100711 - Yellow Dahlia

I think it's because the buddleia has done so well beside the red dahlia this summer that that dahlia is not already six feet tall and covered in flowers.

The yellow dahlia is the first to bloom, its flowers as large as dinner plates.

100711 - Bachelor Button

In sunny spots throughout the gardens, I seeded bachelor buttons several times during late winter and spring.

Only one came up.

It is the first non-blue one Phil and I have seen in the gardens, so we're not completely disappointed.

A few weeks ago, I seeded one six pack with blue and another with non-blue. The seedlings are about an inch tall now. I hope to have better luck with these as we head into late summer and fall, typically the sunniest, hottest time in San Francisco.

100711 - Buddleia

The buddleia - or butterfly bush - is now about four years old. We're not sure if it's due to its maturity in the garden or to the heavy rains we had last winter, but the buddleia is the largest it has every been - about eight feet by eight feet - and is covered in flowers this summer.

In January or early February, I cut it down to four feet by four feet, as the experts recommend, since flowers only appear on new growth. Within a few weeks, I was surprised to see it already growing very quickly.

100711 - Terraces

Yesterday, I took a few hundred photographs of the terraces before cleaning up the beds and seeding cosmos for late summer through winter.