Where the Flowers Lead: A Walk Through Nature’s Neighborhood Gallery

The weather was beautiful last Wednesday for our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays walk. The spring flowers all over Piedmont were beautiful too. These blooms only last for a few weeks each year and will be gone soon. This was the day for us to go looking for them in Piedmont and Crocker Parks and the streets in the central part of the city. There was a large turnout of 56 walkers and three K-9 best friends at the Exedra.

The start of our search for lovely flowers was easy. Tulips in front of the Exedra’s vase were a little past their peak, but still pretty. However, it looked like animals had sampled the tops of a few. We went off up Highland to the park stairs next to the bus stop. The large cherry trees along the way were covered with white and pink blossoms and rivaled what you would see in Washington DC. We were uncertain about the planting of these trees, but the Piedmont Beautification Foundation (PBF) made improvements to city parks, including landscaping for the Hall Fenway, Cherry Walk, and the Community Center starting in 1964.

We went down the steps and a path to the circular flower bed in front of the Community Hall with its Yulan magnolia tree in the middle. This tree is native to central and eastern China and thankfully all over Piedmont. Its beautiful, white blossoms were gone, but a large bed of tulips was still showing off their white and pink petals.

Then it was up the path that leads to the Cherry Walk above the Tea House. Along it were Japanese maples that are native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Both the Yulan magnolia and the maples are Piedmont Heritage Trees. A new set of four Heritage Trees will be awarded at the Park Commission’s Arbor Day celebration on April 24th at the Community Hall.

The Cherry Walk’s path took us to the Highland-Guilford steps. The City of Piedmont renovated these steps in 2023. It transformed a regular pedestrian pathway into a grand entrance to the Cherry Walk, Tea House, and Piedmont Park. The steps replaced exposed concrete and rough railroad ties with a reconfigured concrete stairway with multiple landings. The renovation was made possible by PBF donations of $82,000 and $5,000 from the Piedmont Garden Club. The remainder of the project’s approximately $155,000 total cost was covered by the City’s Facilities Capital Fund. The cherry trees with their blossoms provided a wonderful backdrop for the attached group photo. However, our group was so large not everyone could get into the picture.

We emerged from the park, crossed Highland Avenue, and went up the one-block Sierra Avenue to find more flowers, including some more tulips. At Sierra’s end we crossed Sheridan Avenue and noted the chestnut trees whose red flowers were almost spent. But there were three beautiful dogwoods with delicate, white flower petals in the front yards of two homes at Lakeview Avenue. We went on to Wildwood Avenue and the Hall Fenway. There were more flowering cherry trees along the fenway’s path. At its end were white calla lilies, a reminder that Easter is coming soon. These plants are native to southern Africa but have been introduced to every continent.

We crossed Crocker Avenue and went into Crocker Park. There is another Heritage Tree along a path on the left side of the park. It is a copper beach tree, also known as a purple beech. It has deep purple leaves in spring and that turn to a coppery shade in autumn. It is native to much of Europe and has an average lifespan of 150 to 200 years, although they sometimes live up to 300 years. Just up from it there were more great cherry blossoms and dogwoods.

Coming out of the park on Hampton Road, it was a short walk to Sea View Avenue and the Reich family’s home that always has beautiful, seasonal flowers in its front yard. This spring daffodils and tulips were still in their glory and provided a background for a second group photo that everyone could fit in.

We went down La Salle Avenue to see if the rhododendrons in a string of front yards were in bloom. These late bloomers were just starting to bud and gave us a reason to come back later.

Coming to the Oakland/Piedmont city line at Mandana and Crocker Avenues, we started our return to the city center. In the next Crocker block, there were two more gorgeous dogwoods in a front yard, and we enjoyed the flowers from a reverse direction all the way back. It was a 2 ½ mile tour of beautiful spring flowers in a wonderful big park called Piedmont.