By the last garden tour of the last day of the Garden Bloggers' Fling in San Francisco, we were all feeling a little overwhelmed by having seen so many incredible gardens and awesome plants. The last garden (well almost) we visited was a smallish one and we had some extra time after touring and before the bus picked us up so a few of us decided to take a stroll around the Berkley neighborhood in which we found ourselves. There were signs and wonders that seemed to be leading us to something, but what could it be?
Were these trying to tell us something or were they some sort of winter protection for the plants that someone forgot to remove?
Who wouldn't want a picture of this? I wonder if we'll see hats popping up in Rhone Street Gardens this summer?
The hat led us to these pants with a slow sign mounted above them. Do you suppose this is some new clothing marketing scheme? Are slow pants the latest fad with the kids these days? Does this fall in line with the slow food and slow flowers movement? Anyway, the slow sign was obviously alerting us to the tree covered in white blossoms in the distance, obviously our destination.
Looking like a huge broccoli floret, it drew us ever closer.
to see the gorgeous foliage and sweet flowers.
We four Pacific Northwesterners looked at each other hoping that one of us could identify the tree. Many plants in this area were familiar to us because some of them are hardy in our area and we grow numerous others in pots, coddling them through the winter. Trees, not so much.
While the blooms and foliage were great, it was the bark of the tree that seemed to fall at the slightest breeze that was especially intriguing.
The bark was spongy, cork-like and fun to play with.
Were we drunk with having taken in so many gardens, enchanted by this magic tree, excited at a new discovery or simply giddy from the heat?
Maybe it was something in the flowers
that caused this strange ritual of tree worship to occur.
For more sights from our walk, go here and to experience the fun of a garden bloggers' fling, make sure you register soon for this summers event in Portland as there are very few open spots left. You may not find yourself fondling a tree but Portland has lots of great specimens and is a delightfully weird city* so one never knows what could happen!
*Could be just the places I hang out.
The team assures us that the following will be over before fling time.