Spring Flora!

All this rain has sure greened things up at last. Birds singing, flowers blooming, time to garden! I was so sad to learn recently that the Far Out Flora bloggers are moving back to Wisconsin. Their enthusiasm and skill with plants adapted to Bay Area microclimates  is so inspiring. Their garden is/was in the Outer Sunset in  San Francisco. Meghan worked in Richmond at Annies Annuals and Matti worked at Flora Grubb Gardens  on the sunnier east side of SF in the Bayview.  Two of my favorite nursery's, so creative both Flora and Annie.  Their exposure to what really works in these seriously differing microclimates, plus their artistic backgrounds, make them a wonderful resource, and they will be seriously missed.

SF Botanical Garden

As a plant ecologist for years, I kept my passion for flashy horticultural joys a little under wraps, in favor of our magnificent native flora. These days, I can freely appreciate the beauty and function of "cultivars" ("a race or variety of a plant that has been created or selected intentionally and maintained through cultivation") as well as our lovely California wildflowers.

Alan Grinberg Mori Point

Speaking of cultivation, mark your calendars for the largest plant sale in California,  at the San Francisco Botanic Garden (Strybing). Also, the Larner Seeds awesome native wildflower demonstration garden in Bolinas is going off, if you feel like a field trip. Here are more resources for growing native plants, and here, here and here are resources for field viewing of the spring bloom.

BAWSCA

For you many food growers, Golden Gate Gardening is so helpful for our microclimates. As is the latest version of the Sunset classic Western Garden Book, which now has a plastic cover, the better for using with muddy hands. Their climate zones are more useful here than those of the USDA, being finer grained and including humidity, latitude and elevation, which give you a clearer idea of what you can really grow. They also have a fun on-line plant finder.

Happy Spring!

DavesGarden Cottage Garden Xeriscape