flower buffet!

yesterday for my sister's bridal shower i decided to set up a "flower buffet" as fun favors for all of our guests. i stopped by gorgeous and green and selected an assortment of their organic, pesticide-free local flowers and foliage and then set them up by species to make a diverse display for guests to choose from! it was a great activity and i think people really enjoyed it! the flowers added color and decoration to the party and at the same time made floral favors for our 10 lovely ladies. as added floral value - we all went to brunch at flora before. enjoy!

berkeley eco-house

laundry to landscape system

nifty drinking fountain out in the garden

green roof, of mostly succulents

broccoli!

allium bud about to blossom. and delicate spider web to the left.

planting of the greywater system

straw bale demo/display window

we finally made it over to the berkeley eco-house (now that we live on the same block!). it is a wonderful demonstration house and garden brought to us by berkeley's ecology center. the house features a solar heater, solar panels, greywater system, rainwater catchment, and all the other "green fixings" indoors (because there are tenants, our tour was outdoors).

the garden is a thriving permaculture garden with lots of veggies, swales, a strawbale tool shed with living roof, greywater fed irrigation, and more.

i encourage all of you local folks to make a trip over to the eco house for one of their tours and workshops and support the ecology center by getting a membership!

garden for butterflies, birds, and bees

i was so happy to receive this picture of the native sidewalk garden we planted two and a half years ago on the corner of shotwell and 22nd street. the garden was built as a part of the mission greenbelt - a project dedicated to lifting up concrete and planting gardens in the mission district of san francisco.

we planted a selection of california native plants specifically selected to attract birds, butterflies and bees.

happy to see the garden thriving! plant more gardens people...

kew gardens - the mecca.

magical dusk in the rock garden

a good reminder of the plant parts from one of the oldest flowering plants, magnolia

floribundiforous!

inside the glass house

One of the beautiful Japanese maples

the oldest potted cycad in the world.

the tree walk - i had to come down when i realized i was afraid of heights! but it was beautiful!

the lightening around 6pm

i made sure we spent a day in kew gardens. it was a brillant masterpiece of landscaping, plant collections and a shrine to the early days of horticulture and botany, exploration and ethnobotany. here are some of my favorite shots - we took a break at the cafe for some afternoon tea and then headed back out for some of the most exquisite light.