare notes with other neighbour gardeners to see how their garden fared a cold snap – you may even pick up a few new hardy plants.

We finally had some rain this week! The light spring showers and fog have really helped the gardens. The gardens were beginning to dry out earlier than usual, even the ferns and moss were beginning to think spring was over.

Hearing the fog horn from the bridge, the buoy bell marking ‘little Alcatraz’, and all the seabirds this morning made it just a great day to be working in the Prisoner Gardens on the west side of the island. We also had our faithful crew of volunteers, and joining us this morning was a team from the San Francisco Recreation and Parks. We all worked together to cut back Chasmanthe floribunda on the terraces and admired the view. We cut back Chasmanthe while it is still green to make it easier to break down in our compost.

After the group had left, I had a chance to do a little more weeding and a few plants just caught my eye – especially this combination of the Heliotrope arborescens (cherry pie) with Osteospermum (African daisy). The purple centers of the osteospermum match the purple flowers of the heliotrope perfectly.

Osteospermum with Heliotrope. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

Last week we cut back

Polystichum munitum fronds unfolding. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

the native sword ferns, Polystichum munitum and the new fronds are just coming up now. Seeing the new fronds unfurl is pretty cool and it is like an abstract garden art with their fuzzy coils, even each leaflet is curled up.

Finishing the day in the rose terrace, the sun was shining and the all the Homeria collina also known as Moraea collina (cape tulip) were in full bloom with the dutch bulb iris ‘Blue Sapphire’.

Homeria and dutch iris in the rose terrace. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

The island is already beginning to be sold out a week in advance so I hope the lucky visitors who do have tickets for this weekend come along on our garden tours or at least walk through the gardens to see how pretty this prison island is.

Loosely translated, Alcatraz means ‘strange looking seabird’ in Spanish. Even today, the island is a bird haven. This time of year, the cacophony of the Western gulls has left and the background noises of the island become heard. The cheerful chirping of songbirds is apparent, especially along the west road that takes visitors through the inmate gardens. Anna’s hummingbirds are zipping around while black Phoebes can be seen perched on branch shrubs.

Speaking with the National Park Service wildlife biologist, Victoria Seher, she updated me on the latest songbird activity: “For many years the Natural Resource office did a monthly Alcatraz Bird Census of the island during the winter months, however, it hadn’t been done for several years. This year we decided to resurrect the count, modifying the protocols a bit. The island bird walks are conducted 2 – 3 times per month from October through January. Waterbird docents from the previous season are helping with the counts, but we are accepting new volunteers as well. The counts start at 9am on the dock and follow the Agave Trail up the stairs to the Parade Ground, around the rubble piles, behind Building 64 and up the path to the cell house, down the west road, through the Laundry Building and down the north road back to the dock. The counts have been about 2.5 – 3 hours long and we travel about 1 mile. All birds are counted (even the ones we see in the water or flying overhead).”

Alcatraz Bird Count

Victoria and her keen observers counted 26 different species of birds last week, a surprise count even for themselves.

Reading through the suspect list, I mean, bird list, I couldn’t help but wonder; which one of these guys is eating my marigolds and chrysanthemums? The marigold nibbling started innocently enough – first just the orange flowers, but next it was the orange flowers, then all the leaves disappeared. The chrysanthemums also proved to be a tasty treat – all the flower buds were gone in a few days.

A chrysanthemum minus the flower buds. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

A marigold stripped of its flowers and leaves. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

The gardens are providing much more than just enjoyment and beauty for visitors, the gardens also provide food and shelter to the birds. The benefit of the gardens to the birds is, in a strange parallel, very similar to what the Federal Bureau of Prisons provided for the inmates. Regulation Number 5 stated “You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege.” The gardens stop short of providing clothing for the birds but with Victoria with her team of volunteers and interns keeping watch over the birds, they do receive medical attention if needed.

Be sure to visit the island in the next month to witness these special jail birds.

The world of gardening and art often overlap; I often find gardeners who also like drawing, photography, or who partake in other crafty pastimes. One of my long-time volunteers, Margaret Zbikowski, is no exception. Margaret began volunteering in February 2006, just as the winter rains were hitting. She recalls “it was February and knee deep in mud; the blackberries were the target and I began to wonder if I was able to do this hillside gardening”.

Margaret drawing in the Rose Terrace. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

Aside from tugging at the stubborn blackberries, Margaret applied her librarian skills to organize the island’s staff library; but her childhood love of drawing plants found her a special niche on the island.

Margaret starting an Aeonium drawing. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

Raised in rural Michigan, Margaret’s mother would name plants to her when she was very small. The large lot next to their home was planted as a Victory garden and was a haven for the three-year-old Margaret, where she would sit and watch the plants. Impressively, as a three-year-old, Margaret remembers smelling her neighbors mint bush, “This all was a marvelous world to me”.

At age ten, she would roam on the family’s ‘back 40’, drawing trees,

Margaret captured the Shirley poppies. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

plants, mosses and leaves. “No-one in my family said anything about my drawing, so I continued happily. At school it was harder, as someone told I could draw and everyone wanted a portrait right there, right now.  I always gave these drawings to the fools.  That’s why I prefer PLANTS.”

Margaret has never had any formal training, other than taking lessons at the local town Museum of Art for the summer months, which was considered ‘appropriate’ for all young ladies. Apparently, only students seemed to notice who had talent. Margaret did ask to be sent to an art school in Chicago, but sadly, the answer was ‘No’.

But, natural talent can never be discouraged and Margaret continued to draw, and expanded into designing and making knit sweaters. Her San Francisco apartment is a treasure trove of her passions – books, paintings, orchids, and her drawing notebooks of Alcatraz plants.

Leafing through her notebooks, many of the drawings catch my eye. I wonder how she can capture the essence of the plants with such few pencils and with such simple looking drawings? On average, Margaret takes about 20 minutes to do a drawing, but has worked on one a lot more when she is not quite satisfied.

A closeup of Margaret's grasses. Photo by Shelagh Fritz

Amazingly, penitentiary inmates were privileged to be allowed ‘landscape drawing’ and must have spent hours gazing at the plants, not to mention the City and freedom, lying just beyond.

One inmate, George Hecht, was sentenced on kidnapping charges and was sent to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas and was later transferred to Alcatraz for an escape attempt. Hecht spent 1944 to 1952 on Alcatraz and his work detail was for the inside garden by the incinerator on the West Side. An article in the Washington Post dated July 1949 tells of a local San Francisco artist who went to teach evening classes on Alcatraz to help with the creative program. George must have benefitted from this program as he produced many paintings during his time on the Rock. In fact, five paintings from Alcatraz were exhibited in Paris, France in May 1951. Amazingly, after George passed away, his children found in his attic his paintings from his time on Alcatraz. His years on Alcatraz were not his happiest and yet he held onto his art that he had created during his time there.

Inmate painting of the inmate gardens and the city beyond. The painting was done by George Hecht in 1951.

I do wish more visitors would come armed with paper, pencils and an extra 20 minutes to sit in the gardens, take in the moment and sketch a few plants.