Queen Wilhelmina Garden, Golden Gate Park, SF

Story and photographs by Richard Blair

Flowers look great to humans, even though they are so graphic to attract insects.

Might that mean that all creatures, even bugs, love good art?

On a visit to Golden Gate Park we stopped at the historic Dutch windmill at its far west end, near the ocean and beach. The windmill used to provide wind-powered irrigation for the park

At its base was a fantastic array of flowers in the Queen Wilhelmina garden. A row of benches face the garden, and a group of artists was working hard rendering the garden’s beauty. Most did watercolors - we sneaked glimpses of their work, trying not to bother them.

Kathleen got out her sketch book and started to sketch to flower beds, while I wandered around with my camera, first trying a telephotos lens, later a wide angle, trying to portray this amazing garden.

A park employee, Toby Kanzawa, was looking after the garden, and I complimented him, telling him how much I enjoyed being there. He thanked me; it was a nice connection.

People came and went, including what appeared to be a recently married couple doing self portraits in formal clothes. The man had his camera on a flimsy tripod, and the couple posed while he cleverly exposed his selfies using a wireless iPhone hidden behind them. It was quite innovative. I offered to take a few shots of them but they declined. It’s another example of smart phones destroying professional photography!

Later I sat down on Kathleen’s bench and Toby (the gardener) came over and told us his story. He studied horticulture at my old college, City College of San Francisco, out by Ocean Ave. It’s where I learned the basics of studio photography.

He told us that he was the designer of the garden, and he had 4 gardeners helping him with the planting. Twice a year, they completely dig up the garden to bare dirt, amending the soil with organic fertilizer, in this case, four yards of turkey poop, from Diestel turkeys. It’s nice to know that turkeys give a crap about gardens.

Tulip bulbs need a hard freeze in order to reset, so for the current batch of tulips, the gardeners planted 7800 bulbs, each planted 8” deep. Besides the tulips there were many other flowers, pansies, calendula and geranium maderense, in the beds to set them off with color and texture contrasts.

We were really humbled to meet Toby; he brings so much joy to park visitors. His creation - the garden - is photographed so much, by iphones and every kind of digital cameras, that it must generate thousands of megapixels of data daily. To thank him for this beauty, we gave him our book!

Kathleen also connected with the painters, giving them a book as well. That might be the best thing about book publishing, giving people a sample of our writing and photography. The books don’t cost us too much, since we print thousands of copies, but each one has so much of us inside them.

The tulips are at their height of beauty right now, well worth a visit. If the weather is good, take a picnic.

Please enjoy the photographs of the garden, and remember that our show is coming up in May, at Toby’s Feed Barn, in Point Reyes. (Yes, Tobys rule!)

Kathleen Goodwin Tulip Painting - ink and watercolor crayon.

This Dutch windmill once pumped water for the park.

Please come to our show at Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Staion. It runs between on May 1 - 31. Toby’s hours are 9-5 everyday. Reception details are being finalized…but we will be on hand Memorial Day weekend - May 29-31.