Flying with an almost six month old was nerve-racking, but Zoe was great. No crying and lots of sleeping. Ripping up and trying to eat the Skymall magazine provided lots of entertainment. Our flight to SF arrived 30 minutes EARLY and we flew in down the coast over Marin and then over the city. Our old apartment is pretty much below the plane in this pic. The golden gate bridge is peeking out at the top of the pic. To top it off our luggage popped out in less than five minutes.
Flora’s Edsel
Our first stop was Flora Grubb Gardens, which is looking amazing as always. Did you know that the Edsel was in this spot before Flora?
Bro poles
Love the new vertical bromeliad hangout. Matti needs to build us a plant pole for our new epiphyte collection when we move back.
Java Beach
Before we hit the road for Pacific Grove we stopped at Java Beach for our favorite sandwich. We left our big camera at home, so we only have phone pics. We’re both still instagraming like crazy at faroutmegan & fofmatti
It’s official, I’m addicted to Instagram. I needed a new stationary hobby to do while feeding Zoe in addition to watching lots and lots of bad tv (she eats a lot). Yesterday we went to Olbrich Botanical Gardens to check out the Bolz Conservatory and get out of the house for a little bit. Tillandsia funckiana is one of our faves and just happened to be blooming like crazy. I linked this top pic to my Instagram pic if you want to find me (they’re also on flickr). I’d love to have more Instagrammers to follow, my user name is faroutmegan & Matti is fofmatti.
Bromeliad Party
Lots of bros were doing their flowery thing at the Conservatory. They have a great assortment of them.
Checking out the Chenille Tree (Acalypha hispida)
Happy Tropicals
What’s this?
Didn’t grab the name of this cool flowered plant. Anyone know what it is?
Autumn Arrangement
I love decorative cabbages and kales… so much so I planted ones you’re supposed to eat out back and only gaze at them with love.
Freaky Bromeliad alert! On Friday I went to the San Francisco Botanical Garden for what may have been the last time while living here in SF. I must have spent at least four hours walking around visiting all my favorite plants. While wandering around the CA Native section back by the greenhouses I ran in to Derek of Plantgasm finishing up his propagation volunteer time. I had seen these crazy Puyas getting ready to bloom maybe a month ago, so we headed over to see what was going on and check out succulent land one last time.
Puya chilensis I think
I couldn’t find a sign, so I’m guessing this is Puya chilensis. Anyone know for sure?
Puya alpestris
Puya alpestris is still blooming. It looks like the Puya venusta should be doing its thing in a couple weeks, too.
Matti and the Puya
I took this pic back on March 18th and the bloom pictured is now shot. The bud to the right is blooming right now.
The Succulent Garden
I hate to get all mushy and stuff, but the San Francisco Botanical Garden is where we received the majority of our plant education. Nearly three years ago Matti and I enrolled in Plant Identification class at City College with Malcolm Hillan, it changed our lives. We spent two semesters of Saturdays at the botanical garden from 9 to 1, learning anywhere from 12-15 plants per class. We had to learn it all including family name, genus, species, origin, zone, sun, water, and spelling counted on quizzes and tests. Matti and I were both pretty freaked out after the first class when we could barely remember all the details for our first plant California native, Platanus racemosa and knew we had 149 more plants to go. Thanks Malcolm and our favorite classmates Rene and Johanna for making it so much fun!
p.s. the CA Native section is going off right now, too!
You know the term, a man’s man? Well if there’s such thing as a gardener’s garden…this is the place. What a treat it was to visit Ted Kipping’s private oasis over in the Glen Park neighborhood. When Ted isn’t traveling to exotic locations seeking out rare plants in habitat or working his business at Tree Shapers, he’s constantly tweeking his garden.
Scleranthus biflorus
Ted has several hypertufaesque containers tucked in throughout his space. After I stopped drooling over that first pic of the Dudleya attenuata, I saw his Scleranthus biflorus, which was looking lusher than ours.
Lewisia cotyledon
I had a bunch of those…wow, why didn’t I think of that moments. Here’s a plant we have in our garden, but his Lewisia cotyledon looked way more cooler than ours. He does some amazing mini landscapes, and certainly influenced us to make our alpine container about a month back.
Dierama bee love
Megan tells me that Dierama are hot right now. The bee and me would have to agree. Sometimes called Fairy’s Fishing Rods, they fall in the same family as Crocosmia and put on quite a show.
Begonia foliosa var. miniata
Agave parryi
Agave parryi, always a fav. Slow growing, its gray spiky foliage spans to about a 30-inch diameter. Stunning accent plant, indeed.
Bromeliad fence
His Bro Fence was sweet. Ted shared with us a little trick. He uses a variety of Bromeliads to fill in holes and gaps within his garden until he finds just the right plant for that space. Since many Bros are easy to transplant and move around…they work well for his technique. Small potted plants work the same way. Brilliant.
Brugmansia & Blue Sky
Gratuitous Brugmansia and blue sky shot. It was one of those gorgeous fall days.
Plectranthus awesomus
Score! Ted dropped us a couple cuttings including a pinch of this shady loving limy Plectranthus. It’s gonna look great on our shady side.
Hey, if you get a moment, you must check out Ted’s Tree Shapers and see what makes him one of the most skilled Arborist in the Bay Area and beyond. You rock Ted!
You never know where the garden world is going to take you. We were out and about looking at some cool indie crafts down in Hayes Valley (SF), and these awesome octopus pillows caught our eye. That’s were we met Tin of Utiltarian Franchise. Turns out that not only does Tin design the coolest pillows ever, he also is an avid gardener.
Staghorn Fern Grotto with Succulent Wall
A week later, we headed over to check it out. OMGosh, hands down…Tin’s garden is incredible. For the past two years, he has been filling every nook up and down with tons of succulents, bros and epiphytes.
Bros and succulents
Tin plays a lot with color and texture. Also without the ability to chop up the concrete, he uses a bunch of containers and vertical wall panels.
Succulent Wall.
Such as these sweet panels he made including the frames. So what does Tin do with his old serography screens when they are past their prime? He makes them into vertical walls. Man, I really wish I would have come up with that…it’s brilliant.
San Francisco in succulents.
Oh, and love the stags too. Also, <3 those hanging letters. He has collected enough letters to almost spell out San Francisco too…sans the F.
Succulent containers.
BTW as always, there are more pics of Tin’s work on our Flickr.
Big, bad A succulent panel Bromeliad Tree.
Geez, I want this succulent wall.
Bromeliad Tree.
Okay, so there’s a lot to take in at Tin’s garden…and can’t wait to head back. Wanting more info on Utilitarian Franchise designs, check out this SF Gate article. Hey Tin, we love the pillows and thanks for the tour.
