Shown below in rough chronological order is the progress of the Santa Barbara dune-restoration project over a two-year span beginning in 2023. Please refer to the post immediately following for more detail on the specific dune natives used for project, and how they were grown. Growing Solutions was tasked early on with identifying and collecting Santa Barbara site-specific seed and plant material—then propagating thousands of healthy dune natives in small, easily transportable containers. Meanwhile, city workers and volunteers removed literal tons of invasive non-natives and noxious weeds —most notably Hottentot Fig, aka “highway iceplant”—that had been planted decades earlier in an attempt to stabilize the foreshore dunes. After clearing, workers graded and fenced over a half mile of dune foreshore, set up irrigation and ultimately installed the new plants by late 2023. As seen by the last photo, the transformation from the first shot is dramatic. The new natives (with ongoing weeding and maintenance), quickly established themselves and overall growth and coverage has been swift, encouraging and beautiful!