San Francisco's neighborhoods are full of funky older homes with hidden-treasure backyards and internal courtyards. Apartment and condo dwellers have their window boxes and balconies where containers of lightweight planting mix can host a private salad bar. Don't even have a balcony or a sunny window? How about one of the many community gardens managed by the city parks department? Come on and get your garden on!
Mark Twain, who said that the coldest winter he ever spent was a San Francisco summer, would put down his cigar and gape if he knew how marvelously the fog and chill support almost year-round growing of lettuce, chard, pak choi, and other cool-season veggies in the City. Those lucky folks in the Sunset District, and their more suburban neighbors all down the peninsula, have the climate that made the Mediterranean famous.
Gardening is one of the best things we can do to help fight global warming and move toward a culture of sustainability. More of us growing a single self-watering planter of lettuce in our window or on our balcony can save trips to the grocery store, keep trucks off the road, and capture carbon in a delicious way. Joining a community garden can be a wonderful way to bond with a neighborhood. Gardens beautify a city, and more beauty is a good thing.
In a place where so many residents rent, rather than own, their dwellings, a little bit of garden in planters is something to call your own and be proud of, and can move with you from place to place. A pot of parsley or a jar of mint can be your own mini-recyclery, turning a container to another use. The list of reasons why could take up pages -- let's move on to where and how! As an inspiration, request get your free, gorgeous, garden calendar from the SF Public Utilities Commission. One to a customer, for SF residents only -- I'm jealous! Then take a sunny afternoon trip over to Garden for the Environment's demonstration garden.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of wonderful articles on container and balcony gardening out there on the Internet, as well as guides to gardening in small spaces, shade gardening, and gardening with native plants. Rather than reproduce all that information here, let's talk about gardening in San Francisco. We'll hook you up with local garden institutions and community gardens, and share some local small nursery and garden shop pointers.
Community Gardening in San Francisco
Community gardens have their own community-based governance, often with a garden manager and a community council or board of directors elected by the membership. Some require an annual membership fee, others work solely on volunteer hours; most will use some combination of the two. Go on down and visit your local community garden, attend some garden meetings and workshops, and see about the prospects for getting involved. There are almost always many more folks wanting to garden than there are garden plots available, so the first step is usually to research local gardens and join a waiting list.
Your best starting point for community gardening is the San Francisco Gardeners Resources Organization, SFGRO, which has a comprehensive list of gardens organized by neighborhood. Unlike other lists, this one cuts straight to the chase and indicates whether there are plots available or a waiting list, and whether it's a short list or a long one. You go, SFGRO!
The San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, which managed 100+ gardens in its heyday, seems sadly defunct. If any readers know how to contact them, please comment and let us know. Their website is down and their phone is disconnected. This organization would be well worth reviving.
Fortunately, the San Francisco Parks Department sponsors roughly 40 community gardens, and maintains a
community gardens page you can find the overall gardening bylaws and info, and their list of gardens, organized by neighborhood, with contact info.
Tree-rific Volunteering
If managing your own garden, at home or in a neighborhood plot, sounds like more work than you want to sign up for, how about lending a helping hand with greening the city in general? The Friends of the Urban Forest wants you! Started in 1981 by volunteers, FUF has planted a staggering 35,000 trees over the years, and maintains an active events calendar for volunteer opportunities and fun. Get out there and get involved, you won't regret it.
Gardening, San Francisco Style
Let's start our San Francisco garden journey with the venerable tripod formed by the Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arboretum, the iconic San Francisco Flower Mart and everybody's mom's and grandmom's petunia source, Sloat Garden Center. All are worthy of a visit by every city gardener.
San Francisco Botanical Gardens
The San Francisco Botanical Gardens are a wellspring of ideas and inspiration for even the tiniest gardens. Plant combinations, flowers you didn't know existed, and the annual Botanical Gardens plant sales. Download PDF maps of the gardens for your visit, or take a self-guided online tour of the collection, learning about climate zones and plant families. What's not to love?! Squee!
San Francisco Flower Mart
The Flower Mart is primarily a wholesale operation, but is open to the public from 10am to 3pm. A tip from those who know: if you just want wholesale pricing, and are willing to pay the sales tax, be up front about that. The primary reason that most vendors are worried about who they sell to is that sales tax compliance is an issue that can bring hefty fines and penalties for the vendor. Think about whether you can get a plant from one of your local garden supply places, though, before heading off to the Flower Mart. Chatting up your local nursery or small garden shop about plants and then buying them at the Flower Mart is like browsing in small bookstores and then ordering from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. It decreases the chances that the business will still be open next time you want to drop by, and if you're getting advice from the staff, you're skipping out on paying the tab for their time.
Sloat Garden Center
Sloat Garden Center is the place that many love to hate, yet rely on for gardening basics. For some, it's a beloved botanical garden where everything is for sale and one can wander among huge rows of plants just to brighten an otherwise-gloomy day. Others consider it to be a a big-box store wanna-be, with repressive employee policies, few knowledgeable helpers, and a bad attitude. Reviews of Sloat's on popular rating sites frequently include folks who won't go anywhere else, and folks who will never set foot in the place again. The satellite store over on 3rd Avenue is often praised as a more mellow place, where employees are more knowledgeable and helpful than the main store. You'll just have to visit and decide for yourself!
Off the Beaten (Garden) Path
If you're looking for something less mainstream, though, don't despair -- there are lots of small garden suppliers that feature staff whose thumbs are green and who love to share garden tips and advice. San Francisco's garden shops can be as quirky as the city itself, from the secret-garden atmosphere of Flowercraft, with its little red wagons and adopted stray cats to the starkly bizarre gothic splendor of Paxton Gardens, featuring disturbing taxidermy, odd objects, and peculiar plants. *Not* the place to get something for Mothers' Day, unless your mom is as weird as you are! The Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council at Frederick Street at Arguello, even maintains its own native plant nursery as part of the Recycling Center it operates, as well as a native plant garden. Check out the Resources section at the end of this article for details.
Gardening Resources in the City
Garden for the Environment's Resource List is a treasure for city gardeners, covering items like wasp & bee assistance, sources, organizations, and more.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
9th Avenue at Lincoln Way
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 564-3239
California Flower Market, Inc.
640 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Ph: 415-392-7944
Sloat Garden Center [main store]
2700 Sloat Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 566-4415
Sloat Garden Center [smaller outpost store]
327 3rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 752-1614
Kingdom of Herbs
Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 986-0856
Flowercraft Garden Center
550 Bayshore Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 824-1900
Three Bee's Nursery
1921 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 387-5608
Guerrero Street Gardens aka Flora Grubb Gardens aka The Palm Broker
1074 Guerrero Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 648-2670
Paxton Gate
824 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 824-1872
Plants On Polk
1475 Polk St Ste 1
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 921-1072
Plant Warehouse
1461 Pine Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 447-7960
Plant'It Earth
2279 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 626-5082
Hortica
566 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 863-4697
Thistledown Cottage Gardens
3695 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 346-2555
Plant Warehouse
1461 Pine Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 447-7960
The Garden Hound
1921 Clement St
San Francisco, California 94121
(415) 387-5608
Sunborne Nursery
1150 Phelps Street
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 821-7726
Manalastas Antonio
5507 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 239-8335
