The Nice Day Garden

Tomorrow there is big rain. With strong winds.

The buckeye leafs out!



Another name for this blog post could be The Garden of Dappled Sunlight. I like it, but some people would complain about too much fine texture.



I don't usually complain about too much fine texture until July.

I should have taken this picture before I cut off all the lower leaves of the Echium pininana so I can navigate that corner better:



Or, just show the close-up.



Per Bonnie Story's advice in the comments, I'm totally ignoring my artichoke and hoping that it will love me more.



Raspberries, y'all! I never got around to pruning them, or even figuring out how I should prune them. Maybe I'll do that next year.



Favas will be here for another month or so, and then the tomatoes go in. Well, I haven't even started the tomatoes yet. Maybe two months.



My cherries popped!



And up on the roof, tulips!



And tulips with Agave gentryi 'Jaws':

Pennsylvania Garden

That's Pennsylvania Street. Although it's just called Pennsylvania Garden. We're still in San Francisco.

This little bit of public land, rounded by a freeway exit at 18th Street and Pennsylvania, is featured in the current edition of Pacific Horticulture, which is how I found out about it. This is the Potrero Hill neighborhood; we rarely visit.



According to Pacific Horticulture, this was public land assigned to CalTrans (our state highway department) when guerrilla gardening began in 2008. Neighborhood interest quickly grew to the point that CalTrans updated the irrigation system and signed over some rights to San Francisco's Department of Public Works. The garden is maintained by volunteers and the water will be turned off in 2 years. Plants and labor came from all over via Craigslist. Bay View Green Waste delivered 30 yards of mulch to help improve the soil.



Shall we?





Love the recycled entry way.



All these plants will surely naturalize in San Francisco without supplemental water once they get established.

























The land backs up to a drainage backed by an autobody shop and planted with succulents and cacti.





You know I'm generally not in to variegated foliage, but this Coprosma repens was lovely



backing up to a black phormium



threaded through with a limey green Helichrysum petiolare.







Very nice. Thank you Potrero Hill people!

Glen Canyon Park

"Tucked in a little canyon between residential neighborhoods, Glen Canyon Park is a small open space parcel, but a delight for local dogwalkers and nature enthusiasts. Red tail hawks are frequently seen soaring above the park. Raccoon, skunk, and possum paw prints smudge the dirt." (Ref.)

Just between you and me, I tend to think of this park as rather depressing because of all the blackberry and ivy choking the canyon floor, under the willows.

So, stay on the canyon rim. :)

White Crane Springs Community Garden

Today was the second time this week I tried to visit the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, just like the last time, Golden Gate Park was packed and there was no parking available anywhere near the Garden's entrances. From where I entered on 7th, all the way to 19th Avenue, not a single spot! Unbelievable! What I should have done, what I will do next time, is park outside the Park on Lincoln. And, no, I'm not going to take public transportation. I am not known for masochism.

Anyway: Argh!

Then I decided to visit the nearby Garden for the Environment. But there were people working, and the light was too bright for taking pictures...

I took a few anyway, along the sidewalk.









Then I remembered the community garden across the street that I made a mental note to explore.

So, that's what this blog post is about.



Don't let the spring-y look of recent blog posts fool you. It's not snowing, but it's still plenty cool. Definitely not vegetable-growing weather. Furthermore, as this garden is squarely in San Francisco's fog belt, where one might argue it is never vegetable-growing weather. At least not for summer vegetables.

Yet since we have no frost, we can grow greens all year. And that is just what many vegetable gardeners do.

I have not brought you to this garden to wow you, but we are here. So let's check it out.

















Bee hives:









Then I want to show you what I pulled over for on the way home:







Goats!