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.

Time for Fall Planting

Autumn is planting season, especially for California native plants. In our Mediterranean climate almost 100% of our rain falls between October and May, which means our native species are adapted to grow in the wintertime. By planting in the fall, Mediterranean climate plants are able to become well established before the spring rains end and often can get by with no supplemental water the following summer. This is particularly important for shrubs and trees, like most manzanitas, Ceanothus, and Fremontodendron that tend to develop root problems from summer watering. More of these plants are lost to overwatering than to underwatering if they are established in a garden.

Our September plant sale features California native plants. This year we have many varieties of Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos for the sunny dry garden or hedgerow, along with smaller shrubby sages, both in the genus Salvia and the genus Artemisia. We have beautiful buckwheats (Eriogonum) in full bloom including the almost red form of Eriogonum latifolium, Matilija poppies (Romneya coulteri), yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei) and bladderpod (Isomeris). This year we have some new offerings in trees including chinquapin (Chrysolepis chrysophylla), hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens). For the shade garden, we have columbines (Aquilegia), Rhododendron occidentalis, and Vancouveria chrysantha. We also have a good supply of yerba buena (Satureja douglasii). So please do your garden a favor and add a few natives this year – there is no better place to get them than at our September sale!

From the Curator

Time for Fall Planting

Sneak Peak: Native Plants & Succulents Plant Sale