In the Garden Articles

2009 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

by Joan S. Bolton

In "Natural Elegance," towering, hand-built concrete forms serve as fanciful containers for sturdy succulents and graceful grasses.

Green with envy may be your first reaction. Followed, inevitably and quite quickly, by "Man, I've gotta get me one of them. And them. And them."

Such is the overwhelming response when stepping inside just about any garden show. The recent San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, the third largest in the nation, was no exception.

Perfectly staged gardens, exquisite from every angle, beckoned. And true to form, whether presenting a blighted urban landscape, a countryside retreat, a faux French villa or the ultimate edible garden, the designers combined elements and composed scenes that drew wide-ranging remarks.

"Isn't that beautiful" and "I want it now" were balanced by "$60,000 for that fountain?" and "Oh, this one is by those UC Berkeley students. They have the ugliest exhibit every year."

But that's the fun of it. Side by side, the garden creators stir things up, presenting so many styles, materials and plants that everyone's bound to blurt out something.

What's Hot

How much would you pay?!

Water features were plentiful again this year, from mountain-like cascades to lazy ponds filled with fat koi to yes, that branch-like sculpture from which water trickled down beads of white twinkly lights, said to cost a cool $60,000.

Succulents continued their march forward in popularity, showing up everywhere from in the ground and in custom containers to overhead on rooftops and mounted vertically on walls.

New Zealand flax abounded as well. But unlike shows of the past, their prominence was diminished. The rainbow-hued, strappy leaf plants were generally gathered in masses, serving as screens and backgrounds, rather than being featured front and solo.

Likewise, flowers took a hit, largely by being absent. You'd think that a flower and garden show would feature lots of flowers. Instead, the designers explored the world of color through foliage. Even there, it wasn't just about color, but more about playing with texture, movement, shape and size.

And bigger jolts of color came from non-plant material -- the furniture, accessories and what not that the exhibitors squeezed into every inch. Hardscape, too -- the paving, fences, walls, facades and other structures -- stood bold as well.

Going Green

In "Sing!" art and ecology meet, providing native plants for wildlife, clean water and edible plants in terra cotta containers.

Perhaps because it was already a garden show, this year's theme, "Sustainable Spaces, Beautiful Places" didn't hit visitors over the head. Sure, there were plenty of rustic-looking, recycled materials. But even new materials can weather quickly in the garden. And more forward-thinking, fringe ideas, including growing edibles on living walls, placing solar panels on shed roofs, harvesting rainwater and installing a solar tube on a dog house, seemed like natural extensions of the particular gardens.

An even greater feat buttressing the idea that green techniques have hit the mainstream -- at least among gardeners -- is that the People's Choice award went to a tongue-twisting exhibit created by master composters from San Mateo County by the name of "Actinomycetes, Worms, and Fungi, OH MY!"

The San Mateo composters' colorful design focused on simple biological methods for nurturing plant health and soil life.

Who would have thought that the compact, colorful, lush, edible garden, created by volunteers, would have beat out much larger, lavish and costly displays designed by landscape pros?

Possibly even more remarkable was that what was essentially a composting demo radiated more color from flowers than many of the other exhibits combined. Against a backdrop of three types of raised beds, a garden shed and a rain barrel, the charming composition presented edible flowers in hanging pots, clambering up trellises and mixed in with brightly colored vegetables.

Another of my personal favorites, Sing!, featured a billowy meadow of Sierra wildflowers interspersed with nodding grasses, along with a simple courtyard "paved" in loose gravel and filled with terra cotta containers planted with herbs, seasonal vegetables and wildlife-friendly plants.

However, Best of Show honors were bestowed on a design of an entirely different persuasion.

"Sky's the Limit"

"Sky's the Limit"

Sky's the Limit depicted a modern New York City rooftop garden doing combat with the elements. Hardscape predominated, along with trees in tubs selected based on their ability to withstand punishing winds. Stylish furnishings held their own amid pseudo ducts and vents. A froth of short, meadowy grasses topped a tiny studio, while panels of succulents in various hues of burgundy, silver, blue and green hugged the walls.

Living walls took on a different look in UC Berkeley's Urban Garden: Adaptable Architecture, where shoulder-high panels, bearing gray felt slings of such incongruous plants as yellow marguerites, fragile blue delphiniums and pungent society garlic, slid about on tracks in front of a faux brick wall slathered in graffiti.

Berkeley's "Urban Garden" features sliding, flower-laden green walls.

In "Cool Living," a more subtle living wall hugs the perimeter.

Yet another take on the concept of living walls showed up in Cool Living. There, undulating masses of petite grasses, succulents, creeping strawberry, ornamental oxalis, rosemary and thyme covered a curved, floor to ceiling wall. Other eco-friendly touches included a "No Mow" fine fescue blend and that solar tube, perched on a dog house built from recycled wood.

There were few really out-there, gag-me exhibits this year. Instead, among the more whimsical were two that featured fanciful pottery and other imaginative pieces.

"Dancing with Matisse"

A small container garden, Dancing With Matisse, was distinctive for its paint box colors. A conglomeration of burgundy, ruby, red, orange and soft-green flowers, foliage and vegetables pirouetted in and about Dr. Seuss-like pots, chunky stepping stones inlaid with bright bits of tile, and hand-cut, metal wall hangings.

Meanwhile, The Return of Paradiso, like some wild vision of Atlantis surfacing from a sea of post-industrial waste, featured fountains bearing basins of giant clamshells rising from a large corrugated metal tub. Distressed corrugated metal panels to match lined the perimeter, while jungle-like plants emerged from crevices and clambered up rusting circular trellises.

Taking It Home

"Return of El Paradiso"

"Return of El Paradiso"

Flower shows provide an opportunity to admire amazing design. But keep in mind that the exhibits only have to look good for a week. There's nary a weed in sight. And the plants are placed impossibly close, for maximum impact. You won't get the same, instant results at home.

But once you get past the shock and awe, start dissecting aspects that you can more easily replicate or modify, and will not bust your budget.

For instance, that $60,000 beaded fountain? Maybe settle for twinkle lights instead. The moon and stars inlaid on a deck? Stencils and paint might be a less expensive alternative.

Also consider maintenance. Vertical plantings -- especially with succulents -- are soaring in popularity. Rather than attempting to cover an entire wall, start with a few square feet to make sure that you are up to the task.

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The Show Will Go On

"11:44am, Friday" honors this year's vernal equinox and disabled veterans.

With declining revenue and dwindling gate receipts, it looked like this year's 24th annual San Francisco Flower and Garden would be the last. In January, owner Duane Kelly declared that after failing to find a buyer, he would close down after the show.

But in a surprise announcement on the first day of the show, Kelly said that two Bay Area horticultural enthusiasts, Steve Cannon and Weston Drake, had signed a letter of intent to buy the operation.

Kelly also owns the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, held in Seattle, which he had said he would shut down, too. In San Francisco, he said two potential buyers had emerged for that show as well.

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