Dear Friends,

Plant Sale Photos by: Viking Photography Inc. The new Garden of Fragrance featuring St. Francis fountain by Clara Huntington. Photo by: belleimages.net Phyllis Cima (l.) and Teri Frlach (r.) celebrate with Garden of Fragrance donor Pearl Kimura. Photo by: belleimages.net

The 41st Annual Plant Sale has come and gone, but I'll bet that many of you are enjoying the product of your visit to the Botanical Garden May 2 or 3. I must admit that it took me two weekends to get everything in the ground or in the right pot, but it's all growing now. Of course, the Friday night portion of our Annual sale is for members only, and while Saturday is good, the membership has quite a shopping party on Friday. This year for the first time we had a pre-party for those of you who have been especially generous with your membership or annual gifts. We're looking into making that pre-opening experience even more fun next year, although we may need a larger venue. We expected 50 to 60 people; more than 200 showed up to get shopping strategy suggestions and a warmer wait with refreshments before the opening bell. Overall, we sold more than $90,000 worth of plants and related material in 8 hours. Those proceeds will support programming at the garden for youth and for the Horticultural Library.

Before we leave this topic, don't forget to mark your calendars for the next monthly plant sale Saturday, June 14 from 10:00 to 1:00 at the Nursery.

A renovated Garden of Fragrance

On June 5 we dedicated the newly renovated Garden of Fragrance, thanking the generous donors for making it possible. Those donors include our dear friend Pearl Kimura, Ikebana International, and the Sisterhood Guild of Congregation Emanu-El. The wonderful statue and fountain of Saint Francis, our City's patron, is once again benevolently blessing the garden and providing a water source for visiting bird life.

You may remember that the stonework was recently re-imagined by master stonemason Edwin Hamilton as the first phase of the renovation.Now the pool is repaired, additional flagstone paving has been added and the entire garden has been trimmed and replanted with scented plants from all over the world.  I was just introduce to a variegated leaf, scented iris that thrives in shade.  That's a must-have for city gardeners and all of us with shady spots that need some flash.

And don't forget our professionally-led garden tours in June, a great way to begin summer in the Bay Area.

With best gardening wishes,