2015 Convention-Trips

June 30 – July 4, 2015
Gesneriads by the Golden Gate

Monday we open the convention with a day-long trip around the Bay Area beginning with a chartered bus ride to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Our first stop in the park is the Japanese Tea Garden, the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States. This complex of many paths, ponds, and a teahouse features native Japanese and Chinese plants. The garden’s five acres contain many sculptures and bridges. After a quick lunch in the gardens, we will stay in Golden Gate Park and head to the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Its 55 acres include over 50,000 individual plants representing over 8,000 taxa from around the world with particular focus on magnolia species, high elevation palms, and cloud forest species from Central and South America and Southeast Asia. In the afternoon we’ll depart Golden Gate Park and make a quick photo stop at the Golden Gate Bridge. We’ll then drive across the bridge and head to our final stop at Annie’s Annuals for a bit of botanical shopping. Annie’s Annuals is a nursery specializing in rare and unusual annual and perennial plants including cottage garden heirlooms and hard-to-find California native wildflowers. Keep an eye out for plants grown from specimens shared by Jon Dixon, our local gesneriad expert. Annie’s also has a fabulous online catalog and mail order department.

Tuesday afternoon we will visit the Ruth Bancroft Garden, a 2.5-acre public dry garden containing more than 2,000 cactus, succulents, trees, and shrubs native to Africa, Australia, California, Chile, and Mexico. Our visit will coincide with their annual Sculpture in the Garden event that transforms the garden into an outdoor art gallery. The Garden’s world-class collection of succulent and drought-tolerant plants provides a spectacular background for artists to display their works. Follow their meandering pathways to discover art that ranges from classical to irreverent, spiritual to functional.

Saturday is the Fourth of July. On the top floor of our hotel we will be hosting an evening social in the Skyline room with 180 degree views of Oakland and a partial view of San Francisco. Both Oakland and San Francisco host fireworks shows, so we might be lucky enough to catch two different shows!