>> the san francisco cons tri of flowers in golden gate park is now showing a new exhibit that changes the way we see the plants around us. amy stewart's best-selling book, "wicked plants" is the inspiration behind the new exhibit that takes us to the dark side of the plant world. >> i am amy stewart. i am the arthur of "wicked plants," the weeds that killed lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities. with the screens fly trap, that is kind of where everybody went initially, you mean like that? i kind of thought, well, all it does is eat up bugs. that is not very wicked. so what? by wicked, what i mean is that

they are poisonous, dangerous, deadly or immoral or maybe illegal or offensive or awful in some way. i am in the profession of going around and interviewing botanists, horticulturalists and plant scientists. they all seem to have some little plant tucked away in the corner of a greenhouse that maybe they weren't supposed to have. i got interested in this idea that maybe there was a dark side to plants. >> the white snake root. people who consumed milk or meat from a cow that fed on white snake root faced severe pain. milk sickness, as it was culled, resulted in vomiting, tremors, delirium and death. one of the most famous victims of milk sickness was nancy hangs lincoln. she died at the age of 34,

leaving behind 9-year-old abraham lincoln. he helped build his mother's casket by carving the woodallen petition douche the wooden petition himself. >> we transformed the gallery to and eerie victorian garden. my name is lowe hodges, and i am the director of operations and exhibitions at the conls tore of -- cons tore of flowers. we decided it needed context. so we needed a house or a building. the story behind the couple in the window, you can see his wife has just served him a glass of wine, and he is slumped over the table as the poison takes affect. a neat little factold dominion

about that house is actually built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been

to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play.

hey, mark. hey, mark. hey. where've you been? i lost my cat. aw. that's not right. yeah. so i made this cat magnet to try and get him back. cool. does it work? kinda. [meow] nice. yeah. but that's not my cat. i gotta keep working on it. see ya see ya. see ya. announcer: anything's possible, keep thinking. get started on your own inventions or just play some games at...

>> good afternoon.

thank you for coming out here on this beautiful summer solstice day with a phenomenal view. you can see mount diablo from here. you can also see our beautiful city. i am the director of public works. i am very pleased to be year. -- i am very pleased to be here to speak to this great community project. i will start you out with this fact, speaking of our beautiful city. 25% of our beautiful city is taken up by public right of way, streets, sidewalks, and scraps and parcels that the city leaders laid out to convey people and vehicles. the public rights of way are important. that is what we stoeward. a lot of it was designed more for utilities and vehicles than

people. what you have seen over the last few years is a rethinking of the public rights of way. we're here to talk about one small example of movement in a positive direction in terms of how we use our public spaces in san francisco. without further ado, the man you would all like to hear from. he is serving the great city now and once did as the director of public works, our mayor, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for your leadership as well. i am up here for the ribbon cutting ceremony. i want to thank all the neighbors that live up here.

you have seen corners of the city where grass is growing or people are neglecting these places. along comes a bureaucracy called dpw with others gaining confidence that we can do something about it. we can take a neglected part of our city where there is a corner that nobody takes responsibility for and is an eyesore some good conversations take place. the streets and parks program at dpw with ed's help, engineering, they start talking to a bureaucrat about possible

funds for a community grant program. then a leader starts appearing in says there is something we would like to have. the neighbors want it. we've been doing it on may flower, carver. can do it bigger and make it more beautiful. the neighbors and kids work closely with dpw, parks trust. as you can see behind me, i think somebody else's property discuss another $1 million in value. it is worth it to transform light, to make sure we do it with our supervisors held and everyone concerned about the beauty of the neighborhoods. this is what makes neighborhoods strong. this is what i want to continue building on.

leaders are working on everything from a little graffiti problem or staircase gardens saying that they want to get beyond neglect and bring it back to what it really is -- is paying attention to our neighborhoods, making them stronger, building community and building partnerships. that is what these street parks are all about. it is never about just the concrete or the flowers. it is about the life and increased value we bring to our neighborhoods. that is what being a neighbor of the great city is all about. that is what i love about the city. my neighborhood is doing the same thing with our street. we want to pay attention to it. we want to get a little help. they get it. we bring the bureaucrats out to

the neighborhoods. we make everybody that much more appreciative of what kind of city they are a part of. i want to emphasize the strength of our city relies on the strength of people likfrom the community. you build it here, in glen park, the mission, chinatown. it builds up the strength of the city. it comes back to our department's opening up their resources, not protecting it like other bureaucratic agencies have historically done. we've said we can do it and be challenged with a grant program completely open to everybody. these things are worth the $1 million it looks like today. it is worth 10 times more in building camaraderie and

companionship with our neighbors. i want to emphasize that. i want to represent that by giving what i can do to reflect our appreciation for the leadership. it is a certificate of honor to julian for his leadership on this project and many other projects that have kept this community working and expanding and growing. there is a design around his leadership. by voice vote as the mayor and city administrator that when you have strong communities, things like disasters, we will have strong neighborhoods to help us recover back. this is the beginning of that. i want to give you this certificate on behalf of the city, parks trust, the challenge

grant program. thank you for all of the leadership you have had. [applause] >> water? [inaudible] [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor, for your leadership on this. during his time as dpw director, during the community

challenge grant program, and now as mayor, it is great for us to see a mayor that gets it on what matters to our neighborhoods and is encouraging all of the departments to embrace things the way he did. thank you for your leadership in enabling things like this to happen. someone else who really gets this is the supervisor that represents this area. he is very much focused on the importance of keeping the streets and sidewalks cleans welcoming, and beautiful. i know he was regretful he was not able to be here today. he did send a representative from david campos' office. >> i want to thank the mayor for

his kind words. as a member of the committee, i would personally like to show my appreciation and thank julian and the friends of bernal gardens for their work so that we can enjoy these beautiful places for generations to come. on behalf of the entire community supervisor comampos, in the board of supervisors, i would like to present this to julian for your commitment to excellence -- commitment of excellence to the organization that has succeeded in turning a vacant lot to a beautiful garden. thank you for being an exceptional community leader. [applause] congratulations.

>> thank you again to supervisor campos and his office. it is easy to have great ideas, but you need to turn to someone to get the work done. that someone in san francisco is sometimes known as mr. clean. he is our deputy director for operations who works to keep the city clean and make it beautiful. our deputy director. [applause] >> let me join the mayor and our director in welcoming you all. thank you for contributing to such a beautiful asset to our

neighborhood. san francisco has many hills and streets and lots of open spaces that have not been developed. people all over on the city had come together to help the city become stewards of the beautiful lands. here is another example of the community coming together, businesses, everyone contributing their share in making san francisco the great city that it is. i like to thank brought madmoor landscapes apply the gave discounts and free materials to make this project happen. janet moyer landscaping assisted with the design. there was effort in trying to figure out the slopes the walls. they helped quite a bit.

jordan kirkland, veronica brady , and the friends of bernal gardens who brought this burden to fruition. the department of public works is out there to hold hands and work with everyone. it is through their leadership that we are able to improve our neighborhoods. i would especially like to thank the staff of dpw who go out to all of these meetings and start these projects. i want to thank all of the bureau's at dpw who assisted in bringing supplies, and doing some work, or making sure that the project was built as planned. thank you very much. [applause] >> there are a lot of other people to think. you have been hearing a lot

about this gentleman, julian, who is responsible for a lot of this. i used to live not far from here. i used to walk my dog upon the hill there. it is so great to see the transformation of this space. it is something i want to see in my neighborhood as well. it does not happen without the leadership of the grass-roots level. we're there to support it, but the leadership is not there from the community, it does not happen. it is my great pleasure to bring forth a great leader in this community mr. julian wyler. [applause] >> welcome to this point guard in v -- vista point guard. there are a lot of people who are not here today who contributed to make this possible.

there are a lot of other people who come here and work and put in various parts of the garden, especially the unsung heroes of the volunteers in the neighborhood. working together and staying focused, this neighborhood has reached out and made partnerships with the city. we have worked together. we get more done that way. it is a real synergy. these gardens to them exist five years ago. they were all neglected, blighted, like a cross the street where you still see areas that can be in crude -- improved. we just need a vision. the public gardens connect us to natural beauty. they give us a sense of community pride. they provide habitats for bees, butterflies, and birds. they represent what is best in

us as a community. the bench represents a window on the past. it was once a curb in downtown san francisco. we've simply connected it to the future. another purpose for the garden is that it provides a place for people just sit and reflect and pause on their journey. it provides a kind of common duty that we all share. it allows us to stop and reflect on the shining city beyond which continues to reinvent itself. today, we dedicate this beautiful public garden.

made keeps a loy it keep so. thank you. [applause] >> those are beautiful words befitting and beautiful their part of our city. -- befitting a beautiful new part of our city. mohammad thanked a lot of the donors. the mayor referenced the grant program. there's the whole group of the friends of bernal gardens that we want to thank. finally, it is not just community partners. in his community organizations that we partner with to make things like this happen. -- it is committee par-- communy organizations that we partner with to make things like this happen. there's great sensibility about

the landscapes of san francisco. there is san francisco parks trust. i would like to ask karen to close us out with a few words. >> thank you. i think we're all moved by ulian's words and passion for this place. we're proud to be here for the completion of the beautiful garden. the term is fiscal sponsor, but it is so much more. we do community interface all over the city with many partners. bureaucracy is not a bad word. we work well with government. thank you to the bureaucrats. to me, that meeting has no pejorative anything. the sense of entrepreneurship from dpw is very strong. you can see in the interactions with julian wyler, bernal gardens, and others in the

committee who make this happen. dpw deserves credit. they built a concrete platform. they delivered supplies. the organized community work days and brought in tools. we worked with sandra. thank you for your hard work. you can partner with dpw, but you have to have a person there to be a partner. she has been hit. on our own staff, i want to thank julie and brean for their -- brandy for their two years of work on this. we have the committee challenge grant that provided a lot of funding for this. lanita is an able leader for that program. thank you to all of our partners in the city and community. enjoy your new garden. [applause] >> thank you, everyone, for