Mixed perennial beds — Potrero Hill

The garden had been in place for over a decade — established roses, salvia, lavender, agapanthus, and a few things that had been there so long nobody knew exactly what they were anymore. The plants were genuinely healthy underneath, but the previous maintenance crew had been shearing everything into tidy mounds at every visit. The garden looked managed rather than alive.

We took over in fall of 2022 and the first thing we did was nothing. We walked the beds, noted what was there, and made a plan to let the plants grow out through that season before touching much. That kind of restraint is harder to sell than it sounds — clients want to see activity on day one — but it was the right call. By the following spring, the roses were putting out long new canes, the lavender was flowering properly for the first time in years, and the salvias had that loose fountain shape they're supposed to have.

The Potrero Hill microclimate is one of San Francisco's warmest. The south-facing exposure and shelter from the prevailing westerlies means this garden gets real heat in summer — a good 10–15 degrees warmer than the Sunset or the Avenues. We factor that into how we approach watering and whether plants might be heat-stressed in July and August.

It's the kind of garden we look forward to visiting. When you care for a space long enough, you start to know it — which plants to push harder, which ones to handle gently, what a bad pruning cut will cost you in two months. This garden has reached that point.