NCPS tour in San Francisco!

May 7, 2014

Dear Palm Friends:

The Northern California Palm Society June event will be held on Saturday, June 7 from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. It will start with a San Francisco-wide palm tour of open private and public gardens and culminate with a tour and general meeting at the San Francisco Botanical Garden.

The first part of the event will focus on public and private spaces that have taken advantage of San Francisco's limited space, unique topology and differing neighborhood's microclimate and character. All three palm gardens will be open for drop-ins from 11:00 a.m until 2:00 p.m. but offered below is a general itinerary and directions. A Google map of the directions below is available online at <https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206828680733317723202.0004f8568468f67acee6d&ie=UTF8&ll=37.76644,-122.415161&spn=0.018082,0.038538&t=m&z=15&vpsrc=6>

20th & Wisconsin Street Sidewalk Gardens:

At 11:00 a.m. Jason Dewees will lead a tour of the public sidewalk gardens at 20th Street & Wisconsin Street in San Francisco's Potrero Hills neighborhood. This is a private garden originally created by the late Larry Masnada in collaboration with Padraig McCrory, Michael Postl, and Davis Dalbok. It is visible to the public from the sidewalk. The front door is officially on 20th St. but its greater extent is along Wisconsin. Some of the exceptional plants include a fruiting Rhopalostylis sapida, a large Sadleria cyatheoides (Hawaiian fern, ama'u), and a large Gunnera insignis (evergreen cloudforest gunnera). We won't disturb the residents

or physically intrude on the private perimeter. No one will be hosting at this garden after our tour, besides visiting members and passersby. Across the street is a new planting of a Brahea armata var. clara and some small king palms that our Flora Grubb Gardens designer, Daniel Nolan, had planted for his client.

Driving Directions:

From Marin and points north, take the GG Bridge to Lombard. Turn right from Lombard onto Gough. Stay on Gough till Fell St (1.7 miles). Turn left on Fell, choosing the lane second from the right. After three blocks cross Market St. onto 10th St. Stay in the right two lanes, crossing Division St. onto Potrero Ave. After three blocks turn left onto 17th St. After six blocks turn right on DeHaro St. and proceed up the hill four blocks to 20th St. Turn left on 20th St. and find the garden two blocks down on the right, at the corner of Wisconsin. Ample perpendicular parking can be found on Wisconsin.

From the Bay Bridge, take the 9th Street exit and turn left onto 8th St. southbound, quickly making your way to the right lane, continuing on 8th past Bryant and Brannan sts. to the traffic circle at Division. Take the third right off the circle onto Division (270 degrees from your entry point). Take a right on DeHaro and proceed eight blocks to 20th St. Turn left on 20th St. and find the garden two blocks down on the right, at the corner of Wisconsin. Ample perpendicular parking can be found on Wisconsin.

From the south, take 101 north past Cesar Chavez to the Vermont St. exit. Go straight onto Mariposa St. rather than left onto Vermont. After three blocks, turn right onto DeHaro and proceed up the hill three blocks to 20th St. Turn left on 20th St. and find the garden two blocks down on the right, at the corner of Wisconsin. Ample perpendicular parking can be found on Wisconsin.

Benjy Young Public and Private Gardens at Theater Artaud:

At 12:00 p.m. Jason Dewees will lead a tour of the public and private garden spaces created by Benjy Young in and around Theater Artaud in San Francisco's Mission District. Benjy has spent more than thirty years planting palms in public and private spaces around Theater Artaud which is comprised of artist studios, performance spaces and other creative use spaces. Meet at the Jubaea near the entrance to the theater on the west side of Florida St. mid-way between 17th and Mariposa Streets. For more information on this garden, below is a link to a story in the SF Chronicle about Benjy's work on the garden and in his artist studio:

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Artist-planted-seeds-of-palm-garden-in-Mission-5414166.phphttp://

Driving Directions From Larry Masnada's Garden:

Take 20th to DeHaro. Turn right on DeHaro. Turn left on 17th St. and proceed under the freeway and across Potrero Ave. to Florida St., where you will see a Phoenix reclinata and a line of Trachycarpus fortunei street trees. Turn left on Florida before the palms. Parking will be difficult but possible to find within three blocks.

Thom Berninzoni Private and Public Gardens at 34 Short Street:

You can visit Thom's garden as an open garden from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Due to garden configuration and space limitations, a tour will not be conducted but Thom will be on-hand to answer any and all questions.

Thom started working in this garden in 2003. After two years of hardscaping and deck building to tame the original, steep slope of 59 degrees, the first palms were planted in 2005. It is a relatively young palm garden but it hosts more than 30 different species of palms situated amongst three levels of decking, and four levels of terraces in a limited San Francisco residential lot. Palms from all over the world are present along with ferns, cycads, vines and other ornamentals, giving each level of the garden a secluded subtropical vibe.

Also, on your entry or exit, note the median in the triangular space across the street between Market and Short. Thom started "guerilla" planting this public space in 2007. Due to the difficulty of irrigating this area, it is essentially a summer-dry garden of succulents, bromeliads and, of course, palms.

Driving Directions from Benjy Young Gardens:

From 17th & Florida Streets, drive North on Florida to 16th Street. Turn left onto 16th and drive West until you reach Market Street. Turn left onto Market, staying in the left lane. Immediately after the traffic light at Clayton & Market, get into the left turn lane and take a left onto Short Street. 34 Short Street is the third house on the left, and entrance to the garden will be through the garage door. Parking is available in this neighborhood but it is limited. Market Street tends to have the most available spaces, but be careful of the traffic! You can call Thom at 415.378.7402 if you need clarification on these, or any of the directions.

San Francisco Botanical Gardens Meeting and Tour:

The latter half of the June San Francisco event will focus on San Francisco Botanical Garden's palm collection. The Recreation Room in the SF County Fair Building - at Ninth and Lincoln Streets in Golden Gate Park - will be open to Palm Society members and friends from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. A discussion with Associate Curator David Kruse-Pickler about the Botanical Gardens' collection and preservation missions will start at 2:30, followed by a tour of the Garden's palm collections lead by Jason Dewees.

Curator Don Mahoney and David Kruse-Pickler have assembled the most comprehensive collection of high elevation palm species in any botanical garden with the help of Palm Society members including the late Dick Douglas, former NCPS President Darold Petty, and Jason Dewees (an SFBG volunteer). The Garden has installed many new plants in the Andean Cloud Forest where three landmark Ceroxylon specimens planted in 1984 tower into the canopy. One of them, a Ceroxylon vogelianum, sibling to those at the Oakland Palmetum, has begun blooming in the last three years.

Driving Directions from 34 Short Street Gardens:

At the corner of Market and Short, cross Market and merge into the left turn lane at Clayton and Market. Take a left onto Clayton and continue on Clayton until Frederick Street. Take a left at Frederick and continue until Frederick merges into Lincoln, just after Kezar Stadium. Take a left onto Lincoln and go West to 9th Avenue. Take a right into Golden Gate Park. The San Francisco Botanical Gardens and County Fair Building is on the left. Our meeting place is in the Recreation Room, to the right after entering the County Fair Building through its main entrance of the Parking is available at the side of the road. Additionally, limited parking will be available to Palm Society members in the SFBG staff parking lot. You can enter the parking lot by bypassing the right turn at Ninth and Lincoln and continue West on Lincoln about 100 yards. Turn right into the parking lot at 10th and Lincoln. Please put a note on your dashboard indicating that you are attending the Palm Society meeting.

May 20, 2014

Just a reminder for this one-of-a-kind meeting/tour of palms in the city of San Francisco. Also please note:

The recreation room at the SF Botanical Gardens County Fair Building is where we will meet to start and end our garden tour. A general meeting and auction will take place after the tour. People can bring auction items, or food and drink if they desire and they can be left in the room.

For those people making the trek from other parts of the Bay Area, they may want to start a little early and grab brunch before the first tour at 20th & Wisconsin. Here are suggestions for nearby eateries that serve good morning food:

The Slow Club: http://www.slowclub.com/

Universal Cafe: http://www.universalcafe.net/

Sally's: http://sanfrancisco.menupages.com/restaurants/sallys/

Chez Maman (opens a little late): http://chezmamansf.com/cmpotrero.html

Connecticut Yankee: http://www.theyankee.com/menu/