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.

080413 - Mike and the Tower of Jewels

Here's me standing next to the Tower of Jewels in the fride (FRont sIDE) garden.

It's been sunny and hot the last two days, since the winds have been coming from the east.

This echium is over nine feet tall and rapidly went into bloom over the last two weeks.

080401 - Forget-Me-Nots

In the winter, 2006, Phil seeded forget-me-nots under a tiny echium he planted in a spot that would become the top of the stairs.

A month or so later, I thought they were weeds and dutifully pulled them up.

Needless to say, Phil was disappointed. But the following winter, they returned on their own. And this year, we've had dozens of them pop up all over the gardens. I gave several away, transplanted others to pots in the front yard, and only recently resorted to throwing them out when there was nowhere else to move them.

We now joke these forget-me-nots at the top of the stairs are going to choke out the echium, which is well over six-feet tall and in bloom again.

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.

07 Spring - Busy Bee

Last weekend, I was in Hollywood, California, buying magazines for work, so I missed the storm that hit San Francisco. Phil says it rained and rained Saturday and Sunday, with wind gusts reaching 70 miles an hour.

When I came home from the trip, I was surprised by the garden, which was lush and showed no damage from the storm.

I took this photograph in the summer, 2007. Bees are drawn to the echium at the top, right of our gardens. I followed one around on a sunny day and took several photographs of it at work.