Last weekend, I attended the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show with my friend Gloria. I went with notepad in hand and hope in my heart to document any use of recycled products, energy saving devices, or sustainable gardening.

The main hall was an incredible space with twenty-three gardens. We arrived early to avoid the crowds but still had to weave our way through to get closer looks at the gardens.

Natural stone, cascading water and masses of mixed plants were prevalent. The fountains were quiet with water slippimg over the sides of bowls. A copper waterfall in another garden added a cooling feature to the garden. California native plants were included in most gardens along with other drought tolerant landscape plants.

Only one garden featured recycled materials. Landscape Designer Shirley Watts (sawattsdesign.com) strung old computer motherboards together to enclose a sitting area that included a bench made from concrete and wine bottles. Short retaining walls were fronted with wine bottles held in place with metal fencing. The garden paths were covered with shredded recycled tires (510 562-4300) and other areas were accented with crushed recycled glass.

In the shopping areas we stopped at Benicia Garden and Nursery’s booth which was chocked full of garden goodies (707 747-9094 or www.beniciagarden.com). Morningsun Herb Farm from Vacaville (707 451-9406 or www.morningsunherbfarm.com) was selling tomato plants as well as herbs, sages, and drought tolerant plants. Annie Annuals (510 215-1326 or www.anniesannuals.com) from Richmond had racks of California Native Plants and deer resistant plants.

Four Course Compost was featured at one landscapers booth. This compost is made by Jepson Prairie Organics in Solano County from vegetarian craps picked up at San Francisco restaurants and from residents of Vacaville and Dixon as part of a NorCal recycling program. You can buy this compost at Crownhill Materials located at 1888 Broadway in Vallejo.

We came across a booth selling Wonder Grow; an organic alternative to high-nitrogen synthetic fertilizers such as Miracle Grow (1 888-460-8536). A composting booth was staffed by composting teachers from Santa Clara County. Additional educational booths featured less-toxic pest control, native plants, bee keeping, mosquito control and local gardening groups.

A company from Bellingham, Washington has invented a twenty pound collapsible wheel barrel. This garden cart has a flexible barrel constructed from heavy grade sailing canvas. It lays flat on the ground so materials can be easily shoveled in or boulders rolled in. Call 360 734-9090 or www.allsog.com/garden.

Accents for your garden included a booth selling reusable molds for do-it-yourself landscape stepping stones (208 237-4820 or www.mudart.com). One artist was selling clocks and steel sculptures. Her motto is “out of the landfills, onto your walls.” We saw brass bird baths and fountains in one booth and incredible copper pipe gates in another.

We returned to the main hall for one more view of the gardens. The hall was packed but I could easily chat with my friend and even hear the (canned) birds singing. It was an incredibly quiet place. Maybe everyone was so mesmerized by the beauty and only spoke softly or maybe Mother Nature’s landscaping is an incredible noise controller.

UPDATES
We still have room for more community groups and vendors at our Earth Day event downtown on Saturday, April 26. Call VALCORE or register through our web site.

Check out VALCORE’s Reuse Barn. We’ve just received many boxes of tractor-feed paper of various sizes. It’s good for banners, art projects, table covers for kid painting session. The Reuse Barn is open during regular business hours.

Congratulations to the city of Vallejo for going off the grid with their new solar panels on the roofs of City Hall and the JFK Library. The city also received the 2002 ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) Clean Air Champion Award.