This past week, we took a long hike up and down the bottom part of Golden Gate Park, starting at the Beach Chalet and up to 36th Avenue. It’s amazing, after living here for years, that we keep finding new little pockets of plant and trails. Frankly, Matti got lost for about 15 minutes. After a couple of hours, one plant kept catching our eye: Ribes sanguineum, also known as the Flowering Currant.

This California native grows into a medium-sized shrub that always blooms this time of year. Those flowers have a sweet scent and attract birds and bees. Not certain it’s the best option for your backyard garden, as it can get 8-12 feet tall, but there are plenty to check out in public places if you look for it. Since space is tight in our back garden, we are always a little leery about planting things that get too tall and block out sunlight from some of our smaller, sun-loving plants.

After checking out this guy, it didn’t take long before a big old bumble bee came buzzing along. Soon the fruit will start forming on Ribes. Not too long from now, you should see dark purplish, oval berries. Though we haven’t tried them ourselves, we do hear they are edible – but not the best tasting. Maybe someone out there has some more info on possible uses or avoidance for the fruit.

Glad we got out this past week for a hike, as the temps are dropping fast. We keep hearing that we may see some snow by end of day Saturday. If we had to bet, our money would say the OB won’t see any flurries, but will see some white stuff sitting over in the headlands. See ya in two weeks. Matti and Megan – Far Out Flora

We (Matti and Megan) live in San Francisco near Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park. Plants are awesome. We like to do interesting things with them. Succulents, bromeliads, carnivores and other unusual plants are our favorites. Both of us graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with art degrees. Matti and Megan both work for plant places here in the Bay Area. We’re originally from the great state of Wisconsin. Before moving to San Francisco we lived in Madison off Willy Street. Our dog, Max, is too smart for his own good. He makes us check out beaches all over the coast. Keep track of more of our garden adventures: We blog at FarOutFlora.com.