-

-
Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Interesting California Neighborhood Ideal Spot for Druid Ritual.

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.


Loree, Danger Garden, Bohl; Alison, Bonney Lassie, Conliffe; Melaleuca linariifolia and Scott, Rhone Street Gardens, Weber participating in a tree fondling ceremony.

For more  sights from our walk, go here and to experience the fun of a garden bloggers' fling, make sure you plan to attend  next summers event in Toronto as there are no open spots left for the Portland fling.  For those of you going to Portlnad, 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.



 
 
 






20 comments:

  1. So much fun! That was a very silly afternoon, with great companions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fun fun fun! (who you calling weird?) And I hate to be the one with bad news but there are no spots open for the Portland Fling. We're full up with a lengthy waiting list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun indeed! I would never dream of calling anyone weird; a city, maybe. However, consider the following:
      Major premise: I love weird.
      Minor premise: I love you.
      Conclusion: You are weird.
      I didn't come up with logic...:)

      Delete
  3. Maybe the tradition of tree fondling should be continued in Portland :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What happens in Portland stays in Portland. There are lots of fondle-worthy trees there!

      Delete
  4. The tree is a beauty and that bark is amazing. Looks like you had a fun and slightly weird time in Berkeley as if there's any other way to enjoy the city.

    The Portlandia segment opened with a "free translation" pop-up which I momentarily considered engaging but it turned out I could understand the concept of searching for sun well enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You nailed it Shirley! Fun and slightly weird! Wishing you lots of similar experiences with fun company!

      Delete
  5. You've been having WAY too much fun...
    Did I miss it? What was with all the clothes????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can one have too much fun?
      You and I both missed the whole clothes thing. There were quite a few garments strewn about. Seemed like garbage but the placement was odd. We couldn't figure it out.

      Delete
  6. Portlandia absolutely cracks me. I love weird cities but live in the most cookie cutter, beige suburb you can imagine. I may not come home. I have no idea what that cool tree is but it does look like a stalk of broccoli. Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Tammy, vibrant, smart, humorous you locked away in beigeland? Say it's not so! You should perhaps look at real estate while you're in town and check out openings in area school districts just in case.

      Delete
  7. Bring it on home to "weird" Portland.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had never seen that tree, stunning...lucky for the tree only four flingers saw him...imagine the same had happened with almost 80 people! the video is funny, hehehe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a lovely tree and didn't seem to mind our gentle touching. Eighty people fondling a tree would have looked pretty interesting though.

      Delete
  9. I love it! I would have guessed a giant Callistemon. The more I learn about plants the more I realize I don't know. Great post, Peter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was our first guess as well but the bark was so unusual. Plants continue to amaze me as well; that's probably why we keep gardening!

      Delete
  10. This entire post is cracking me up so much. I can't wait to fling with you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm looking forward to flinging with you as well! (Is that o.k. with Greg?)

      Delete

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.