1310 - Dahlias

Our very dry spring meant the dahlias sent up smaller-than-average flowers, which were beautiful, nonetheless.

120830 - Dahlia

Despite our foggy summer, the dahlias have come into bloom.

This variegated one remains a favorite of mine and Phil's.

1109 - Dahlias

Even while much of the gardens underperformed this summer and fall, these dahlias put on quite a show.

101013 - California Primrose

The California or desert evening primrose was a surprise.

It has thrived everywhere I transplanted it into the gardens, though it seems to prefer the base of the fountain, which overflows when we want to freshen its water.

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 - Terraces

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

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.

08 September - Red Dahlia

Here's another photograph of the red dahlias.

This summer, the plant surpassed all our expectations by growing over seven feet tall and producing dozens of massive flowers.

08 September - White-and-Pink Lupine

Phil and I planted this lupine in early summer and were happy when it bloomed out of season.

It is the only one without purple flowers this year. Our red one promptly died when I relocated it from a shady spot at the top, right of the gardens down to the side garden.

This lupine's flower stalk reached almost two feet before going to seed. I plan on harvesting the seeds and growing more lupines this color next spring.

080831 - Dahlias

The dahlias came up when the calendar said it was summer, but they did not really put on a show until the end of August, when The City finally heated up.

The magenta dahlia is resting on a Hawaiian sedum, which will send up in a month or so tiny, pink flowers with a scent very much like that of honeysuckle.

080615 - Lupines

The lupines in the side garden put on a spectacular show in June, their purple flower stocks nearly two feet long.

Above them and growing over the old truck door is a passion vine we planted in March, 2006. It was beautiful its first year, but looked dried out for much of 2007. I started watering it more frequently this spring and built a rough rock wall around its base to keep its roots moist. This seemed to do the trick.

The tree dahlia is growing up the right side of the truck door amid sweet peas.

Farther to the right is one of two perennial foxgloves we have in the gardens.

080626 - Magenta Dahlia

We relocated this magenta dinner-plate dahlia late last fall, after it and a yellow dinner-plate dahlia had grown into each other.

This dahlia is the first to bloom this year. Yes, its flowers are as large as a dinner plate.

The Mexican salvia rapidly went into bloom the last few weeks, while the lupines, foxglove, hollyhocks and white Pacific Giant delphinium have been stunning for several months now.

06 Spring - Larkspur and Sweet Peas

Several weeks ago, I scattered larkspur seeds across the garden alongside the fence you can see in this photograph.

They should be coming up very soon.

You can see here that we had sweet peas and larkspur blooming together in the spring, 2006.

I hope this year looks as nice.