Pre-Fling Cocktail Hour at Shirley Watts

(photo via Shirley Watts, sawattsdesign.com)

Landscape designer Shirley Watts graciously welcomed us to her home garden for a pre-Fling cocktail party.

Location: Alameda

Fling Attendees: Please add a link to your post about this garden in the comments section below.

Welcome to gbfSF

Welcome to San Francisco, the 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling has officially arrived!

Brief posts for each garden will be published while we're visiting each one. Some of our garden hosts have provided garden descriptions and plant lists; most have links to designers and organizations to assist you with gathering further information on your own.

The Fling crew hopes you'll link your own blog posts to the entries on the Garden Bloggers Fling Blog in the comments section that follow each garden visit. This way, all Fling participants, and those that weren't able to attend, can follow along in an organized fashion.

Speaking of following along, the official twitter hashtags for the event are:

#gbfSF 

#gardenbloggersfling

Registration is on Friday in the lobby of the Westin on Market Street from 8:00-8:45am.

Buses leave promptly at 9:00am

See you soon!

Kelly, Andrea, Maggie, Charlotte & Clair

SF Fling Crew

what to pack, what to wear

Maggie has already forewarned you to prepare for typically diverse weather conditions in the bay area during your Fling visit. Please see her Dress code post here.

Adding to her informative post is a local weather link to further assist you:
http://weather.sfgate.com/US/CA/San_Francisco.html

The page has temperature, humidity, etc., as well as an animated fog map, weekly forecast and a bay area map that shows the range of temperatures in areas around San Francisco.

 

Those with smart phones can retrieve SFGate's weather link to anticipate conditions.
 

Particular to flingers will be how much hotter than San Francisco it can be in the south bay where we will be visiting Filoli, Sunset, etc. A 30 degree range is not unusual.

 

Another thing to keep in mind are local garden microclimates. Our dinner on Friday night will be held at the Conservatory of Flowers. After we take our group photo (most likely on the steps of the conservatory), cocktails will be served in one of the tropical exhibits. Plan for a bit of warmth and humidity amongst the foliage there, and keep your eye out for wet floors on grated surfaces. Dinner however, will be served behind the conservatory, under a tent that while unheated, will most likely warm up amongst the body heat of fling participants. 

 

A fancier dinner than ours occurred at the re-opening of the conservatory back in 2003. Perhaps that article will inspire some of you to bring more formal attire... but most likely not. Besides, I think the catering staff have packed away their expensive china and linens by now.

 

So, best to wear comfortable layers and sensible shoes. Fascinators optional. 

 

Vicki shows off her fascinator at the Seattle Fling, while Mary Ann and Lorene show their approval.

 

après fling

After a long day of flinging, dinner and entertainment is up to you.

The financial district can get a little desolate after business hours, but here some places that aren't too far away by foot, bus, or BART.

Caveat:
This list skips chain, formula, and in-hotel establishments, and is composed of:
a) bars I've rigorously tested;
b) places I've walked by to and from work enough times to feel like I've been there; or
c) places that I can think of off the top of my head



A J Ferrari

Italian deli, for takeout and prepared foods
688 Mission at 3rd St, a few blocks away.
Mon-Fri 8:00am-8:00pm
Sat 9:00am-7:00pm
Sun 10:00am-6:00pm

 

Inside the Westfield Shopping Centre

845 Market St, a few blocks away.

Cupola Pizzeria, 11:30am - 9:30pm daily. Check for reservations online.

Straits (asian fusion), Sunday - Thursday: 11am - 9:30pm Friday - Saturday: 11am - 10:30pm. Check for reservations online.

Tropisueno 

Authentic Mexican food, margaritas
75 Yerba Buena Lane, between 3rd and 4th St, at Mission, across from Yerba Buena Gardens
Friday 11:00 am – 10:30 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 10:30 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 10:30 pm



The Tempest

Bar, with food

431 Natoma St
Mon - Fri: 11:00 am - 2:00 am
Sat: 12:00 pm - 2:00 am
Sun: 10:00 am - 2:00 am

Farmer Brown

New soul food, bar
25 Mason, at Market and 5th St, walk, cab

friday-saturday from 530pm-11pm

sunday 530pm-9pm

In and around South Park, good walk, cab, or bus

Small Foods, high-end grocery deli and prepared foods

522 2nd St

Mon-Fri 7 am - 9 pm

South Park Cafe, French bistro (small, intimate seating)
Friday 5:30–9:30 pm
Saturday 5:30–9:30 pm

North Beach, Chinatown, the Mission District, Hayes Valley and pretty much all other SF neighborhoods have a cornucopia of restaurants, but are further away.

One example:

Esperpento, in the Mission District, for tapas, sangria and dinner.
Take BART four stops to 24th St Mission station, walk two blocks along Mission St. to 22nd, order sangria.

Hmm.
Just want a drink around people who couldn't identify Ficus microcarpa nitida if their life depended on it?

Try finding nearby Tunnel Top, 601 Bush St:

House of Shields, 39 New Montgomery St:

Otis, 25 Maiden Ln:

Or Dave's, 29 3rd St, as mentioned in an earlier post.

See you all soon!

San Francisco Fling Itinerary

You've been asking and been ever so patient to hear what all we have in store for you... finally, introducing the San Francisco Fling Itinerary! It has its own tab in the header above, so just click on the link and check it out!