I’ve known this week’s guest, Derek Powazek, for ages and while he claims to have only become a gardener 7 years ago when he moved into a home with a yard, I can’t recall thinking of him in any other way. In my mind he was always a gardener without a garden; his apartment full of orchids and several large tropicals named Fred. These days Derek blogs about his menagerie of plants and his experiences growing them in San Francisco at Plantgasm, a website that should win an award for best plant nerd name ever. In this conversation we chat about succulents, monster plants, the challenge of growing tomatoes in San Francisco, and botanical tattoos.
Episode #5: Derek Powazek | San Francisco Fog Forest
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Photo of Derek by Heather Champ. All other images courtesy Derek Powazek.
About My Guest
Derek Powazek has worked the web since 1995 at pioneering sites like HotWired, Blogger, and Technorati. His day job is as Head of Product for Exposure, a photo storytelling site, where he’d love to see you document your garden. Derek lives in San Francisco with his wife, two nutty Chihuahuas, and a house full of plants named Fred.
Derek’s San Francisco Garden
Derek’s Back Deck is full of potted succulents, many of which can stay outside year-round in his San Francisco garden.
Derek’s favourite Aeonium.
Derek’s passionflower tattoo that he has dubbed, Passiflora idealii.
Succulents in pots including gorgeous Aloe ‘Delta Lights.’
Carnivorous plants.
A big Brugmansia and another view of the garden.
Further Resources
- To clarify: the Naked Ladies Derek mentions in the podcast are indeed Amaryllis belladonna, which are hardy down to zone 7. The naked ladies I grow are Colchicum, which are hardy down to around zone 5.
- Aeonium in my Toronto garden.
- Annie’s Annuals
- Geranium maderense in Derek’s garden.
- Volunteer at the San Francisco Botanical Garden
Gayla, just wanted to say how much I love the podcast! It’s fascinating, fun, and so informative. I found myself the other day calculating when the next podcast would download. Thank you for sharing these great garden voices and personalities with the rest of us!
This podcast was great and reminded me of home. I am opposite of Derek. I grew up in Northern California, Sonoma County, (and understand San Fran weather.) I now live in Southern California, coastal San Diego. I was surprised to find out both locations are gardening zones 10b. Also, in San Diego, many gardeners will grow tomatoes year round. Anyways, loved the podcast, always love learning more about gardening.
Very enjoyable conversation. Regarding the aeoniums, I attended a talk about them by a succulent guy last week who just returned from the Canary Islands. He emphasized that they are winter growers and fairly dormant in summer. So….in your zone they are even more of a challenge since they are stuck indoors in winter. I am completely on your page regarding the black thumb comments – makes me crazy!
So happy to listen to this — I’ve been a fan of Derek’s for quite some time. Also, that tattoo is the jam.
K.