San Francisco Garden Show: 2017

DISCOVER THE MAGIC was the theme of this year’s San Francisco Garden Show. The event is traditionally held over the weekend closest to the spring equinox, but this year it was moved to early April (April 5 – 9). This caused some havoc for my aunt and I when planning our spring travel schedules. She had a conflicting family event so was unable to attend the Show. I managed to squeeze in a visit, and am glad I did.

Playful woodland creature

Attractive low-water garden design

The Show was much smaller than previous years, with very few garden displays. A notice on the website explained that the difficult winter impacted many landscape and nursery professionals, preventing them from participating in the display gardens and plant market. This is the down side to our drought-busting winter, and I hope everyone recovers quickly.

Innovative integration of garden and vegetable plants

Attractive chicken coop

I missed the lavish garden displays of previous years, but found many treasures to take their place. Two themes showed up over and over – converting your landscape to food production, and converting it to native habitat. Some garden displays featured how to combine native habitat with modern landscape design, others provided charming designs for chicken coops, hydroponic gardens, and outdoor kitchens. They illustrated that you can design a beautiful garden space that  does it all - is usable for out door living, sustains home grown food, and provides habitat for plants and wildlife.

Appealing outdoor buildings

Closed hydroponic system

The seminars were varied and interesting, and presented by exceptional instructors:

• Katsuko Thielke, an Ikebana instructor (Soomu grade), taught The Art of Weaving Natural Materials, She uses weaves with leaves, branches and other natural material, and incorporates the weavings into stunning floral arrangements.
• Mary Kate Mackey, a garden writer and speaker, taught Been There, Killed That (I can relate). She recommended the best plants to use in the Bay Area.
• Lara Hermanson, owner of Farmscape and designer of urban farms, lead the Plant an Edible Garden workshop. She provided guidelines for planting veggie gardens in raised beds, and walked us through how to plan the garden (turns out less is more).

  

  Hermanson evaluates our veggie garden design

• Dr. Billy Krimmel, owner of Restoration Landscaping Company, taught Native Landscaping as the Next Front in Habitat Restoration. He described California ecology, and encouraged us to embrace native elements in the landscape.

  

  Integration of native habitat and modern design by Restoration Landscape

I enjoyed the show and gathered many interesting ideas and things to try. I missed attending with my aunt, but hope we can get back on track next year!

Train and engineer in a miniature garden