121220 - Columbine

This columbine volunteered at the top of the gardens and went into bloom when almost nothing else was flowering.

110419 - Columbine

This columbine bloomed in the middle of April and, almost a month later, continues to look amazing.

It is the only one of its kind in the gardens, its tightly wrapped flowers a hybrid of the dahlia-like flowers and the others with spurs.

100427 - Columbine

Among cabbage poppies and hollyhocks, several columbines have gone into bloom.

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.

08 November - Garden photographs

Here are three photographs I took on the same afternoon in November, 2008.

The white and pink cleomes were over four feet tall, but are now
closer to five. They continue to bloom despite it being nearly winter now.

The hollyhock is against a fence that only gets partial sun in the fall and winter. It is the oldest and probably the happiest of all the hollyhocks. The long stock next to the flower in bloom is close to ten feet tall.

And the columbine surprised us all when it went into bloom around Halloween. It still looks great as we approach the middle of December, 2008.

080428 - Gardens

I took several photographs of the gardens today to show how much they've changed in just a month or so.

In the winter, when it rains every day, I find it hard to believe the muddy beds will give way to such beauty.

080318 - Winter Sweet Peas

Here's a short video of the fride (FRont sIDE) garden, front gardens and, especially, the winter sweet peas, so you can see how much they've grown in just a month.

Also, in this video, you can see columbines, delphiniums, two rose bushes, cabbage poppies, foxgloves, coreopsis, California poppies, tiny hollyhocks, and a second planting of sweet peas in the fride garden. These sweet peas are in partial shade, so they grow slower than the ones next to the cabbage poppies.

This video starts with an echium called "Tower of Jewels." It grows to nine feet, and blooms up the length of its stock, its flower clusters a show-stopping scarlet red.

080306 - Terraced Gardens

I took this short video of the gardens this afternoon, when the sun was descending behind the evergreens southwest of our house.

I'll do a similar video in a month or so to show how rapidly the gardens change, as spring approaches.

06 Late Spring - Columbine

This columbine was one of the first flowers we planted in the spring, 2006. It did very well and is still in the garden almost two years later.

I let several of its flowers go to seed; and once the seed pods were dry and brittle, I carefully collected the seeds and put them in an envelope.

I still have some of these seeds.

In the late fall, 2007, I spread them over a side garden at the front of the house. We call this garden the "fride" garden, as in "FRont sIDE."

Columbine seeds take weeks - if not, a month - to germinate. Then, tiny leaves unfurl along a single purple stem. It stays like this for quite some time, before growing rapidly.

I'm told columbines need cool or cold weather to germinate, but mine do well throughout the year. Maybe, it never gets too hot for them in San Francisco. I'm happy to report the ravenous birds leave the seedlings and larger plants alone, though the slugs and snails enjoy them too much.