Cocktail party at Flora Grubb Gardens: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
August 08, 2013 The San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling wrapped up on June 30 with a cocktail party at Flora Grubb Gardens, a chic garden center named for its owner — and, yes, that’s really her name. Flora is a rock-star nursery owner, her image and her garden style recommendations ...
Hillside magic in the Nichols Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
August 06, 2013 Our 4th stop on the final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was my absolute favorite of the Fling: the Ann Nichols Garden. Gorgeous plants, beautifully combined and meticulously maintained, adorn a series of intimate garden rooms on a hillside lot. A subtropical front garden ...
Fearless color in Keeyla Meadows Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
August 01, 2013 Our 3rd stop on the final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the garden of artist and garden designer Keeyla Meadows, a scene of riotous, exuberant color in both plants and structures. Keeyla is the author of Fearless Color Gardens, which I reviewed here ...
Golden views in the Dudan Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 29, 2013 Our 2nd stop on the 3rd and final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Dudan Garden, a hilltop residence with a million-dollar view of golden hills and and an emerald valley. With such a view to enjoy, some might wonder why create a ...
Sculptural dry gardens at the Ruth Bancroft Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 27, 2013 Our 1st stop on the 3rd and final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek. It was about 100 degrees F in Walnut Creek that last week of June, but the heat and intense sunlight seemed appropriate for ...
California living in the Testa-Vought Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 26, 2013 Our 5th stop on the 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Bernard Trainor-designed Testa-Vought Garden in Palo Alto. Out front, a contemporary gravel garden greets you, but the real excitement begins when you enter a walled courtyard and begin discovering a series ...
Mementoes and memories in the garden of Rebecca Sweet: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 24, 2013 Our 4th stop on the 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Los Altos garden of designer, author, and blogger Rebecca Sweet. I’ve admired her garden not only on her blog, Gossip in the Garden, but in magazines like Sunset, so I already ...
Old World beauty at Filoli: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 23, 2013 Our 3rd stop on the 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the old estate garden of Filoli. According to its website, Filoli is a “654–acre property, including the 36,000 square foot Georgian country house and spectacular 16–acre English Renaissance garden.” Despite the Texas-level ...
Display gardens at Sunset Publishing headquarters: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 22, 2013 Our 2nd stop on the 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the low-slung headquarters of Sunset Publishing Corp. in Menlo Park, where we toured Sunset’s display gardens. While central Texas is just east of the western U.S. region covered by Sunset magazine, the ...
Filling the frame with Saxon Holt: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 19, 2013 The 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling opened with an optional photography workshop with professional garden photographer Saxon Holt at San Francisco Botanical Garden. While participants arose early, we still did not arrive at the magical “golden hour” of sunrise, and by 8:30 a.m ...
Surfing the Wave Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 18, 2013 Our last stop before dinner on the 1st day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the aptly named Wave Garden, a Bay-hugging, terraced garden — all curving, terracotta-tinted paths, wavy metalwork, and a cascade of colorful, exotic plants from South Africa, Australia, and other frost-free ...
Plant-stravaganza at Annie’s Annuals: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 16, 2013 We stopped for shopping and lunch on the 1st day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling at Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, a retail and mail-order nursery tucked behind high, wire-topped fences in a blighted neighborhood. “Plant heaven in the ‘hood,” adorable owner Annie cheerfully dubbed it ...
Organic Mechanics Garden, an apartment dweller’s refuge: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 15, 2013 Our second stop on the first day of the Garden Bloggers Fling in San Francisco seemed inauspicious: a security door into a tall apartment building on the edge of the Tenderloin, a downtown residential neighborhood with a somewhat seedy reputation. We walked single-file down narrow halls and ...
The vertical hillside garden of Matt Gil: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 14, 2013 As the Garden Bloggers Fling in San Francisco officially kicked off on June 28, two buses full of about 75 bloggers split up, navigating the city’s challenging hills separately so that the small gardens we visited could better accommodate us. My bus headed for sculptor Matt Gil‘s ...
Cocktail party at Shirley Watts’ Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 12, 2013 Early arrivals to San Francisco for the recent Garden Bloggers Fling were invited to a cocktail party at designer and artist Shirley Watts‘ home in Alameda. Shirley graciously opened her home and garden to about 50 complete strangers, and we eagerly trooped through her kitchen and into ...
Lawn Gone! GIVEAWAY and other perks from San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 11, 2013 Did you miss me? I’m back from nearly two weeks of fun Flinging with garden bloggers and sightseeing with my family in beautiful San Francisco, California. Since 2008, the Garden Bloggers Fling has been an annual tradition for me, a can’t-miss meet-up of garden bloggers from across ...
