habitat ~ 12/25/13 ~ San Francisco Botanical Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden 

December 25, 2013

We went up to San Francisco on Christmas again.  Get this, it didn't rain like 2012 and 2010.  It was gorgeous.  Of course, with beautiful, sunny weather, the people come out in droves, but I didn't mind too much.  The great thing we've discovered about rain is that it keeps many people indoors, which makes San Francisco feel like a totally different city.  This excursion may become a tradition for us - scenic drive up Hwy 1, House of Bagels, Botanical Garden, finding Le Soleil closed yet again and asking for recommendations from Clement St. locals, visiting with friends, and marveling at the Union Square hubbub.  It was a very good day.

habitat ~ 12/25/12 ~ San Francisco Botanical Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden 

December 25, 2012

habitat ~ 12/25/10 ~ San Francisco Botanical Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden

December 25, 2010

It is with great thanks to fellow blogger Katie at Phyte Club that I even knew the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum would be open (and free) on Christmas Day. It was my first time in the gardens. Wow! It would be well worth the relatively inexpensive $7 non-resident admission price on any other day... especially if it's not raining.

As per my typical rain curse (whenever I plan ahead for a hiking or camping excursion), it rained, and then it rained some more. Did I mention my graduation ceremonies from Ohio State was the only 2nd rain-interrupted outdoor procession in its over 100 year history? Don't let me get started on my wedding day! Most of my pictures from S.F. ended up too dark or fuzzy to post, and I'm still not decided on how to handle "garden" pictures on Nature ID. I do hope to show above that there are numerous blooms here on the coast of CA during the winter.

No worries, I had an absolutely lovely day, exploring the lesser known high peaks of San Francisco, finding new places in Golden Gate Park, enjoying a New York-style bagel heaped with more lox than I could buy at a grocer with tomato, red onion, and capers at the House of Bagels on Geary, and lunching for hours with a total stranger I met on Clement who advised me of the best Vietnamese noodle house I've ever been, Le Soleil. Angela, if you're out there, you were my angel on Christmas Day.

Again, with many thanks to Katie and Angela, for helping me find and create a memorable Christmas Day.

torch aloe ~ 12/25/10 ~ San Francisco Botanical Garden

torch aloe and Kenyan aloe
Aloe arborescens and Aloe kedongensis
Asphodelaceae (now included under Xanthorrhoeaceae)

posted 2/13/11 - I've been on the hunt for the ID of a particularly large and "bushy" aloe, since they're quite prominent along the shore here in Pacific Grove where I live. I took a picture of the sign (it's a close-up of what's shown in the first picture) believing I finally found a positive ID from a reputable source, the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Once I got home and searched A. kedongensis, I quickly realized this was not the correct ID for the aloe I wanted an ID. I grumbled at first that the botanical garden must have misplaced their sign. If you can't tell already, I have a general mistrust that most people can get things right. I worked in the editorial departments of a couple publishing companies and I even corrected the pre-employment proofreading test that one had been using for 25 years - according to my hiring bosses, nobody had ever caught the error in all that time. This is not to say that I don't make mistakes on a regular basis, both in factual and grammatical accuracy. Upon further inspection of the first photo, it's apparent that there are 2 species of aloes shown. In any case, I think I have finally found the proper ID for my hometown aloe.