Memphis Fling -

East Memphis neighborhoods and parks including the botanical gardens, Sexton/Thornton and Dixon Gallery.  Visited on June 6, 2025.

Mimosas at the Memphis Botanic Garden 

Memphis Fling Sponsors

 Here are most of the products given to us on this tour.   A group of 75 garden bloggers and social media personas.  So far I have been reading the Weeds of the Pacific Northwest from Timber Press and will include a book review soon.  I have the CobraHead hand tool in my tool bag but have yet to have the opportunity to work with it.  More on that one too.

Gladiolus n. papilio 'Ruby'

 I planted this one a couple years ago.  Love this rich ruby coloring.  It doesn’t seem to get the rust like the larger florist gladiolus. 

Agapanthus 'Back in Black'

 I planted this clump of Agapanthus from Digging Dog Nursery in December 2022.   This is the first time to bloom and the first time I have been able to assess the color. 

Unique Biennial for the Meadow - Clary Sage

 Over the last few years I have been growing more of my plants from seeds.  Although it takes at least 24 months from sowing until a one-gallon plant,  I find it worthwhile.   But with a plant that tends to be biennial you can lower that to nine months.  Sow in the fall and flowers in July. 

Beaujolais Sweet Peas

 Here’s an annual I sowed last fall for an early start this year.  

Garden Conservancy - Open Gardens

Saturday, May 10, 2025

This garden in Piedmont is 1.5 acres.  The current owner is in their thirteen-year of a twenty-year garden renovation project.  There are ten large sequoias underplanted with largely inappropriate rhododendrons and moisture loving shade plants.  A feel of the Arts and Crafts in the house architecture with it’s brick terraces and chimneys. 

Garden Conservancy - Open Gardens

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Max and Justin’s Oakland garden is a horticulturalist’s collection.   A small gardens packed full of epiphytes around their cute bungalow.  Intimate spaces to sit, relax and meditate.

May Flowers in San Francisco

 A few snapshots of May Flowers in my gardens of San Francisco.

Iris - Each stalk yields 8-9 double-socketed buds

Dearborn Garden's Rose Border

On Friday mornings, there is no parking along this section of Bird Street.    This is effectively the Rose border for Dearborn Community Garden.  Well maintained by a dedicated member of the garden.  

Saint Francis Woods Garden - April Flowers

This is the start of the second spring for this newly plants residential backyard.  The layers of bulbs, annuals, flowering perennials and shrubs fill two rectangular beds.  

Narcissus, Geum and Leptospermum (Tea Tree)

Bernal Hill Garden - April Flowers

 

Wisteria trained up a thin pole. 

Curious Flora Nursery (Reincarnation of Annie’s Annuals)

 

With much anxiety Angele and I drove up to Richmond, California to the new nursery called Curious Flora.   I was curious.  I was hoping for the best but prepared to be disappointed and ashamed.  The best being a thriving commercial nursery producing fun and new things along with those successful heirlooms. The worst, a possible commercial implosion and the loss of a great gardening resource.

The Ruth Bancroft Garden & Nursery

I took BART over to Oakland to eat lunch with Frank.  We both have been traveling recently and haven’t hung out in weeks.  After lunch we decide to drive to The Ruth Bancroft Garden & Nursery.   Frank has a project that requires a lot of drought tough plants.   Here’s what I saw and a few of my thoughts. 

Marshall Beach

 It has been over 15 years since the Presidio became a national park in San Francisco.   This area between Baker Beach to the south and the Golden Gate Bridge to the north has undergone a transformation removing many invasive weeds and planting all natives.