San Francisco Botanical Garden - Gardens

Curator Don Mahoney
In cooperation with San Francisco Recreation & Parks staff, Mr. Mahoney has been responsible for operations of the SFBG nursery since 1984. He supervises the propagation of rare and unusual plants both for the Garden and the Society's monthly plant sales. He also teaches classes in horticulture and botany at the Garden and has given numerous talks to plant societies and garden clubs throughout the Bay Area. He has served on many boards of plant societies and non-profits, and holds a PhD in wild-lands resource science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Bring a Piece of the Garden Home With You, Any Day

More than 30 years ago, SFBG started monthly plant sales at the County Fair Building. Loaded with plants not found at garden centers and conventional nurseries, those plant sales quickly outgrew that initial location and moved down to the Garden Nursery where monthly themed sales continue to this day. Now over 350 months later, we've fulfilled a dream of making those same plants available each day in the new Arbor by the Garden Bookstore.

The Arbor is a beautiful open air structure on the Main Gate esplanade, where visitors can browse and purchase plants any day of the week (weather permitting). The Arbor's hours coincide with those of the Garden Bookstore, from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

Dick Turner, editor of Pacific Horticulture, recently shared some history from the time of those early plant sales. Dick, at one time the Society's Director of Education, and Sally Heumann, a long-time trustee and former board chair, had a dream to make plants available for sale at the Garden on a daily basis. Now, over thirty years later, their dream has come true. We owe many thanks to our current Board of Trustees for making it a reality.

The New Arbor

Over the next few years, we may modify the schedule for monthly sales at the Nursery to include plant sale weekends at the Arbor. For now, we continue to hold our monthly sales at the Nursery, as scheduled, as well as offer plants for sale at the Arbor. Proceeds from the sale of each and every plant support the Garden.

Shade Plant Sale

This month, the plant sale at the Garden Nursery features shade plants, always a hot topic for San Francisco as so many gardens are shade gardens. We will have a large selection of mite-resistant fuchsias, hydrangeas and cloud forest shrubs for sale, all great plants for Bay Area shade. The native section will include aquilegias, disporums and heucheras among many more California plants; and the perennials will feature miniature hostas, trollius and epimediums. Plant sales continue to be a great way to support the Garden, as most of these plants are propagated at the Nursery and the proceeds go back into making this such a special place in Golden Gate Park.

From the Curator

Bring a Piece of the Garden Home With You, Any Day

The New Arbor

Shade Plant Sale