Garden Tour: San Francisco's Dogpatch Neighborhood

Time for another garden tour!  This time, we're visiting the Dogpatch district of San Francisco - a little known, up-and-coming artistic neighborhood. Its a blend of historic industry and artsy start ups, where green space is a luxury and gardens are humble and resourceful.

The dogpatch district is just on the cusp of a transition to trendy.  A bit outside of downtown San Francisco and often overlooked, its poised to become a new heart of arts and hipster cool.

I love the authenticity of the old buildings - many are still fairly raw and most are loyal to the original architecture.  Its easy to imagine yourself walking through time, back to the 1850s.

Since the neighborhood is still in a transitional phase from an industrial past, there is not a lot of green space built into the landscape.  Which is why it makes for a fun garden tour - because of the creativity people have brought as they 'greenify' the urban spaces.

Some use a simple, straightforward approach of potted plants on the sidewalk:

And some spaces use a quintessentially San Fran approach that I'm in love with - parking space gardens!  Its a whole new meaning to 'park'ing spot...A parallel parking spot is sectioned off, and turned into a mini outdoor park. 

 Window boxes in creative spaces are another way that people in the Dogpatch are bringing green into their neighborhood.  Along sidewalks, as pillars to benches, and along stairwells...anywhere a little garden can be squeezed into the urban landscape.

Due to the warm climate and dry weather (severe drought), succulents are the perfect fillers for these urban container gardens.  They take so little water and maintenance, bring fun artistic colors and textures, and are perfectly on-trend.

Have you visited the Dogpatch in San Francisco?  What is your favorite place to visit there?