Golden Gate Park's Botanical Garden

Observing and Describing the Strybing Arboretum:

I sat down on a wooden bench in the Jean Wolff Garden; the bench was engraved “Jean Wolff 1898-1985.” I guess I should feel comfortable with an organized group of vegetation being named after a person, but for some reason I found it kind of odd. The area was somewhat secluded from the rest of the botanical garden. It’s interesting, when you’re entirely surrounded by plants, you smell things that you forgot your nose was supposed to smell. The smell of the vegetation was overwhelmingly natural for my nose. It was very nice. I could hear the wind breeze, and birds chirping, I could hear the leaves of the trees above hitting other leaves.

There is a walkway of pavement below my feet, and it seems like there are groupings of plants and vegetation that are surrounded by another plant. I saw a mouse crawling under the plants to my left. I felt really at peace. The trees above me would sway every now and then and let the sun shine through on what I was writing. I could hear occasional honking and faint engine revving in the background. I remembered what smog smelled like, and it made me not want to leave. There were leaves on the ground in front of me, and moss growing on the ground, this reassured my belief that what was growing was alive and controlled by nature, even though man had shaped it. I was sitting on a man made bench, and across from me there was a gazebo like wooden man made structure , nearly the whole area was surrounded by a wooden fence. The plants were starting to grow inside of it and wrap around it. I enjoyed the fact that every now and then a leaf or cone-like thing would fall on my head or my lap. I felt some of the plants and got a residue on my hands. I could see that some of the leaves had been eaten by some sort of bug. There were little pieces of vegetation flying through the air as the wind kicked up. I saw a squirrel. When I stood up my butt was wet; it had rained the day before, so I am assuming the wood soaked up the water, and since I was sitting for a pretty long time, seeped into my jeans.

Types of plants in the surrounding area in the Jean Wolff Garden

• Astilbe Arendsil – “Bumalda
• Abutilon – “Patricia”
• Prunus ‘Shirote’ – Japanese flowering cherry
• Jasminum Azoricum
• Jasminum Polyanthum

The Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park are within walking distance of USF, are free to the public, and are open daily, 365 days a year. Weekdays: 8:00 am to 4:30pm. Weekends & Holidays: 10am to 5pm.
http://www.strybing.org/

Habitats of California