A Senior’s Second Act in Gardening Inspires Others to Bloom

Gail Secchia

While the sound of lions roaring at mealtime can be thrilling for visitors to the San Francisco Zoo, it’s the tranquil mood in Gail’s Fragrance Garden that many zoo-goers seek. Birds swoop through the air and butterflies dance among lush plantings in bloom.

This veritable paradise is named after Gail Secchia, an 86-year-old Sunset resident who started a new career as a horticulturist at the zoo after retirement from the telephone company.

Gail proves that life can have amazing second and third acts.

“Since I was a teenager, I always loved growing things,” Gail says. But first she worked 26 years for PacBell. After retiring in 1988, she studied horticulture at San Francisco State University.

Gail put her studies into practice as a volunteer gardener at the zoo until she was hired.

“The zoo offered me both plants and animals, the best of both worlds,” says Gail, who worked for a decade as a member of the landscaping staff before her second retirement. Now she is once again a regular zoo volunteer.

“I was there three or four days a week, tending gardens and directing a team of other volunteer gardeners,” Gail recalls. She also served as president of the docent group.

Gail’s namesake garden features a winding path through fragrant beds of flowers and plants. She envisioned this small but idyllic garden as a home for birds, butterflies and bees.

Gail’s deep commitment to the environment also inspired creation of the Conservation Corner, a garden that demonstrates a variety of environmentally friendly features, including drip irrigation and organic growing techniques. Each season, the bountiful harvest of vegetables, including pumpkins and kale, contributes to the diets of the zoo’s animal residents. The garden is also the setting for one of the last tiny houses built after the 1906 earthquake, known as earthquake shacks.

Gail considers the gardens and their teaching potential an important aspect of the zoo’s educational mission and welcomes the opportunity to talk with zoo goers.

“I’m proudest of teaching people how to grow things. It’s important for us to be involved in growing what we eat. I taught people that all they need is something as simple as a wine barrel to plant a garden that will provide them with lettuce for the whole summer,” Gail says.

Her decades of service to the Zoo were recognized with the Jefferson Award for community service, presented by KPIX-TV in 2022.

“Gail is determined and gets things done,” says her longtime friend and zoo volunteer Terry Jelley. “She is passionate about plants and animals and brought that love to the zoo.”

A resident of Ortega Street for more than 40 years, Gail has also worked to beautify her own neighborhood. She worked with the city to establish islands of green on Ortega Street and with Friends of Urban Forest to plant trees in the neighborhood. Of course, she also tended her own flower garden, which has been featured on a native plant tour.

“I think the Sunset needs more greening. I’m glad to play a part,” she says.

At 86, Gail no longer does planting and weeding in her beloved gardens but still manages a team of 10 volunteers, overseeing their choice of plants and regular harvests.

“She’s a dynamo,” says Terry. “I don’t know what the zoo would be without her.” 

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Jan Cook. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.