Blooming crabapples and lavender at the San Francisco Botanical Garden
It’s been a little quiet around here the past two weeks because I was in San Francisco taking a class with one of my business mentors. The class was wonderful and enlightening, as always. But, I must admit, what got me really excited were the flowers and gardens and greenery! I walked around with eyes wide open and nostrils flaring to take in the gorgeous sights and smells of spring.
I’m back in Madison now and it fells awfully brown. I said to my husband this morning, “Once you see spring, it’s hard to erase it from your mind.” I have visions of it dancing in my head on an hourly basis!
If you’re a gardener and you’ve never visited California, you must put it on your list. The plants are so different from most regions of the U.S., people grow lemon trees in their front yards, and the farmers market is overflowing with amazing things like citrus, avocados and dates. It’s a gardener’s and foodie’s paradise.
I thought I’d share a little bit of what I saw with you as a promise of what’s to come if you’re still living in late winter like me. Although I can’t promise you lemon trees, I can predict you’ll be seeing flowers sooner than later!
An old car used as a garden at my favorite garden store in San Francisco, Flora Grubb Gardens.
Lavender as big as your car and bougainvillea as big as your apartment building are some of the gardening possibilities in CA.
I saw a small lemon tree for sale at the garden store. Later on an evening walk I noticed that this lucky gardener had a lemon tree with plenty of ripe ones for the picking in front of his living room window.
A community garden on my morning walk. I saw artichokes, a 10’ tall kale plant, and citrus trees in the plots.
San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.
On my walk to my class: my favorite hedge and a fuzzy palm tree trunk.
Flowers in Golden Gate Park.
On my last morning I stopped at the farmers market and drooled at the abundance of produce for sale including citrus, avocados and dates. I bought strawberries, asparagus, dates, and blood oranges to bring home to my husband.
