Plant Care Guide

Identified Plants

🌼

Pot Marigold

Calendula officinalis

Bright yellow, orange, and golden blooms in the long concrete planter. A hardy annual that thrives in cool weather and blooms prolifically with regular deadheading.

Full Sun Moderate Water Easy Care

🌸

Gerbera Daisy

Gerbera jamesonii

Vibrant red, yellow, and pink daisy-like flowers in the large woven basket planter. Loves bright light and consistent moisture. Stunning cut flowers.

Full Sun–Part Shade Regular Water

💜

Petunia

Petunia × atkinsiana

Deep purple/magenta funnel-shaped flowers in the white speckled pot. A prolific bloomer that rewards regular feeding and deadheading with nonstop color.

Full Sun Regular Water Easy Care

🔴

Geranium

Pelargonium hortorum

Clusters of bright red flowers in a terracotta pot. Classic container plant — drought-tolerant once established, loves warmth and good drainage.

Full Sun Low–Moderate Easy Care

💜

Pansy

Viola × wittrockiana

Tricolor purple, white, and yellow blooms in two terracotta pots. A cool-season favorite that handles light frost. Perfect for spring and fall color.

Full Sun–Part Shade Moderate Water Frost Tolerant

🌵

Ladyfinger Cactus

Mammillaria elongata

Small clustering cylindrical cactus in a tiny terracotta pot. Extremely drought-tolerant. Water sparingly — overwatering is the main killer.

Full Sun Very Low Water Easy Care

Beginner Care — The Simple Version

🌿 TL;DR for busy people: Water when the soil feels dry an inch down. Feed once a month with one product. Deadhead when you notice dead flowers (or don't — they'll still bloom, just less). That's it. The plants will survive. Below is the detail if you want it.

What You Actually Need to Buy

Item	What	Where	Cost
💧 Watering can	Any basic one with a spout	Already have one, or ~$10 at any hardware store	—
🧪 One fertilizer	Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose (10-10-10) — works for everything except the cactus	Home Depot, Lowe's, Amazon (~$8 for a box that lasts months)	~$8
✂️ Scissors or pruners	Any kitchen scissors work in a pinch	Already have some	—

That's the whole shopping list. One fertilizer, one watering can. The cactus doesn't need fertilizer — skip it entirely unless you want to be fancy.

Maintenance Schedule

Plant	Watering	Feeding	Deadheading	Notes
🌼 Pot Marigold	Once a week	Once a month — mix a spoonful of Miracle-Gro in your watering can	When you notice dead ones — snap them off	Very forgiving, hard to kill
🌸 Gerbera Daisy	Twice a week	Once a month — spoonful of Miracle-Gro in the watering can	When you notice dead ones	Biggest plant, needs the most water. Don't pour water into the center of the plant.
💜 Petunia	Twice a week	Once a month — spoonful of Miracle-Gro in the watering can	When you notice dead ones	If it gets leggy and stringy mid-summer, cut it back by half — it'll bounce right back.
🔴 Geranium	Once a week	Once a month — spoonful of Miracle-Gro in the watering can	When you notice dead ones	Tough plant. Err on the side of underwatering — it hates soggy roots.
💜 Pansy	Once a week	Once a month — spoonful of Miracle-Gro in the watering can	When you notice dead ones	Loves SF's cool, foggy weather. Will be one of your happiest plants.
🌵 Ladyfinger Cactus	Once every 2–3 weeks	Don't bother — it'll be fine without it	N/A	Ignore it. That's the care plan. Stop watering entirely in winter (Nov–Feb).

Seasonal Calendar

📍 Sunset District, San Francisco (USDA Zone 10a): Cool, foggy microclimate — summer fog rolls in most aftertemps, temps rarely above 65°F. Windy. Less direct sun than inland Bay Area. Your biggest enemy isn't heat — it's the fog keeping things damp.

Season	What To Do
🌸 Spring (Mar–May)	Start watering the cactus again (it was sleeping all winter). Feed everything once with Miracle-Gro. That's your spring reset.
☀️ Summer (Jun–Aug)	Water 1–2x/week. The fog helps — plants lose less water than inland. Feed once a month. Pick off dead flowers when you feel like it. Watch for fuzzy white stuff (powdery mildew) on pansies — just pull off the affected leaves.
🍂 Fall (Sep–Nov)	Best planting time in the Sunset — warm soil + returning rains. Petunias and calendula may slow down, that's normal. Stop feeding. Stop watering the cactus by late October.
❄️ Winter (Dec–Feb)	Rain does the watering for you. Don't water the cactus or sedum at all. Everything else: water only if it hasn't rained in a week+ and the soil is bone dry. That's basically it — let the garden rest.

Glossary

✂️

Deadheading

Removing spent (dead) flowers from a plant by pinching or cutting them off at the stem. This tricks the plant into producing more blooms instead of putting energy into making seeds. Think of it as telling the plant "you're not done yet — keep flowering." Just pinch or snip the flower stem right below the faded bloom. Kitchen scissors work fine.

🧪

Feeding (Fertilizing)

Container plants exhaust the nutrients in their potting soil within weeks — unlike plants in the ground, they can't send roots deeper to find more. Feeding replaces what they use up. Miracle-Gro All Purpose (10-10-10) gives equal parts nitrogen (leaf growth), phosphorus (root & flower development), and potassium (overall health). Mix a spoonful in your watering can, pour at the base — simple as watering.

🌱

Annuals vs. Perennials

Annuals complete their entire life cycle in one season — they sprout, bloom, set seed, and die. That's calendula, petunias, and pansies. They don't come back on their own. Perennials live for multiple years — they may go dormant in winter but regrow from the same roots. Geraniums and the cactus are perennials. In SF's mild climate, some annuals can keep going for a year or more.

💧

Well-Drained Soil

Soil that lets water flow through rather than sitting in a soggy mess. Most potting mixes are designed for this. Signs of poor drainage: water pools on top, soil stays wet for days, roots start to rot. Make sure your pots have holes at the bottom — use a saucer underneath to catch runoff.

☀️

Sun Exposure

Full sun = 6+ hours of direct sunlight per day. Part shade = 3–6 hours, often morning sun with afternoon shade. In the Sunset District, "full sun" is relative — foggy days still provide bright indirect light. A south-facing spot against a wall is the sunniest microclimate you'll find.

❄️

Dormancy