Plants

Your Seasonal Produce Guide: Fiddlehead Ferns

A SFoodie series on what to do with your farmers' market impulse buys and CSA box surprises. Fiddleheads, a springtime delicacy, are the edible coils of the immature Ostrich fern. They are foraged early in the season, before the ferns unravel. The taste is often likened to mild and slightly bitte ... More >>

Pick Summer Fruit from the Trees Outside Your Door

Fruit trees near the SF Weekly offices​There's nothing quite as refreshing as fresh fruit on a summer day, but sometimes the supermarket is too far to justify a trip just for some fresh plums. So what do you do? Try walking around the block. There are over 5000 fruit trees on public land in ... More >>

Spotting Birds at a Record Pace, with a Camera and a Bike

Fruit trees near the SF Weekly offices​There's nothing quite as refreshing as fresh fruit on a summer day, but sometimes the supermarket is too far to justify a trip just for some fresh plums. So what do you do? Try walking around the block. There are over 5000 fruit trees on public land in ... More >>

The Garden of Evil

Fruit trees near the SF Weekly offices​There's nothing quite as refreshing as fresh fruit on a summer day, but sometimes the supermarket is too far to justify a trip just for some fresh plums. So what do you do? Try walking around the block. There are over 5000 fruit trees on public land in ... More >>

Tree-Planting Tour Stops Everywhere in Bay Area Except San Francisco

Is this your life?​In a city where lawmakers so joyously took the happy out of the Happy Meal, it's curious why San Francisco is now skipping out on an opportunity to teach kids that apples are tasty, too.   This week, the award-winning Fruit Tree Tour is descending on almost every city in th ... More >>

Forget Weed -- San Franciscans Complain of Plant Thefts

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

Mount Sutro battle pits tree lovers against native-plant lovers

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

Traverse the Districts

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

It Can't Be Done!

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

Gray Area's new gallery hopes to cast light on an underserved neighborhood

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

A Squishable Feast

Are succulents a gateway plant? ​ Let's be honest. We all know what the No. 1 cash crop is in the Sunset. The specter of valuable marijuana plants being stolen by well-armed entrepreneurs -- or defended by equally well-armed businessmen -- is just one of the factors that makes living next door to ... More >>

Garden-Variety Debate Continues: Public To Vent Tonight On Plan To Ding Out-of-Town Arboretum Visitors

It's pretty -- but is it seven bucks worth of pretty?Last month we wrote about a debate among the tulips: In order to make up for a shortage of funds, Recreation and Park Department officials were proposing a $5 to $7 entry fee for  Strybing Arboretum. And yet, since the city feels the arboretu ... More >>

Seen In San Francisco: Unlike Moses, Firefighters Extinguish Burning Bush

Joe EskenaziSan Francisco firefighters discover a light roasting flowers in a planter at the PUC buildingNew dimensions in mixed metaphors -- Shakespeare and the Old Testament (get ready): San Francisco Firefighters came to extinguish the burning bush, not to praise it. Very late on Friday, your hum ... More >>

Psssst, Buddy: You Wanna Buy a Used Plant?

For sale, by owner -- where'd he go?There are some things you never, ever want to buy used: Undergarments, motel mattresses, or sex toys spring to mind.And while it's not revolting, the idea of purchasing a second-hand plant is certainly unusual -- what is the blue book value of a 1998 African Viole ... More >>

The S.F. Botanical Garden's wish list

For sale, by owner -- where'd he go?There are some things you never, ever want to buy used: Undergarments, motel mattresses, or sex toys spring to mind.And while it's not revolting, the idea of purchasing a second-hand plant is certainly unusual -- what is the blue book value of a 1998 African Viole ... More >>

Dean Smith and Dean Byington

For sale, by owner -- where'd he go?There are some things you never, ever want to buy used: Undergarments, motel mattresses, or sex toys spring to mind.And while it's not revolting, the idea of purchasing a second-hand plant is certainly unusual -- what is the blue book value of a 1998 African Viole ... More >>

Last Night: Monotonix and Triclops!

Triclops! Montonix and Triclops! Saturday, March 28th, 2009 Elbo Room Words and Images by Brian Moss Better Than: Sappy sad rock in the rain. Ah, springtime in the city. Gone is the soggy gloom of winter and the fog has yet to spoil our summer. Sunshine, exposed skin, outdoor socializing, and u ... More >>

Dean of San Francisco Gardeners: You Call This a Drought? I'll Show You a Drought!

Joe EskenaziSan Francisco's native plants, like the Raven's Manzanita, are old hands at coping with the region's mercurial weatherOne of the joys of speaking with folks whose institutional memories stretch back to the days when the Canaanites roamed the earth is being told -- repeatedly --  how ... More >>

Who Would Possibly Complain About San Francisco's Lovely Weather? Our Plants -- If They Could

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." -- Jack HandeyNo, Virginia, plants cannot talk. But, if they could, San Francisco's would ape our human population -- and protest. The unseasonably hot weather induc ... More >>

Last Night: Cal Academy of Sciences Press Preview

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." -- Jack HandeyNo, Virginia, plants cannot talk. But, if they could, San Francisco's would ape our human population -- and protest. The unseasonably hot weather induc ... More >>

Thank You Very Much, Mister Lobato

"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." -- Jack HandeyNo, Virginia, plants cannot talk. But, if they could, San Francisco's would ape our human population -- and protest. The unseasonably hot weather induc ... More >>

An Inconvenient Plant

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Don't Wanna Grow Up

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Best Buy

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

It's Always Tropical Romance In Here

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Gavin Newsom Can Help Cure Global Warming's Effects ... with High-Rises

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Save Sheldon

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Mother Nature or Nurture?

The question of whether to begin saving creatures and habitats from climate change

I'll Eat You Up, I Love You So

The question of whether to begin saving creatures and habitats from climate change

The Darthies

The SF Weekly Noble Villain Awards. And the winner is ... you!

War Memorial

Two views of a conflict we should all look at more closely

Invasive Species

Two views of a conflict we should all look at more closely

Best Redwood Grove

Two views of a conflict we should all look at more closely

Posh Folks Exposed

Sneak into luxe green spaces

An Instigator's Instigator

The guy who pitted dog people against plant people in one of S.F.'s epic political battles has, um, switched sides

Magic Markings

Accident and surprise in the work of Arthur Okamura

Extreme Makeover

Eight years after a storm's devastation, the Conservatory of Flowers reopens

Best Tropical Phantasmagoria

Tonga Room

Come Fly With Us

Ogling airline collectibles with Kelly Kelly, and reintroducing cougars into S.F. parks

Letters to the Editor

Week of August 21, 2002

The Nature of Politics

Dog owners, compliant pols viciously distort a reasonable attempt to preserve our environmental legacy

Best Knife Sharpener

Jivano's Cutlery Service

Best Day Hike

Round Trip From Stinson Beach to Pantoll Ranger Station, via Steep Ravine and Matt Davis Trails

Most Moving Garden

The National AIDS Memorial Grove

Golden Gate Park, Middle Drive East & Bowling Green Drive

Best Alleyway

Macondray Lane

Best Hike in the City

Glen Canyon Park

Best Exotic Blossom

Puya alpestris

The Mission Blue Mission

Saving the habitat of an inch-long violet butterfly, the endangered Mission Blue, is the starting point of a many-sided battle for dominance of San Bruno

Petal Pushers

Orchid collectors, watch your back. Uncle Sam knows what you're up to.