I remember my first San Francisco Landscape Garden show, as it used to be called. The year was 1989 — not long after the event started as a fundraiser for San Francisco Friends of Recreation and Parks. My father and I loved it — all those orchids and bonsai and beautiful gardens!
The show was held at Fort Mason, and my father, a retired Army colonel, was quite familiar with the location. I was new to garden shows and had yet to discover that the display gardens are part theater, part landscape design. “Who would plant a shrub that grows to six feet tall in front of that little bitty flowering perennial?” I said to Dad. Well, I’ve been to a lot of garden shows since including the Northwest Flower and Garden show in Seattle and the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show when it was held at the Cow Palace and now — in its 30th year — at the San Mateo Event Center from March 16-20.
So this year I know what to expect. Or I think I do, but there are always surprises. I’m with a couple of fellow landscape designers, and we have a keen eye for new plants in interesting combinations and design solutions for upcoming landscapes. In addition to the show gardens, there are also hundreds of vendors selling all sorts of wonderful garden-related items and vendors selling every type of plant you could possibly want. So much fun. Here are just some of the highlights for those of you who weren’t able to attend this year.
The display gardens offer inspiration from lawn replacement ideas to sustainable building methods to exciting new plant introductions. For five days each March, people from around the world are brought together to educate, encourage and inspire garden enthusiast of all ages and all levels of knowledge and experience. This year was no exception although I wish there had been more display gardens as in the “good old days” of the garden show.
Who doesn’t enjoy sitting next to an impressive water feature? This year, there were several incorporated in designs that also included low-water plants. A pondless waterfall can attract birds, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden. The soothing sound of the water can also mask street noise. One garden featured a Japanese bamboo deer scare or shishi-odoshi. Perfect for a small space, the bamboo spout fills with water and then rocks forward to empty and rocks back, creating a gentle clacking sound.
Another impressive display garden featured succulents of every type and shape. Grouped by color and shape, large swaths of these modern looking plants created a living tapestry around columnar basalt landscape rocks. Other notable features of this garden were the brightly painted stucco walls enclosing the space and stucco-over-building-block retaining walls painted bright blue, red and terra cotta.
I probably got the most practical ideas from the garden created by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Their garden demonstrated ways to re-imagine your garden without a lawn. There were cozy sitting areas, plants that screen out the street or next door neighbor, a vertical edible garden, lawn alternatives like kurapia and vibrant planters filled with low water use plants. The whole garden was engaging and useful. I also saw a great idea for wall lighting that used a rusted metal screen in front of the light creating an interesting pattern. You had to be there to appreciate its unique design.
For me and my colleagues the plants and garden art featured in the gardens and for sale are what kept us at the show for a long time. There are so many new plant introductions to evaluate for future designs. From new and improved selections of old favorites such as variegated lavender ‘Meerlo,’ a soft mahonia ground cover, abelia ‘Miss Lemon’ to nandina ‘Lemon Lime’ and callistemon ‘Slim Jim,’ there is a perfect plant for every garden.
Think about what you want to do in your front or back yard this year to save water and maintenance and enhance the beauty of your space.
