Gabrielle Cameron Alamo Heights Garden

Gabrielle's Garden, 11am-1125am:

This Alamo Square treasure is a contemporary vertical garden created by Gabrielle Cameron in back of a classic SF Victorian. The garden consists of a large collection of epiphytes and bromeliads. Visually decadent while providing a sanctuary for the owners in the heart of the city. "Quiet, handsome and exotic."

Dino's Garden and Hell Strip

Dino's Garden, 1140am-1210am:

When we asked Dean Oullette how he would describe his garden he replied, "A Bay Area version of California Cottage; toss Sunset Magazine and go hiking in the country. This garden is an ongoing experiment in how to artfully nourish a sense of wonder while integrating multiple uses in a small space."

Ted Kipping's Collection Garden

Garden 3, 1230pm-1pm: 257 Joost Ave

Ted Kipping's collection of some of the most fabulous and unusual plants. The garden started it's life as a simple city lot, how it has been transformed will blow your mind. He describes his garden as a "rocky outcrop in a cloud forest."

Marcia's Bernal Heights Garden

Mike's Garden, 120am-150pm:

I created and maintain this garden, a quintessential Bernal Heights cottage garden with mixed borders including historic zen botanicals used for alter displays along with big dose of English garden inspiration: roses, viburnums, clematis, plums, weigelias,...."

Nader's Garden Noe Valley

Nader's Garden, 210-3pm:

The elegant and masculine city garden of Nader Meykedah. A personal garden designed equally for living and enjoying from the deck. The living structural elements frame an abundance of greens and flowers. The garden is shared by Nader's adorable dogs, Paris and Coco.

April Snapshots

Here's some of the things blooming in May 2016.

Kitchen Deck Revival

A rainy day is a great time to write a new post.  Over the last three months I have been working on three new projects.  The first is a revival of a container deck planting I installed over 10 years ago. Here I replaced the aging containers and tired plants surrounding this kitchen garden.   The small 24" fiberclay containers were crumbling.  I designed a 30" box made of galvanized steel and locally fabricated by NuStar on Otis.

10 Grey Plants for San Francisco Herbaceous Borders

How can I bring supportive light into my borders, containers and vignettes? Bright white, silver and grey foliage will support any color scheme by reflexing the ambient color of your vignette back to your eye. So what are some good plants for San Francisco?

1) Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Velvet Centaurea' - shrub, with Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple'
2) Ballota pseudodictamnus (False Dittany)
3) Onopordum acanthium - Need a character, a real prima donna. Likes to reseed.
4) Stachys byzantina - ground cove
5) Verbascum bombyciferum 'Arctic Summer' - specimen reseeder
6) Artemisia - shrub
7) Dudleya - Succulent for rock wall
8) Cerastium tomentosum - ground cove
9) Dymondia margaretae - tight low ground cover
10) Lychnis white flowered variety- annual (Playing a true supporting role to the Wisteria, Rosa and Iris. Mid-lower right.)

Norfolk, England - Xmas & NYE

My Holiday in England, December 2015.  Being in the spirit of vacation, I kept a safe distance from my phone.   Here are the few highlights from London & Norfolk.  

 Saint Pancras Hotel clock tower with international train station.  And Kings Cross train station across the street.  Two glorious train stations, I'm in heaven.

Preview English Garden Tour - Slideshow

For those of you who couldn't make it out to Flora Grubb last night. Here's the slideshow but you missed our talk. We may do another in Oakland and Marin.

Evening at Flora Grubb Gardens

Hello Garden Enthusiasts!

Frank Eddy and Mike Collins are gonna do it again. We had such a successful garden tour last year that we are planning another for 2016. On October 22 we are hosting a slideshow/cocktail party/Q&A event at Flora Grubb Gardens to tempt and seduce you. We will be indulging you with some nibbles and drinks, sharing some pictures from our last tour and offering ourselves to you for questions regarding the next tour.

Mike and I are planning our next tour through North Yorkshire, Kent and East Sussex. We are still negotiating the details but we will have a basic itinerary and cost for you to consider and anticipate. We are planning our escape for late summer 2016. The tour will be 6-7 days and nights. Along with guiding you through 7-10 gardens, we will provide accommodations, transportation, and meals.

Please consider joining us at Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco for a fun evening to check out what we have planned for next summer. Perhaps even some of last years guest may show up and offer testimonials to what an amazing time they had with us.

What: A cocktail party and slideshow with Mike Collins and Frank Eddy

Where: Flora Grubb Gardens, 1634 Jerrold Ave, San Francisco CA

When: October 22, 6-8 pm.

English Garden Tour Offered by Mike and Frank

It's official. After our successful 2014 Mike and Frank Quintessential English Garden Tour, we're hosting our third tour of those special English gardens in 2016.

This years location is Kent, Sussex & Yorkshire.

Scampston Hall, Yorkshire

Annie's Annuals Fall Sale

My buddy, Dino is being attacked by the giant green man at Annie's Fall Sale Party. I've been making this 45 minute trip from San Francisco for 10 years now. It is by far the most interesting nursery in the Bay Area. If you've never been, well, you should go! Here is some of the interesting things I saw:

At first I thought this was a verbena but it turns out to be Lavandula canariensis. Wonderful bright green leaves with a panicle of flowers that appears to bloom for months.

Bay Street Entry Garden

My latest installation in the front entry stairwell for a building in the Marina neighborhood. This low light interior space is open only to the sidewalk. It's a southern exposure with bright indirect light reflecting off the sidewalk.

Retarding a Vigorous Street Tree

Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia) grows to 10–18 m tall and 15–20 m wide in ideal conditions. It's tough being a street tree but U. parvifolia is vigorous and resilient in San Francisco. This one in Noe Valley must have a low water table. It is never irrigated but is lush. I prune this tree ever 6-9 months. Essentially this is a extremely large bonsia. The soil in the tree basins act more like large containers then expanses of live soil.

Ready for a trim. After 5 hours of pruning and two dump runs: