Today at the San Franicsco Botanical Garden

It looked like this.



I'm in a new structure being built in the rhododendron dell using some of William Randolph Heart's old monastery stones.





The tree is Luma apiculata in the Myrtaceae, from Chile. It's considered a water-wise plant for Bay Area gardens. The foliage is fragrant, and the tree has white flowers later in the summer, followed by large berries.



Acanthus mollis, Acanthaceae.



I'm told this plant is ineradicable once established in a San Francisco garden. I have no experience with it myself.



The thorny tree.



This is its foliage.



I want love this conifer.



Pelargonium sidoides.



Really nice idea.







Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Heronswood Globe'. Cercidiphyllaceae. This plant smells remarkably like burnt sugar.



Anigozanthos sp., Haemodoraceae.


I might have to rethink my feelings about this plant. Before, I was, like, "It's the new Agapanthus." Sunset says it's native to open Eucalyptus forests. That must be something to see. Here, nothing grows under Eucalyptus.

Far too rampant for the small garden, but I like Salvia cacaliifolia.



The triangular leaves get me.



Even more rampant, Solandra sp., Solanaceae.









Fuchsia boliviana v. Alba.



Encephelartos and yellow clivia.





Encephalartos tegulaneus, a cycad.



Strelitzia and agapanthus. Plants of the idealized suburban California garden of the 1970s.





Dierama pulcherrimum, Iridaceae.



I have seeds for this plant. Must. Sow. Them. Soon.







Protea. Part plant, part bird.



I sometimes feel like I should have plants like these in my garden, just because I could grow them here. And I like them. I think they're just too big for me. That's often what it comes down to.



Cercis occidentalis.



The western redbud is more twisty-shrubby than the eastern varieties.



We're in the California section now.



Eriogonum grande v. rubescens and Clarkia sp.







Eriogonum arborescens, Polygonaceae.





Right on the cusp of bloom.



Asclepias speciosa, Asclepiadaceae.



This is one of the few plants left that I really, really want in my garden.



This pink Mimulus aurantiacus (Scrophulariaceae) was growing in an inaccessible spot so I had to zoom in on it.



Toxicodendron diversilobum, Anacardiaceae. Related to mango!



Populus tremuloides, Salicaceae. Quaking Aspen. I would grow this too if I could. The plant gets turned on by the slightest breeze, and it's so important to have some movement in the garden, in my opinion.



Currants.



This is a Keckiella; I'm not sure which one. I'm growing K. cordifolia from seed.



Calycanthus.



Allium.



And some yarrow.





Acer circinatum.





Okay, we're leaving California now.



I don't know what got into this Echium...









This is Francoa. There are a few different kinds, and I don't know which is which.







Senna condolliana, Fabaceae.



Remnant puya flowers up there.



A closer look from the other side.





Hmm. I didn't get a picture of the tree, but here is the flower of Chiranthodendron pentadactylon, Sterculiaceae.







They're having a plant sale today. I'm not working it or shopping it, so by the time I get here everything's pretty picked over.



But we can look around!



They're pushing the passion flowers.



Many, many kinds.



There's that Gunnera.



They're selling these Madia I grew from seed. Someone told me a guy bought four of them this morning.



I should have bought these pitchers.



And this Prunella vulgaris.



Isn't it pretty?



A little behind the scenes tour.













Allium flavum 'minus'. What a name.



Sweet swallowtail.