163 steps!
They call these the '16th Avenue Tiled Steps', but I prefer to call them the 'Moraga Tiled Steps'. And so I will!
There is some lovely gardening along the sides; a mix of natives, succulents and other workhorses. You'll find big drifts of black aeonium, mixed with green here.
The steps take you toward Grandview Park, a chert outcrop dressed in wind-blown sand.
We'll go there later. In the meantime, we'll see a bit of the neighborhood.
This big gray ball is Helichrysum petiolare which garden books call a trailing perennial 1-3 feet high. Only when it's young. After that it mounds. This one has been pruned I think, but I can show you many, many big-balled specimens like this (heh heh). No frost for this plant.
The far end of this walk (walk #11 in the book every San Franciscan should own) takes you to Golden Gate Heights Park, always drenched in fog and mystery.
Golden Gate Heights, like Bernal Heights, has several big chert outcroppings.
But a lot more hydrangeas. Hydrangeas everywhere here.
Houses that are all garage kind up front kind of fascinate me. It's like, where's the house?
The sun began to come out by the time we got back to Grandview.
It's supposed to be very hot in the Central Valley this weekend. I saw 105's predicted for Sacramento. That could mean cold, thick, soaking fog on the coast. Right now we're expecting lows in the mid-50s, with a chance of precipitation. By precipitation, I think they mean fog.
This neighborhood is called the Outer Sunset. It's far more monochrome in the aggregate than it is on the street level.
Turning north and looking at the Marin Headlands in the distance.
The copper-clad tower of the DeYoung Museum
It's hard to imagine San Francisco before all the people moved in. Sand dunes for miles, rock outcrops, steep cliffs.
Mostly remnants in evidence now.
4 comments:
Houses that are all garage up front kind of bother me. There are many neighborhoods in the more sprawly part of this area that look to be nothing but garage at the end of a large tarmac.
Thanks for all those plants. I am contemplating some new plants for my backyard, but flowering plants do not work in the miserable soil I have out there. It's really thick clay with hardpan thrown in for more fun. 30 years ago I rototilled (ok, my husband rototilled) 5 cubic yards of pine mulch into the ground. The mulch lost its mind and is no where to be seen or felt. The large shrubs and trees are doing beautifully back there, but I want some stuff lower to the ground.
I love your walks.
I am a home gardener myself, i love to plant fruit, but having no spacious garden always prevent me to go for some colorful fruits:)
Simon
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