The Covid-19 pandemic began as spring started, but spring was not cancelled – only humans needed to stop and think about our every move. Public gardens needed to close as the virus peaked and needed to assess risks to staff and visitors, but the plants kept up their show.
Even if lawns went unmowed:
I have received special permission from a number of gardens to work on the Summer-Dry Project as a photojournalist doing time sensitive grant-funded work. I am taking full advantage of the media as an essential service.
The Summer-Dry Project goes on. The Timber Press book that was due to be released in June has been postponed to January 5th when we all hope bookstores will be recovering and authors can be making presentations if only by Zoom.
But I continue work on the upgrade to the California WUCOLS* plant database which is why I need to use my media credentials. There are lots of plants I don’t know:
This Quercus cerris, Turkey Oak, photo taken Many 11 in SF Botanical Garden will be part of the WUCOLS update:
I am grateful to Ruth Bancroft Garden, San Francisco Botanical Garden, UC Santa Cruz Botanical Garden, and Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden for granting me special access.
I promised to share and happy to do so. The photos following are not necessarily photos that are part of the Project but are some what caught my eye.
Ruth Bancroft Garden: More from this garden in their PhotoBotanic Gallery
UC Santa Cruz Botanic Garden: More from this garden in their PhotoBotanic Gallery
San Francisco Botanical Garden: More from this garden in their PhotoBotanic Gallery
Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden: More from this garden in their PhotoBotanic Gallery
Bonus photos. With so many California native shrubs at their peak here, I treated myself to a bit of fun to work on a personal project – the Extraction Series.
Calycanthus occidentalis, California sweetshrub or California spicebush flowering native shrub in Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, California.
Before and After Slider
More on this extraction process.
Some the gardens are open to restricted access, others are opening soon. Check their websites in the links above. Go visit, pay for an admission, buy a plant. All public gardens have suffered due to the pandemic. Lost revenues in admissions, events, and rentals has been nearly catastrophic in this normally busy season.
Do get out and enjoy our public gardens. With a minimum of precautions, the out of doors is really safe.
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