Filoli

It was a hot and bright afternoon on the day we visited Filoli Gardens during the Garden Bloggers Fling. I'd never visited Filoli, a historic garden some thirty minutes south of San Francisco, before.

The light blew out any normal photo-taking efforts, but it was fun to visit the gardens.  I loved the heritage orchards, in particular.

Dramatic focal points,

historic trees,

and an impressively informal knot garden were highlights.

knot garden "waves" at Filoli

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The Wave Garden (East Bay, CA)

Towards Pt. Richmond, a neighborhood of houses with bay views, but also close to the nearby refineries, harbored a spectacular garden. 

entrance gate

 The Wave Garden was developed as a private garden, but is open as public space to visitors -- the best sort of shared space.

Strongly envisioned hardscape is softened by drifts of vegetation, with dramatic contrasts in textures and colors.

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Succulents and containers

It makes sense that succulents, agave, and cacti are popular in SF/East Bay gardens (and throughout Mediterranean climate zones, too!)  They sail through the dry summer months looking great, and most overwinter, too, in the mild temperatures along the coast.  (In contrast, my sedum bed in the mountains of NC is looking downright wan after months of unusually cool and wet weather).

The star of dry-land gardens was Ruth Bancroft Garden, with its amazing assortment of species agaves, yuccas, etc. More about that garden later.

But here are a couple of charming container plantings (most including succulents), selected in a first photo pass.  It's always fun to note combinations that are unusual (and impractical) for an Eastern gardener.

entrance kiosk at SF Botanical Garden

container in Oakland artist's garden (Ann Nichol)

pocket planting demonstration at Sunset Magazine gardens

Filoli nursery assortment of succulents

Bicycle plantings

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A SF sculpture garden

Succulents were a primary theme of Bay Area gardens

An entry planting

A second urban garden was right under the I-280 freeway, tucked below a steep rocky cliff in a still industrial area. It reminded me of a very dicey field site that I had in Hunter's Point (nearby) from decades ago!

But magic had been worked here, from the transformation of the house to the garden as space for the artist/owner's rotating sculpture gallery.

The light was extremely bright -- not good for photographs, but here's a look.

A view back towards the house

A hillside view

View from the house

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A secret SF garden (Organic Mechanic)

Our first fling garden had a compelling entry --wow is what I thought.  Pulling up in front of a concrete-surrounded apartment building, walking down a long apartment hallway,

and then pow!

Amazing.  The gardeners here (Organic Mechanic) have been working on this area (transformed from back of the apartment concrete to green space) for 15+ years.

It was a testament to the power of green space!

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