Barefoot Gardening

Editors note:  WordPress seems to be eating my spacing, so this post looks wonky right now. But I wanted to share the pictures tonight.

Vertical gardening has been a trend for quite some time now. It started as a space saver, but now it’s just… a trend. It still looks cool though, and there were many examples throughout the show. From a small column, to hanging containers, to the gold medal winner “The Living Room”, which once inside, felt a little like being in a castle with a moat.

Note the long line to get inside…

There was also a treehouse that appealed to my adventurous side. You have dinner or a glass of wine in a grown up treehouse in your garden

Clever use of corks to keep the soil moist…

Also, random whimsy – an metal armadillo…

And lastly… a chair by The Garden Teak that a number of us were quite fond of on Wednesday. I wish I had somewhere to put it. The back is a hammock style that conforms to you, and boy is it difficult to get out of.

There were quite clearly many more people attending over the weekend, especially on the final day, which made me regret forgetting my SLR on Wednesday even more. Nonetheless, I went back and took some shots of my favorite gardens to share.

The Salvaged Creole Jazz Courtyard is tied for number one in my book. The front porch was so inviting, as though some jazz musician had just stepped inside for another lemonade.

In the center of the courtyard, was a fountain with alligator heads spitting out strings of pearls. And off to the side was a tuba, also with a fountain of string of pearls.

My other favorite was a prehistoric garden with a giant t-rex hovering over a waterfall.

I took full advantage of the plant sales at the SF Garden and Flower show. I came home with a box full of unusual succulents and tillandsia (air plants), as well as a hypertufa pot for my alpine plants, and some stargazer lily bulbs.

I remembered I had some itty bitty raku vases from the 2009 Gilroy Garlic Festival, and paired them with the tillandsia on the etagere in the bathroom.  I had intended to give some of these plants as gifts in terrariums, but they are way too cute. I hope the vendor has more tomorrow.

I had originally intended to take a vacation day today and attend the flower and garden show. But I started my new position at Yahoo on Monday, so that didn’t work out so well. However, I was able to sneak out early enough to meet up with Fern from Life On The Balcony and Adriana from Anarchy In The Garden, who are both fabulous.

Since I didn’t think I would actually be attending today, I left my SLR at home, but I plan on taking it on Saturday. All of my favorite gardens appealed to and inspired my adventurous side. A treehouse, a dinosaur, and a castle with a moat, oh my! Also not to miss is the Creole Jazz Courtyard. No pics tonight, but there is plenty of time for locals to see it in person still. I will post more over the weekend.