1311 - Hollyhock

Here's another photograph of the hollyhocks that did so well this summer and fall.

1307 - Hollyhocks

I was surprised when several pale hollyhocks came up, as I don't remember planting this color last year.

The fall was mild last year, so I was able to gather lots of seeds to plant close together in the terrace near the top, left of the gardens.

I hope to have even more seeds for next year.

1106 - Terraced Gardens

June, 2011 turned out to have strange weather: a few drizzly days at the start of the month followed by a week or so of record heat, which was in turn put out by a sudden drop in temperature and a full day and night of steady rain.

I took this photograph a few days before the record heat transformed the gardens. I especially like the foxgloves and bachelor's buttons in bloom.

Last year, we planted the pink-and-white penstemon near the top of the terraces, and it has grown more than ten times in size.

1011 - Hollyhocks

As I'd hoped, the hollyhocks went into bloom throughout the gardens only a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

These photos show just a few of the plants in bloom in the fride (FRont sIDE), side and upper terrace gardens.

Last weekend, I harvested seeds from many of the plants and hope to have several more hollyhocks in the gardens in 2011.

101013 - Hollyhocks

The hollyhocks did rather well this summer, though there have certainly been more blooms in prior years.

As our fall warmed up, the plants sent up new growth, especially at the top of the terraces. I hope they bloom again before the winter rains come.

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.

091231 - Hollyhocks

The photograph of the hollyhock in bloom was taken at the top, left of the staircase. It and four or five other plants continue to grow and bloom as we head into 2010.

The second photograph shows seedlings just now germinating in the side garden in the backyard. A month or so ago, I threw several dozen seeds down against the garden's back wall, hoping to create a living wall of hollyhocks there next summer.

09 November - Hollyhocks

For the last month or so, the shortening days have been sunny and warm. I think this is why these two hollyhocks went into the bloom. The dark red one is where the echium used to be at the top, right of the staircase. It came up and bloomed as fast as it could. The lighter red one is one of the oldest plants in the gardens and has always bloomed in the spring and again in the fall.

09 Summer - Queen Cleomes

Here are photos of the two queen cleomes we planted late last year. They are likely four feet by four feet and are clearly covered in blooms. Phil and I were surprised that they not only over-wintered so well, but have bloomed for months now.

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.

Last day of January, 2009

January was a month of extremes. We had near-freezing temperatures as our highs, lots of rain, no rain for several days and temperatures in the upper sixties.

The garden has done very well this winter, especially since we've not had anything like that hurricane-strength windstorm this time last year.

The cleomes in the front yard continue to grow and send off new flower stalks, the tallest plant about five-and-a-half feet tall.

In the fride (FRont sIDE) garden, one hollyhock and lots of purple stock are in bloom. Columbines, crocuses, a foxglove, anomones and hyacinths are also charging up in this garden with partial sun to bloom in the next month or so.

Hanging in a pot from the fence above the hot tub is a purple sweet pea that continues to go into bloom. Most of the plant looks completely dead, but it somehow still has a shoot still in flower. I planted this sweet pea in the summer, 2008, and it shows no signs of giving up yet. The little flower even smells great.

If you look closely at the hanging pot, you can see two winter sweet pea seedlings poking up. I planted them about a month or so ago.

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.

08 September - Queen Cleome

Here are two photographs of the queen cleome that has gone into bloom.

Almost three feet tall, it is supposed to double in size.

This is the healthiest of the half dozen or so I planted in the gardens. I started them from seed in six packs in the nursery, which was heavily overgrown with dahlias and sweet peas before I knew it. But even after I moved them down to the porch by the chairs, the seedlings floundered throughout the cold, foggy summer. At the end of August, when the sun and heat finally arrived in The City, these flowers took off.

I'll add photographs of the others once they've gone into bloom.

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.

080525 - Aubergine Hollyhock

The heatwave we had two weeks ago seems like it was a year ago now that San Francisco is cool and foggy again.

The summer plants apparently still remember, though, especially the hollyhocks, which are surpassing six feet tall. This one is already in full bloom and is one of my favorites. The flowers are as large as the palm of your hand.

07 Summer - Upper Terraces

These are two photographs from early summer, 2007, when the poppies to the right of the staircase were putting on a show.

The sky-blue sweet peas climbing the fence at the top of the hill were amazing, too.

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.

Summer, 2006 - Hollyhocks, Sweet Peas and Phil

That is Phil standing next to the first hollyhock we grew in the gardens in the summer, 2006.

The sweet peas did great here and elsewhere in the gardens, as you can see in other photographs.

Having never gardened prior to moving into this house, I was astounded by the size of this hollyhock, which continued to grow to about fourteen feet.

You can see to the right of Phil a container holding a cactus and several impatiens in bloom.

Right now the impatiens' descendants are springing up all over the gardens. We're relocating a few, giving several away to friends, and moving the rest to a public staircase not far from the house.