Botanical | Cristina Carrizosa Photography
DAHLIA
About the Project
Flowers have always been part of my life. I grew up in Ecuador, where my family had a flower plantation. As a child, I walked between long rows of blooms cultivated for distant markets and learned early that flowers are not only beauty, but also labor and patience, shaped by hands that return every day.
Years later, after moving to San Francisco, I found myself drawn again to flowers, this time in the Dahlia Dell at Golden Gate Park. For nearly two years, I walked through the Dell almost daily. It became a quiet place of return within the rhythm of the city. At first, I was simply an admirer. But over time, I began to notice the steady work behind the blooms, the weeding, watering, pruning, and the volunteers who returned week after week to keep the garden alive.
In 2025, I began volunteering alongside members of the Dahlia Society of California. My relationship to the space shifted. I was no longer only photographing flowers, I was helping care for them. This book grew from that sustained attention and from the hours spent with this incredible community.
The Dahlia Dell
Dahlias have been cultivated in Golden Gate Park since the late 19th century. In 1926, the flower was officially named the flower of San Francisco, a recognition of its beauty, resilience, and the city’s deep horticultural traditions.
Oct. 4, 1926: San Francisco Mayor “Sunny Jim” Rolph, left, and Carl G. Larsen.
The Dahlia Dell, located beside the Conservatory of Flowers, is maintained by volunteers from the Dahlia Society of California, who nurture hundreds of varieties, from tiny pompons to spectacular large blooms, from summer to autumn each year.
Over the decades, dedicated growers and hybridizers, including Deborah Dietz, Erik Gaensler, Lou Paradise, Pat Hunter, Tinnee Lee, and Nicholas Gaensler, helped establish and expand the garden’s planting programs, and continue to be widely respected for their contributions to the Dell’s stewardship and hybridization efforts.
During peak season, thousands of visitors move through the teardrop-shaped bed. Families pause. Artists linger. People return each year to see a favorite variety bloom again. The garden is always in motion, growing, fading, being tended, and growing again.
2026 marks one hundred years since the dahlia was declared the city’s official flower, an anniversary that honors both the blooms and the community that continues to nurture them.
This book honors both that centennial and the people whose care and dedication sustain the garden year after year.
The Book
DAHLIA is a hardcover photobook exploring the flowers of Golden Gate Park’s Dahlia Dell through color, form, and abstraction. Created over months of close observation, it reflects both the blooms themselves and the community that cares for them.
Alongside the book, I’ve made a limited series of prints drawn from the same project. Each is printed on hot-press fine art paper (a high-quality, archival, acid-free, 100% cotton rag) and is signed and numbered as part of a limited edition.
Whether you take home the full book or a single print, thank you for spending time with these flowers.
Order the book here
For print orders please contact me at hi@cristinacarrizosa.com
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