Mayor Newsom and the city's Greening Director Astrid Haryati came up with these nifty plant boxes to segment the long bench that stretches along the main library right off Civic Center Plaza.

According to the Tournesol blog, "The project was done in a short time frame, so there wasn’t much time to let the plants grow in. The maintenance staff will be watering-in by hand until the plants get established. The planter will catch any run-off from the modules."

They sure looked gorgeous and green when first installed, yes. But a few months later, it's quite a different scene. Behold: