110419 - Aeonium in Bloom

Earlier this week, after several cool, misty days in row, the sky cleared, and I took several photographs in the gardens.

This aeonium has gone into bloom for the first time since we planted it as a cutting three years ago. It is now about two feet tall by two feet wide, its flower stock nearly a foot long.

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.

090622 - Sweet Peas

Here are several photographs of sweet peas I took yesterday evening after watering the gardens.

It has been a nice June so far, a little windy in the evenings, but warm and sunny most days.

Most of these sweet peas came from one packet of winter sweet peas, my favorites the white ones with purple tips.

090528 - Delphiniums

Here are six photographs of three delphiniums at the bottom of the staircase.

All winter, raccoons persistently dug around and eventually killed the white one that had grown massive and sent up dozens of flower stocks during its blooming cycles over the last two years or so.

I was really disappointed, but these dark purple and pale purple delphiniums have nearly made up for the loss.

In the photo I took at the top of the stairs, you can see the new white one I planted a month or so ago to replace the one wiped out by the raccoons.

Sometime in summer, 2008, I planted the dark purple and pale purple delphiniums. They were unremarkable until late this spring, when they grew massive, their flower stocks almost three feet long.

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.

080615 - Red Hybrid Lily

Here you can see two red hybrid lilies in bloom. They bloomed a few days before the white ones described in an earlier post.

These flowers are a little smaller than the white ones, though the plants are about the same height.

The red lilies are growing alongside lupines, sweet peas and a perrenial foxglove, which produces larger and more numerous flower stocks each year. The pink flowers of this foxglove are about three inches long.

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.

080218 - Winter Salmon Sweet Peas and Cabbage Poppies

These photographs are for my friend in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is still in the clutches of Old Man Winter.

I took these photographs today in our front yard. You can see the winter sweet peas are not only working their way up their trellis, but they've begun growing flower shoots.

Sweet peas are one of my favorite flowers, so I'm looking forward to these going into bloom.

Phil calls the poppies in front of the sweet peas by their common name, "cabbage poppies." They are sold under names like "breadbox poppies" or "Turkish poppies." They grow to five feet or so and produce flowers the size of your hands cupped together to catch water. And, yes, they smell unmistakably like cabbage.

The yellow flowers in the next bed are coreopsis and thrive well in San Francisco. Between them and the poppies you can see a foxglove.