The Fling: 2013 San Francisco

The SF Fling has Flung

Official Group Photo by

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

June 28, 2013

Dear Garden Blogger Fling Attendees:

Thanks so much for attending and making this the best Fling ever! We hope you've recovered from three days of garden and nursery touring... and then some! Surely many of you have started to go through images and recount stories from our time together. Please consider sharing them, via links to your personal blog posts, in the comments section below, and/or on the Garden Bloggers Fling Facebook page. If you have specific posts for specific gardens, each of the tour stops has a general information post (following this one), so you can add your post to their comments section accordingly. It's a great way to see and read about everyone's perspectives of the various places we visited together.

Please be sure to share your personal thanks with the generous sponsors that helped make the San Francisco Fling so successful. Each sponsor is listed by sponsor level category along the right hand column of this blog, with links to their websites and contact information. Sponsorships contributed not only to the TWO swag bags you received, but also to offset the costs of our travel, garden admissions and sustenance. A hearty thank you goes out to them all!

Happy blogging and we hope to see you at the next Fling in Portland, Oregon. Sounds like the PDX Crew is tentatively looking at mid to late July, 2014.

Your SF Fling Crew,

Kelly, Andrea, Charlotte, Claire and Maggie.

P.S. To post a hyperlinked URL to your blog post in the comments section you'll have to add a bit of HTML code to do so, as Blogger thinks they're spam and won't publish the comment.

I'll use Helen (The Patient Gardener)'s First Fling overview as an example
(surely she won't mind...)

First, post a comment with your URL & blog post title (shown in orange above) added to the HTML code as shown below

Then, click the Preview button to see if the link worked and/or to edit as needed:

Then, enter Publish and your comment with a hyperlink to your post should appear, pending Blog administration, of course.

Hope that helps and isn't too confusing. If anyone knows a different workaround, let us know.

San Francisco Fling Itinerary

Thursday, June 27

Pre-Fling Cocktail Party at
the garden of landscape designer Shirley Watts

6:00-9:00pm

$10 donation towards food & drinks

Location is in Alameda, which is accessible by public transportation

(photo via Shirley Watts, sawattsdesign.com)

Friday, June 28

8:00-8:45am Registration at Hotel Lobby

Westin San Francisco Market Street
50 Third Street

Two buses will travel to the following sites independently;

PLEASE pick one bus and stick with it for each tour day.

8:45-9:00am Board Buses

Organic Mechanics Garden

(photo by Russell Yip for The Chronicle)

Matt Gil Sculpture Garden
Designed by Dan Carlson of Wigglestem Gardens

(photo by Dan Carlson)

Catered Lunch at Annie's Annuals and Perennials

with a Sponsor Presentation by Dramm,

Fun Games & Shopping!

(photo via Annie's Annuals)

Wave Garden
Designed by Victor Amador
Kellee Adams, Dig-It Landscape Design

(photo by slotharium)

*Late Afternoon Break at Hotel *

5:30-5:45pm Re-board Buses and travel to

Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park
for Group Photo,
Catered Dinner, Sponsor Talks,
Swag Bags and Raffle

(photo via Floradoragardens)

Back to the Hotel by 9:30pm
Evening activities on your own

Saturday, June 29

Two buses will travel to the following sites independently;

PLEASE pick one bus and stick with it for each tour day.

7:45-8:00am Board EARLY Bus at Hotel

Morning Photo Shoot with Saxon Holt (RSVP required) at

The San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum

(San Francisco Botanical Garden's Entry Garden. Photo by Saxon Holt; via SFBG website)

9:45-10:00am Board LATER Bus at Hotel

(meet up with early bus at)

Sunset Headquarters

with a Sponsor Presentation by Sunset Western Garden Collection,
Southern Living Plant Collection and Encore Azalea;

a Sponsor Presentation by Bailey Nurseries,
Endless Summer Collection and First Editions Collection;

as well as a tour of Sunset Gardens

(photo via sunset.com)

*Eat catered box lunch on buses*
as we travel to

Filoli
A Site of The National Trust for Historic Preservation and
a California State Historic Landmark
(we'll tour the gardens only)

(photo via Floradoragardens)

Rebecca Sweet's Garden

(photo via Harmony in the Garden, Rebecca Sweet)

Testa-Vought Garden
Designed by Bernard Trainor

(photo by Andrea Testa-Vought via Pacific Horticulture, as seen in our preview post)

Back to Hotel by 6:30pm
Dinner & evening activities on your own

Sunday, June 30

Two buses will travel to the following sites independently;

PLEASE pick one bus and stick with it for each tour day.

10:00-10:15am Board Buses at Hotel

Ruth Bancroft Garden

(photo by Floradoragardens)

Dudan Garden
by BuenoLuna Landscape Design
and Floradora Gardens

(photo by Floradoragardens)

*Catered Box Lunch at Ruth Bancroft or Dudan Gardens*

Keeyla Meadows Garden

(photo via KeeylaMeadows.net)

Nichols Garden

(photo by Floradoragardens)

Closing Cocktail Party at Flora Grubb Gardens,
Tour a Flora Grubb designed garden nearby,
Fun & Shopping!

(photo via FloraGrubb.com)

Back to Hotel by 7:30pm
Dinner & final evening festivities on your own

San Francisco Fling Attendees

Registration for Fling is now closed. The following bloggers have confirmed their place (meaning we have received your check in the mail). If there is an * by your name, you registered to take the Saturday early morning photo workshop with Saxon Holt. The early bus is now full and we can't accept any more participants.

California: