Sunset garden tours: The gardens are open for self-guided walking tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays (except holidays and the week before Celebration Weekend in early June) at 80 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA. Groups of 10 or more should phone ahead for reservations. For more information, please call (650) 321-3600 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunset's headquarters sits upon land that was originally part of a grant to Don José Arguello, governor of Spanish California in 1815. The early-California-style buildings that house our offices reflect that influence. They were designed by Cliff May, father of the California ranch-style home, to bridge indoor and outdoor living spaces. The main building opened in 1952.
The original Sunset display garden was designed by Thomas Church, the dean of Western landscape architects. It included a border that followed the contours of San Francisquito Creek, with distinct areas representing the major climate zones of the West, from the deserts of Arizona and Southern California to the cold, wet areas of the Northwest.
Many of these original trees and shrubs still stand, retaining the regional flavor of the border. But a major renovation in early spring 2000, under the direction of Chris Jacobson and Beverly Sarjeant of Garden Art, brought a fresh new look to the garden.
Trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, perennials, and ornamental grases now show how foliage textures and colors can combine for beautiful effects. Flower color comes primarily from blooming shrubs and perennials. This is truly a garden for all seasons.
The Lawn
The 1.2-acre lawn is colonial bent grass of the Astoria strain. The lawn is kept short, and is used occasionally for concerts, special events, and company parties. It's irrigated ― as is the entire garden ― by an automatically-controlled irrigation system.
The Northwest
Wet winters and colder temperatures characterize this climate, and plants here must be watered more heavily than in other areas of the garden. Here you'll see dogwoods, firs, Japanese maples and other woodland plants. Look especially for the many types of rhododendron, including azaleas.
Northern California
The mild climate represented in this section is hospitable to a diverse number of plants. You'll see a cargo magnolia, which provides sweet scents in spring. Also here are a coast live oak and a valley oak (in the separate plot across the path).
Coast live oak is native to the coastal ranges from Southern California to the Mendocino area; the valley oak, considered California's mightiest, is a deciduous tree native to interior valleys, Sierra foothills, and coastal ranges. To prevent oak root fungus that can come from overwatering, these oaks are not often irrigated; drought- and shade-tolerant plants beneath them can survive the dry season on only a monthly watering.
Central California
Reigning over this end of the garden are huge coast redwoods that thrive in northern California's foggy coastal mountains. This zone includes coastal plants as well as plants that do well in the Central Valley's intense summer heat. The lawn here is mowed into a putting green.
This area is nicknamed the "Monterey Peninsula," both for its golf associations and because many plants here grow well in the mid-California coastal areas (from San Luis Obispo to the San Francisco Bay Area). Notable plants include various camellias, pines, lavender, penstemon, and grasses.
The Southwest Desert and Southern California
Aridity characterizes Southern California and the Desert Southwest. Gardeners here find inspiration in their region's native trees and shrubs. For Southern California, that inlcudes Sycamore trees, native to Southern California's canyons. Plants in the Southwest desert area include cactus, succulents, and certain perennials that will grow under extreme drought conditions, as will the chaparral and other dry-slope natives that also thrive in this section. Note the tall native ceanothus, which puts on a beautiful display of powder blue blossoms each spring.
Test Garden
This 3,000-square-foot area is jammed with the latest plants, devices, and projects we're evaluating for coverage in Sunset. Divided into four test plots, the garden is an example of how to achieve high performance in tight spaces. Since food crops make up many of our plantings, we use nontoxic pest controls here. We also use unframed raised beds and amend the soil with organic matter before planting. Plant clippings are recycled into compost. More than 50 percent of our garden photography is taken in this area.
The Old Man
This magnificent coast live oak has grown increasingly lopsided chasing the sun, so its heavy limbs are supported with metal posts to prevent the tree from toppling. We've replaced the thirsty lawn at the base with natural mulch and bolders: while the lawn around it requires significant irrigation in the summer, mature oaks of this species will not tolerate watering inside the dripline after the rainy season.
Article & photos are taken from Sunset Magazine online: http://www.sunset.com/garden/landscaping-design/sunset-garden-tour-00400000015024/
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Swan Oyster Depot in SF, Saturday at 10:30 A.M.
Welcome to the photo series Eater Scenes, in which Eater photographers visit some of the country's great restaurants to capture them at a certain, and very specific, point in the day. Here now, Daniel Krieger at Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco.
At over 100 years old, the iconic San Francisco fish market Swan Oyster Depot is known as much for its raw bar offerings as the for the long lines of customers waiting to try them. One of the city's essential restaurants, Swan Oyster Depot is only open for lunch which draws tourists and locals alike for insanely fresh Dungeness crabs, clam chowder, and the Swan Special: A shrimp cocktail and a beer. Below, photos of the staff prepping for a busy Saturday lunch service and opening the doors to the awaiting crowds:
For More Information on Swan's Oyster Depot, check out their Zagat's guide Profile with additional photos and product info:
http://www.zagat.com/r/swan-oyster-depot-san-francisco
Featured Article and Photos Taken From: http://eater.com/archives/2014/01/24/eater-scenes-swan-oyster-depot.php
Featured Article and Photos Taken From: http://eater.com/archives/2014/01/24/eater-scenes-swan-oyster-depot.php
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Bay Area Home Prices Highest in U.S. in Fourth Quarter
A pair of recent reports – one from the National Association of
Realtors and another from a Southern California real estate consulting
firm – recount an exceptional 2013 in Bay Area residential real estate
and deliver an optimistic forecast for the coming year.
According to NAR’s recent fourth-quarter report, two Bay Area metropolitan areas led the country in terms of median sales price as 2013 drew to a close. The San Jose area had the highest median single-family home sales price in the U.S., at $775,000, while San Francisco ranked No. 2 at $682,400. Two of the other top five priciest housing markets were also in California.
San Jose and San Francisco both posted double-digit year-over-year price hikes, along with 40 other U.S. markets of the 164 included in the report. Prices grew by 15.0 percent in San Francisco and 13.1 percent in San Jose.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said that slim inventory was responsible for the double-digit appreciation in many markets, adding that new home construction could help alleviate rising prices.
A short supply of available homes and vigorous price growth across Northern California also took center stage in the January 2014 Regional Analysis and Forecast published by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
The report divides the country into 10 regions and ranks each based on a combination of five factors: job growth, resale transaction volume, resale supply, supply of unsold homes, and year-over-year price gains. As of January, the report puts Northern California as the No. 1 real estate market in America, up one position from the previous month.
According to the company, Northern California leads the country in smallest months’ supply of inventory for both resale and unsold homes: 1.9 and 0.6, respectively. Constrained inventory appears to have heavily affected home resale activity in the East Bay market, which the report says had the smallest resale volume in the country for the trailing twelve months ending November 2013.
Northern California was one of just three markets that the report believes is heading up, noting healthy price appreciation and employment growth as particular strengths.
Our overall region was tied for first place when measuring year-over-year home price growth, which the Burns report places at 20 percent. Additionally, the company ranks two Bay Area subregions within the top 10 in the country for year-over-year job growth: San Jose and San Francisco each added nearly 27,000 jobs over the past year, gains of 3.0 and 2.7 percent respectively.
According to NAR’s recent fourth-quarter report, two Bay Area metropolitan areas led the country in terms of median sales price as 2013 drew to a close. The San Jose area had the highest median single-family home sales price in the U.S., at $775,000, while San Francisco ranked No. 2 at $682,400. Two of the other top five priciest housing markets were also in California.
San Jose and San Francisco both posted double-digit year-over-year price hikes, along with 40 other U.S. markets of the 164 included in the report. Prices grew by 15.0 percent in San Francisco and 13.1 percent in San Jose.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said that slim inventory was responsible for the double-digit appreciation in many markets, adding that new home construction could help alleviate rising prices.
A short supply of available homes and vigorous price growth across Northern California also took center stage in the January 2014 Regional Analysis and Forecast published by John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
The report divides the country into 10 regions and ranks each based on a combination of five factors: job growth, resale transaction volume, resale supply, supply of unsold homes, and year-over-year price gains. As of January, the report puts Northern California as the No. 1 real estate market in America, up one position from the previous month.
According to the company, Northern California leads the country in smallest months’ supply of inventory for both resale and unsold homes: 1.9 and 0.6, respectively. Constrained inventory appears to have heavily affected home resale activity in the East Bay market, which the report says had the smallest resale volume in the country for the trailing twelve months ending November 2013.
Northern California was one of just three markets that the report believes is heading up, noting healthy price appreciation and employment growth as particular strengths.
Our overall region was tied for first place when measuring year-over-year home price growth, which the Burns report places at 20 percent. Additionally, the company ranks two Bay Area subregions within the top 10 in the country for year-over-year job growth: San Jose and San Francisco each added nearly 27,000 jobs over the past year, gains of 3.0 and 2.7 percent respectively.
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