091231 - Anemones

I planted two-hundred anemones in the gardens this fall and look forward to this winter and spring when they are in bloom.

I am always excited at the first signs of their coming up.

091231 - Cabbage Poppies

Here's a photograph of cabbage poppies coming up in the front garden near the garage doors.

It is hard to imagine right now that these poppies will reach five feet in height and have flowers the size of your hands cupped together to catch water.

091231 - Cactus

Here are three photographs of the cactus that finally kept the raccoons from trudging through this level of the terraced gardens to bathe in the fountain running along the staircase.

This cactus easily weighed thirty pounds last year when we bought it from a nursery. It has grown several young plants up its center, and I look forward to seeing how large it becomes in 2010.

091231 - Clarkia and Cala Lilies

There are two cement retaining walls separating the terraced gardens from the lower gardens against the house. When Phil and I moved into this house, there was a row of cala lilies along the lip of the upper most retaining wall.

You can see in this photograph cala lilies coming up to bloom, with clarkia and candytufts sprouting between them.

091231 - California Primrose

California primrose was introduced into our gardens by a mixed-seed pack promising several shorter plants with spectacular flowers.

They weren't kidding about the primrose, which blooms for several months at the end of summer through the fall.

Phil and I usually cut the plants down to the ground in winter, but this year I transplanted several into higher gardens. This one is in the highest bed and only days away from blooming.

091231 - Candytuft

Candytuft is a summer plant, but this photograph I took today shows one in bloom in "Big," which is the very big garden just to the bottom, right of the staircase.

These beautiful flowers are the size of quarters.

091231 - Canterbury Bell

This photograph was taken in the new garden just to the top, left of the staircase.

Here you can see a canterbury bell I started from seed in March, 2009. It is surrounded by love-in-the-mist and a mullien promised by the nursery where we bought it to grow to five feet and be covered in yellow flowers.

091231 - Columbines

Last spring and summer, the sweet peas and candytufts were spectacular in the fride (FRont sIDE) garden, but clearly stifled the other flowers there.

Only weeks after I pulled out of this garden the last of the sweet peas and candytufts, the columbines went into bloom. Over the last three years, I have repeatedly reseeded this garden with columbines, and the results are even better than you can see here against the pink background of the house.

091231 - Cosmos

Here is a photograph of the one cosmos still in bloom in the gardens. About two feet tall, it is in the front yard, which gets lots of sun most of the day, even in winter.

091231 - Hollyhocks

The photograph of the hollyhock in bloom was taken at the top, left of the staircase. It and four or five other plants continue to grow and bloom as we head into 2010.

The second photograph shows seedlings just now germinating in the side garden in the backyard. A month or so ago, I threw several dozen seeds down against the garden's back wall, hoping to create a living wall of hollyhocks there next summer.

091231 - Nicotiana

In the side garden in the backyard, nicotiana was one of the first flowers we seeded. They now come up every year, changing color from white to pink to dark red as each plant matures.

This plant is scrawny right now but, as spring approaches, will grow so bushy that it will try to take over the small lawn we installed between the side garden and the lemon tree garden.

091231 - Succulents and Carnations

This is one of two gardens I officially handed over to Phil, who wanted to grow things besides flowers.

This garden is to the left of the staircase and at the very far end of our gardens. It is amazing how well these succulents have done over the last year or so. Most were very small when we transplanted them from other gardens.

The pink carnation was one of the first plants we installed in the gardens. It is great to see it so healthy and already in bloom.

091231 - Sweet Peas

This is the little garden next to the garage doors in which the sweet peas do the best. Here, in prior years, salmon sweet peas climbed up their trellis into the second-floor window.

This year, these sweet peas started sooner than those of previous years, so I expect great things from them. I'm not sure which color they will be, though some of the vines show red at their joints, which usually means purple or red blooms.

Growing with these are stock and a single pepper plant trying its best to make hot peppers on the last day of 2009.

091231 - Tac

I took lots of photographs today to chronicle the gardens at the end of 2009. Of course, the cats wanted to help. At one point, Tac decided I was done photographing flowers and needed to pay attention to her, instead.

09 November - Love-in-the-Mist

I took this photograph in late November, when this love-in-the-mist first bloomed. It is now covered with flowers, and a second plant a few feet away has also bloomed. They add some nice color to the gardens, as we head into winter.

Today, just before it started to rain, I weeded much of the gardens and planted 100 giant hyacinths, 200 anemones and 60 ranunculus. Last year, the candy tufts were certainly spectacular, but I suspect they killed off most of the anemones and ranunculus, which didn't get enough sunlight under the larger plants.

Last weekend, I seeded cabbage poppies at the top of the hill to the left of the staircase. I hope they do well this coming year - I think our past summer was too cool and foggy for them.

09 November - Aster

Here is an aster that bloomed in the front yard. It was almost a foot tall and had a dozen or so flowers, which were the size of silver dollars. It bloomed from mid-November until a week or so ago, when it went to seed.

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall....

This is one of my favorite pieces by Richard Knight, a great friend of Phil's, who passed away December 16, 2008.

This hung in the dining room of his house in the East Bay. It is chrome and 48 inches high by 48 inches wide by 5 feet deep. It is wall mounted.

To discover much, much more about Richard, who was like no one else I know, please click on this blog, http://richardgambleknight.blogspot.com/, which Phil and I are maintaining with the tireless assistance of Judith Lynch, who spent the last 22 years as Richard's companion, champion and wife.

09 November - Delphinium and Chimney Bell Flower

Here are three photographs I took earlier this month, as the chimney bell flower went into bloom soon after the pale purple and dark purple delphiniums had began their second spectacular bloom cycle.

Phil and I purchased this chimney bell flower from a florist in the Castro and had just planted it where the huge one was last year, when Phil spotted next to the new plant a seedling from the old one.

The new chimney bell flower has bloomed its first year and is about six feet tall. The seedling is now probably a foot tall and wide, and I suspect it will act like last year's plant, taking two years to mature, reaching twelve feet before blooming for months.

The flowers on the one now in bloom are a stunning purplish blue.

09 November - Tic

The cats always follow me around the gardens, interested in everything I do. One afternoon, while I was trying to photograph flowers, Tic decided it was time I pet him.

09 November - Hollyhocks

For the last month or so, the shortening days have been sunny and warm. I think this is why these two hollyhocks went into the bloom. The dark red one is where the echium used to be at the top, right of the staircase. It came up and bloomed as fast as it could. The lighter red one is one of the oldest plants in the gardens and has always bloomed in the spring and again in the fall.

091011 - Delphinium

The purple delphinium started blooming in the middle of October, its flower stocks nearly three feet long. This color of purple make this delphinium my favorite of the year.

The cosmos to the right of the delphinium was the first to bloom, putting on a spectacular show, and has now almost completely faded. I am going to gather its seeds for next summer.

09 Summer - Anemone

The perennial anemone went into bloom during late summer and continues to produce white, three-inch flowers on eighteen-inch stocks. The plant itself is about a foot tall and eighteen inches wide.

It has been difficult finding something that can live in the shadow of the hot tub fence at the bottom, left of the staircase. This anemone has thrived there, and Phil and I even think it began blooming this summer sooner than it did last year.

09 Summer - Canterbury Bell

Earlier this year, Phil and I bought a rare, perennial canterbury bell and planted it in the garden bed, where we had recently pulled up an echium that had taken over the trail at the top, left of the staircase up the hillside.

I must admit this canterbury bell has exceeded all of my expectations. It grows and grows and weekly sends up gorgeous whitish purple flowers faster than I can count them.

091010 - Tic, Tac and Toe

I was asleep in the chair next to this one when Phil came home Saturday afternoon. Tic, Tac and Toe did their best "to stay up with me" while I gardened earlier that day in the backyard, but they apparently had had a busy night and were ready for a nap at the same time as me.

09 Summer - Queen Cleomes

Here are photos of the two queen cleomes we planted late last year. They are likely four feet by four feet and are clearly covered in blooms. Phil and I were surprised that they not only over-wintered so well, but have bloomed for months now.

09 Summer - Jasmine

We bought a small jasmine vine three or so years ago and installed it in full shade in a large pot against the fence separating our backyard from the fride (FRont sIDE) garden. It is now over six feet tall and about half as wide, growing faster every summer now that it has made it over the fence into sunlight.

091011 - Aster

This is the first and maybe only aster to bloom this year.

To read how difficult it was this late summer to grow these as well as the amaranth and cosmos, jump to this post on the blog:

090927-Cosmos

09 Summer - White Love-in-the-Mist

The love-in-the-mist were spectacular this year. Just one plant from last year provided enough seeds to scatter several dozen love-in-the-mists across the backyard. Most of the larger plants came up as seedlings in November and December, 2008, and bloomed in early summer.

I found only two with white flowers, both plants smaller than the others and blooming several weeks after most had started to go to seed.

09 Summer - Tic, Tac and Toe

In February or March, 2009, Bert had three kittens. When they were about four weeks old, she brought them to our neighbor's yard, where they lived most of the time. When they were big enough to climb down the fence separating our yards, she regularly brought them to our house to eat.

One of the first times I saw them in the neighbor's yard, I watched the boy, whom we named "Tic," eating dirt, and I knew I had to make sure they were fed.

Long story short, they soon ate daily in our backyard, but Bert always reminded them that Phil and I were dangerous - hissing and fleeing from us the moment we walked into the backyard - so the kittens were very wary of us. When they were between eight and twelve weeks old, we trapped them and their mother and took them to the SPCA in San Francisco to have them fixed. The SPCA also gave them all their shots. A few days later, when they had recovered, we released them.

Bert promptly abandoned her kittens and has since rarely stopped by. The kittens, though, have taken up permanent residence in our gardens. In fact, we recently purchased a "feral villa" (as the website calls it) - or a cat house - for them to stay in during the rainy season.

Three or so months after their mother left them, they are finally trusting me, often letting me pet them, purring, and actually following me around the gardens...at a safe distance. I suppose they are now partially socialized, though they only tolerate me on their terms - usually when they are being fed or in the early evening when they are the most playful - and they seldom let Phil pet them.

We've named them "Tic," "Tac" and "Toe," darkest to lightest, the boy the darkest and wanting attention the most, Tac the fluffiest and often knocking my hand around with her head like a dog to show me where she wants to be petted, and Toe generally lying near me, but not too close for too long.

090927 Cosmos

Just before the candy tufts went to seed in June and July, I started cosmos, amaranth and asters in six packs. When the seedlings were about two to four inches tall, I pulled up all the candy tufts and most of the poppies and replaced them with the seedlings. Our typically cold, calendar summer wiped out most of these new plants, so I tried one more time with six packs and even planted several directly into the gardens, something I don't like to do because of the proven appetites of our slugs, snails and birds.

In the end, a dozen or so cosmos came up to put on a spectacular show. I've never before planted these, so I was surprised when they reached two to three feet tall and some produced flowers nearly four inches across.

They are an ideal plant in San Francisco for late summer and early fall, which is our hottest time of the year. They don't seem to mind the cool, long nights as long as the days are sunny and warm.

My favorite this year is the whitish pink one with the double petals almost shaped like trumpets.