Enjoy the Gardens and Palm Grove

Historic Chilean wine, Canary Island date, and Chinese windmill palms grace the exquisite Conservatory Garden. Jason Dewees of the Palm Broker @ Flora Grubb wrote a wonderful blog post about the Conservatory’s historic palm grove.

Shout-outs are in order to principal guardian angels of the Garden. San Francisco’s own Vera Gates, Landscape Architect/Principal, Arterra, llp, served as pro-bono landscape architect on the Conservatory restoration project, from 2000 – 2010.  We are indebted to her elegant eye, inventiveness, persistence, and willingness to teach us about large concepts and mundane details of landscape design.  Vera hand drew the original conceptual plan (approved by the Recreation and Park Commission, 2002) and then guided the Friends through the creation of the Construction documents.  We are also grateful to Edward Chin, official Project Landscape Architect, for his willingness to help us realize our vision and his patience to always find the best design solution. For over two decades, famed arborist and local neighbor Ted Kipping and his crew cared on their own for the garden—planting, pruning, and watering.  The Conservatory palms would never have survived without his care taking during the long, lean years. Thank you Ted.

The Next Generation of Palms

Jason Dewees of the Palm Broker consulted with project landscape architect Edward Chin, selecting the next generation of palms planted on the Conservatory Grounds.

The new pindo palm chosen to sit to the east in the front of the Conservatory building was selected to echo the pindo palm that did not survive transplantation from the interior of the building outdoors. You’ll also find a new group of palms located where the stone-pavers end at base of back stairs. Imagine the grandeur of these new transplants one-hundred years from now. Really Like Palms? Here’s a link to the Bay Area Palm Map Bay Area Palm Map (including the Conservatory), prepared by Jason.