Conservatory of Flowers Special Events

San Francisco's Playland at the Beach: the Early Years of 1914-1945

an evening with James R. Smith, Playland Historian

Tuesday, February 7

After the crowds disperse, peek back into Playland! Join us for a lecture with James Smith, author of Playland at the Beach: the Early Years. He explores the phenomenon of Playland through World War II. Take a time-machine fun ride through Playland, as historian James R. Smith shares rare photographs and stories from his books. James R. Smith is the author of the books San Francisco's Playland at the Beach: The Early Years, covering 1914-1945, San Francisco's Lost Landmarks and co-author of The California Snatch Racket: Kidnappings in the Prohibition and Depression Eras. He is a fourth-generation native of San Francisco and a sixth-generation Californian.

Time: 7-8 pm, doors open at 6pm for viewing Playland Exhibit and Galleries

Age appropriate: Suitable for any age

Fee: $5 Entry; Free to Conservatory Members

Location: Conservatory of Flowers

For more information about the schedule, instructor and for reserving your space, click here.

Aphrodesia After Hours

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 

Chocolate, flowers, love potions -- it's a recipe for romance and you can experience it all at the Conservatory of Flowers this February 8 during a special, sense-ational Valentine's Day after hours event for the 21+ crowd. Sip an intoxicating elixir by Cocktail Lab or enjoy a hand crafted brew by the Richmond District's own Comrades Brewing, enjoy live music by Le Quartet de Jazz, stroll through our lush jungle of dazzling orchids and other tropical beauties, and snuggle up in a vintage Playland-by-the-Beach era photo booth. Then learn about the dark art of chocolate making with TCHO's chief chocolate wizard Brad Kintzer, who will take you on a journey from the cacao tree to the candy bar, exploring the key variables that influence chocolate quality. Kintzer's talk will include a guided tasting of chocolate flavors and diverse origins.

Time: 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm |  TCHO Lectures in the Orchid Gallery, 7 pm and 8:30 pm (included in the price of admission)

Fee: $10 General Public, $7 Members

Visit the Aphrodesia Event Page for more details about the evening and to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are also available at the door.

Introduction to Digital Flower Photography with Allen Rokach sponsored by Photobotanic
Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Join us for a one-day workshop exploring digital photography basics to help you create stunning floral photos, shooting the beautiful Conservatory of Flowers. Through demonstrations and hands-on practice you will hone skills in photographic seeing, composition and mastering digital camera settings. We'll critique, edit and learn to improve and enhance images.

Allen Rokach has traveled the world since 1975 on photographic assignments that range from the bulb fields of Holland and the antiquities of Egypt to the vast Amazonian rain forest. An expert in location photography best known for his photographs of flowers, gardens and landscapes, Rokach's work has spanned everything from public relations and photojournalism to art and sculpture to travel and features about people. His career has included fourteen years as the staff photographer and Director of Photography at the New York Botanical Garden and ten years as a Senior Photographer for Southern Living magazine, editorial assignments for National Geographic, Audubon, Natural History, the New York Times, Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, Fine Gardening, Garden Design, Landscape Architecture, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, Science Digest, among others, and his photographs have appeared on the covers of many magazines, including Horticulture, Natural History, Fine Gardening, and Modern Photography. He has taught at the New School for Social Research, the American Museum of Natural History, the International Center of Photography, the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and founded the Center for Nature Photography, which has run instructional photography workshops in Maine, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and other prime locations around the U.S.

Photobotanic is a resource for garden photography owned by Saxon Holt, Photography Program Director at San Francisco Botanical Garden, and member of the Conservatory of Flowers' Advisory Council.

Fee: $150 General Public, $130 Conservatory of Flowers Members

Time: 8 am to 6 pm, Feb. 28

Location: Conservatory of Flowers

For more information about the schedule, instructor and for reserving your space, click here.

RECENT EVENTS

Obscura Society Presents:
Sex and Survival in the Tropics - An After Hours at the Conservatory of Flowers
Saturday, December 17, 6 pm - 7 pm

 Under the ornate glass cupola and behind a facade of green foliage and moisture laden spaces, lurk sexual experts with millions of years of successful (or not) mating exploits. Some of these experts have various and sundry methods for survival that include carnivorous habits, drug producing techniques and sexual mystiques. After the tourists go home and the plants have the freedom to show their real nature, our guides will walk us through the darkened pathways of this historic glass house introducing us to some of their stories of survival in the Tropics. We will be offered our own aphrodisiacs (wine by JAQK Cellars and eco.love) to give us courage to carry through the galleries for sustenance!

Fee: $25

 CAPACITY LIMITED TO 30! Reserve in advance: http://obscura-society-conservatory-after-dark.eventbrite.com/.

Frosting the Conservatory
Saturday, December 10, 11 am - 3 pm

Event: Frosting the Conservatory Family Fun Gingerbread House Workshop
Date: December 10, 2011
Time: Drop by 11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Location: Conservatory of Flowers Orchid Gallery
Fee:  $10 materials fee for Graham Cracker foundation, tasty icing and edible  candy decor. Pay in advance online, or at the door. Entry to the Conservatory not included.

For registration and more information, visit tinyurl.com/gingerbreadCOF.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND, a winter workshop for the whole family. You'll  receive delectable building supplies to construct the greenhouse of your dreams. Take it home for the holiday table, or eat it on the spot! Proceeds benefit the Conservatory of Flowers Maintenance Fund, to keep our building frosty white. Don't miss this sweet, special event!

If you are interested in sponsoring this event, or making an in-kind donation, please reach Morgan Davis, Special Events Manager at mdavis(at)sfcof(dot)org.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED US FOR THE GREEN & GOLD GALA!! A FANTASTIC EVENING!

Thursday, November 17

Escape to the wonderland of San Francisc's gilded era, beyond the boardwalk, and into paradise by attending an opening night jubilee in honor of the new special exhibit Playland at the Conservatory.

Conservatory of Flowers

5:30pm VIP Reception & Preview
7pm Main Event Admission

Cocktail Attire
1920s & 1930s inspired dress encouraged

Visit GreenandGoldGala.org for tickets, more information on the evening and how it supports our Youth Education Program, and how to be a patron or sponsor.

A Special Thanks to our In-Kind Sponsors:

The Fine Art of Poisoning: Perils, Pleasures and Protocols
an evening of toxic indulgence with Jill Tracy
Wednesday, October 19 from 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Lecture 6:00 PM, Wicked Plants Reception 7:00 PM, Jill Tracy Performance 8:00 PM
Fee: $15 General Public; $10 Medical Students; $5 Conservatory of Flowers Members
Register Online: http://tinyurl.com/COFPoisoning

Facebook Invitation: Facebook.com/conservatoryofflowers

Jill Tracy info: http://www.jilltracy.com/

"It's quite an elaborate scheme, the fine art of poisoning." The dark side of the Garden comes to deadly bloom at the Conservatory of Flowers this fall, in Wicked Plants: Botanical Rogues & Assassins, based on the book by Amy Stewart. There is no escape from the dizzying world of perilous plants. What is their lore and allure? Their notorious past? Should we be frightened? What do we need to know?

Let's reveal "The Fine Art of Poisoning," a night inspired by San Francisco's "femme fatale for the thinking man" Jill Tracy and her award-winning song and short film by Bill Domonkos. Enter the wicked world of toxicology with Dr. Olson, Medical Director, San Francisco Division, California Poison Control System. Take pleasure in our poison garden, and as night falls chanteuse Jill Tracy will divulge true perils from the plant kingdom. Backed by members of her Malcontent Orchestra, she will weave a web of cautionary tales, lusty murderous obsessions, and shadowy stories of secretly-served revenge.

Enter at your own will.

RSVP online for guaranteed cabaret seating.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

The Conservatory of Flowers and Quiet Lightning PRESENT:
The Greenhouse Effect Summer Reading Series

Mondays, August 1, Sept 5, and Oct 10
Time: 6 PM entry; 7:30 PM readings

Fee: $5 suggested donation

Quiet Lightning brings their high-charged community readings to the Conservatory of Flowers for three months, going out with a bang during San Francisco's legendary Litquake festival. Entirely open to the public, Quiet Lightning accepts any form of writing: fiction, poetry, personal statement-anything-so you never know what's coming next! The accepted submissions are ordered in a way that weaves varying patterns of language into a compelling and oft-intoxicating double set of literary mixtape madness. The monthly shows-with featured artwork by one local artist- are published in a sPARKLE & bLINK, available at the shows and online.

Monday, October 10, is the CROWN JEWEL, as we celebrate with Litquake for the third installment of the GREENHOUSE EFFECT. Comrades Brewery will return with their wonderful microbrews—each of which has its own story! And at 6pm, we'll open the doors so you have a chance to, as QL's president Evan Karp shared: "smell what it's like to be part of a symbiotic community of flourishing organisms." Sign up for a mini-photo shoot with photographer Julie Michelle inside the breathtaking COF before the readings begin! There will be four 15-minute windows, with 5 3-minute shoots each. If you'd like to sign up head over to Quiet Lightning's webpage for instructions. This is an opportunity not to be missed!

... Thank you to everyone who has inspired us on this literary heat wave!

Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects
Thursday, October 6, lecture from 7 - 8 pm, Q&A to follow

Fee: $12 General Public;
$7 Members;
Free to Begonia, Cycad, and Orchid Guild Members

Enjoy a delightfully sinister evening with Amy Stewart author of WICKED BUGS: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects as she crawls through the research that wormed its way into her newest book. From horrific to bizarre, learn about the strange places bugs appear in pop culture, relationships, science, travel and, last but not least, the garden. The Conservatory galleries will be open at 6:30 to view Wicked Plants.

Space is limited. Reserve your space or purchase your tickets online.

After Hours MASH UP at the Conservatory of Flowers, sponsored by the SF Marathon
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 from 6pm – 10pm
FEE: $5 entry at the door / $5 beverages

We're mashing up two of San Francisco's hottest institutions, the sweat-driving San Francisco Marathon and the steamy Conservatory of Flowers, for a special pre-race celebration in the tropics. Cheer on those who are running, even if you're not in the race. In the Wicked Plants exhibit, it's Rogues vs. Assassins, and in the beverage department, California's eco-smart Bandits Boxed Wine vye to take your taste buds' attention away from our friendly local brewers, Comrades Brewing, while Twelve provides a sparkling, alcohol free alternative.

Enjoy a night in the tropics, and a chance to craft your own paper lei with the recycled art divas of Trash Mash-Up (a great complement to your cocktail dress or your race bib, should you be running)! Sample tasty treats from our partners in eco-sustainability, Ki Sushi. Sweet beats provided by Dudha.us. Register for prizes that include a visit to Ripley's Believe It or Not, SF Marathon apparel and a chance to attend Wicked Bugs: An Evening with Amy Stewart. And don't forget to pop into the Photo Booth!

Please Note: You will need to show a valid 21+ ID.

Crimes Against Horticulture: When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools
With Billy Goodnick, Award-winning Landscape Designer and Garden Wise Guy
July 14, 2011| 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Compulsive Raking Disorder and Saturday Morning Syndrome – learn to detect early symptoms of these heinous crimes against horticulture with one of the nation's funniest garden writers Billy Goodnick.

An award winning landscape architect as well as a widely admired author and educator, Goodnick brings his hip, West Coast message of sustainability to Fine Gardening Magazine as a contributing editor, column writer and blogger and hosts his own TV show, Garden Wise Guys.

Joined by local garden photographer and author Saxon Holt, Goodnick unleashes his offbeat humor and shock-and-awe tactics to teach you how to create beautiful, useful and sustainable gardens, explaining the simple steps garden lovers can use to boost their own design skills and grow a greener garden that's easy on the eyes and gentle on the planet.

FEE: $15 General Public; $10 Members; Free to Conservatory Guild-level Members; includes admission to Conservatory from 6:30 - 7:00 pm.

TICKETS: Space is limited. Click to purchase your tickets securely online, or reserve a seat and click the option to pay at the door. Not a member? Join today! LOCATION: Conservatory of Flowers, 100 John F. Kennedy Dr. (Golden Gate Park), San Francisco, CA 94118

INFO: (415) 831-2090 or Facebook