The San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly called
Strybing) is located in Golden Gate Park. The 55-acre garden specializes in plants
of the Mediterranean, South Africa, New Zealand, the Americas, California, and Asia. Special collections include plants from the cloud forests of the world, a moon garden,
succulents, and ancient plants. The garden takes advantage of its temperate,
foggy location in San Francisco, and grows over 50,000 plants from all over the
world.
I visited the garden for
the first time in July. With so much to see, I decided to make a sweep through all
the major areas of the garden, and to spend some concentrated time in a few places that were
especially appealing.
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| Main Gate entrance (Friend Gate is a second entrance) |
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| Plenty of space to roam |
I visited on a hot and beautiful day. The park was jammed
with folks eager to be outdoors after a stretch of cloudy days. A plant sale
was in full swing, and a couple of private parties were in progress. Adding to
the festivities was the Sunset Piano, Opus IV. Twelve pianos were distributed
around the garden, and played by professionals. What a pleasure to stroll
around the beautiful grounds and come across small informal concerts with all types of music—jazz, gospel, show tunes, classical. Even with all the extra activity,
the garden is large enough to accommodate the crowds.
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| Piano concert under the trees |
I especially liked the groves of mature trees – the redwood
grove, the Mesoamerican cloud forest, the Andean cloud forest, and the
Southeast Asian cloud forest. They are each populated with native plants from
the regions, and dense with vegetation. Signage provides information about the
plants and their ecosystems.
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| Metrosideros excelsa from New Zealand. According to signage, the aerial roots descend to the ground and take root, becoming extra trunks that support heavy horizontal branches. |
I stood for quite a while in the Mesoamerican cloud forest
listening to the wind in the trees; enjoyed sitting beside the Bamboo Pond in
deep shade watching shadow and light play over the water; and ate my lunch in
the deep shade of the redwood grove.
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| Bamboo Pond |
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| Redwood Grove |
Docent-lead tours are available, or you can roam freely. The garden offers monthly plant sales (excluding several months), and an annual plant sale in the spring. I recommend this garden for a pleasant outing, or for learning more about plants from around the world. I plan to return to see what all I missed, and to see trees and plants in different seasons.
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