The Green Garden Obsession, Portola District SF

During the pandemic, slightly claustrophobic and stuck in a thousand square-foot house in the city, I gazed out at unsightly weeds and displays of rough barren spots in my cliff-jagged backyard. It looked a lot like as if the Peaky Blinders had just passed on their way to the heathland and turned my backyard into their brown, wasted barren Midlands. I immediately realized that I had wasted all those years neglecting what could have been golden moments of tilling the soil and transforming this desert into an oasis of greenery, a perfumed garden, if you will. So I vowed to myself that we will survive the pandemic in a very enjoyable and productive way indeed!

Armed with pruning shears, trowels, shovels and a garden hose, I singlehandedly threw myself at the task! Or more like I went through a hurricane of such campaign to turn our moon crated yard into a wild yet humble habitat where butterflies and birds could coexist with yarrows, salvias, fuchsias and other non-natives alike. Homebound and computer-addled from pandemic-induced Zoom classes, meetings and what-nots, who would not want to embrace a verdant landscape that will soothe the eyes and the spirit?

So I perused garden and patio ideas online to create a design suitable for a super steep elevation.

Drought-resistant natives and foreign beauties like yarrows, salvias, bush sage, sticky monkey flowers, Pride of Madeiras to name a few, highlighted a growing obsession to obtain and observe how these gorgeous blooms could grace my imagined garden nooks. Respite from the relentless rap of virus news overload, this newly-found preoccupation brought instant salvation!

Then two years later, this obsessed gardener, with the help of a few fence-installers, transformed my yard into a personal green refuge (although the redwood trees shown here was planted nearly twenty one years ago).

What beauty, peace, and meditative existence I have found just a few steps from my house!