Banners and signs marked the entrance. In addition to the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, the lower sign said that the "Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture" was also located inside.

In May of this year, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to impose a $US 7.00 entry fee for non-residents. Note that when a similar non-resident entry was charged for the Japanese Tea Garden, a mere year later, everyone was charged, residents and non-residents alike. Will the same thing happen to this Arboretum? If the Botanical Garden has its own way it will. In the first three months of 2010 the San Francisco Botanical Gardens paid $US 30,000.00 to lobbyist Samuel Lauter to make its case to the Board of Supervisors that the Botanical Gardens should transform itself into a world class facility .

The main entry into the Botanical Gardens. To the left out of frame was the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture . The library houses approximately 27,000 volumes and 450 plant and garden periodicals. Will this be the first library for which a fee is charged to enter?

Just inside the main entry was the gift shop and information center. Outside of it, packages of seeds were for sale, but maps and brochures were free. In the foreground were fake California poppies atop a donation bin.

Ahead upon entry was the wide, main grassy area. This lovely park was the only park in the City free of dog pooh because dogs were prohibited. However the park was still occasionally noisy from kids. But when transformed into a world class facility, crowds of tourists and litter may become problems.

Just to the left near the entrance was a quiet seating area. The area was decorated in a southwestern desert theme. There was a mixture of wooden benches and stone benches. Beyond could be seen the lush paths leading into and through the Botanical Garden.

The sign read:

MESO-AMERICAN CLOUD FOREST

In remote parts of the tropics, forests on high mountain slopes are kept moist by an almost constant cycle of fog and drizzle. From central Mexico to Bolivia, cloud forests occur at cool elevations between 5500 and 10,000 feet [1,524 and 3,048 meters]. Temperatures there are similar to those in this part of San Francisco, typically from 50° to 70° F [from 10° to 21° C] with occasional light frost.

Shrubs and perennials from the cloud forest are remarkable for their intense colors and broad velvety leaves. They need shade, moisture, and mild winters. You are standing near one of the most reliably frost-free parts of the Botanical Garden.

Gardeners are beginning to experiment with cloud forest plants in mild and foggy areas along the Central California coast. The requirements for success include part shade, rich and moist soil, and regular watering during dry spells. The Garden's plants sales are good sources for advice and for species that are not generally available. Other cloud forest plants are sold by specialized nurseries. The most promising candidates for home gardens include tree dahlias, tree daisies, and unusual fuchsia and salvia species.

Once into the interior paths of the Botanical Garden, wildlife was there to be discovered. Here was a curious squirrel. Birds were also abundant.

Many of the paths through the denser parts of the Botanical Garden were unpaved. It felt almost as if trekking through a remote jungle somewhere. The Botanical Garden provided moments of pleasant abandon within a city.

This printed sign only has sway over those who can see, those that are literate, those that speak English, those that can comprehend the request, and those that choose to obey the request. A female mallard duck was observed just off the path.

Despite the excellent signs identifying plants, sometimes the signs were ambiguous or missing. Thus, this lovely yellow flower was unidentified.

All paths were clearly laid out and some were bordered. Here, for example, the path was lined by logs.

Those plants with clear signs were easy to identify. Here was one of several large Bartlettina Sordida plants native to Mexico. They had huge leaves and bordered a shady stretch of path.

A marble bench was dedicated to the memory of the founders. The text engraved on the back of the bench read:

The Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens are a living memorial to Christian and Helene Strybing whose public-spirited generosity made possible the creation of these gardens.

The park included a man-made pond labeled, but not named, the Wildfowl Pond. This pond was a good place to see mallard ducks.

The pond was surrounded by areas of lawn where folks could just hang out or even have a picnic. Every lawn in the arboretum was surrounded by scenic backgrounds.

The Ancient Plant Garden was a looping walkway past plants that have survived since prehistoric times. A few plants were thought only to exist in fossil records, but actually have survived to the present (possibly in evolved form).

A zig-zag path lead through the Ancient Plant Garden.

A map on a stand showed what was where in the Ancient Plant Garden. Note the five prehistoric epochs shown: The Eocene the Late Cretaceous the Early Jurassic the Pennsylvanian and the Devonian .