09 Summer - Tic, Tac and Toe

In February or March, 2009, Bert had three kittens. When they were about four weeks old, she brought them to our neighbor's yard, where they lived most of the time. When they were big enough to climb down the fence separating our yards, she regularly brought them to our house to eat.

One of the first times I saw them in the neighbor's yard, I watched the boy, whom we named "Tic," eating dirt, and I knew I had to make sure they were fed.

Long story short, they soon ate daily in our backyard, but Bert always reminded them that Phil and I were dangerous - hissing and fleeing from us the moment we walked into the backyard - so the kittens were very wary of us. When they were between eight and twelve weeks old, we trapped them and their mother and took them to the SPCA in San Francisco to have them fixed. The SPCA also gave them all their shots. A few days later, when they had recovered, we released them.

Bert promptly abandoned her kittens and has since rarely stopped by. The kittens, though, have taken up permanent residence in our gardens. In fact, we recently purchased a "feral villa" (as the website calls it) - or a cat house - for them to stay in during the rainy season.

Three or so months after their mother left them, they are finally trusting me, often letting me pet them, purring, and actually following me around the gardens...at a safe distance. I suppose they are now partially socialized, though they only tolerate me on their terms - usually when they are being fed or in the early evening when they are the most playful - and they seldom let Phil pet them.

We've named them "Tic," "Tac" and "Toe," darkest to lightest, the boy the darkest and wanting attention the most, Tac the fluffiest and often knocking my hand around with her head like a dog to show me where she wants to be petted, and Toe generally lying near me, but not too close for too long.

090927 Cosmos

Just before the candy tufts went to seed in June and July, I started cosmos, amaranth and asters in six packs. When the seedlings were about two to four inches tall, I pulled up all the candy tufts and most of the poppies and replaced them with the seedlings. Our typically cold, calendar summer wiped out most of these new plants, so I tried one more time with six packs and even planted several directly into the gardens, something I don't like to do because of the proven appetites of our slugs, snails and birds.

In the end, a dozen or so cosmos came up to put on a spectacular show. I've never before planted these, so I was surprised when they reached two to three feet tall and some produced flowers nearly four inches across.

They are an ideal plant in San Francisco for late summer and early fall, which is our hottest time of the year. They don't seem to mind the cool, long nights as long as the days are sunny and warm.

My favorite this year is the whitish pink one with the double petals almost shaped like trumpets.

09 Summer - Poppies

Here are several photographs of poppies. The pink ones are Shirley poppies, which are about two-feet tall with flowers the size of your palm. The others are cabbage poppies and grew to three feet or more, with flowers the size of your hands cupped together to catch water.

I think they have done very well this year, because it has been sunny and warm much of this spring and summer.

090622 - Candy Tuft

Here are several more photographs of the candy tufts in bloom in the backyard.

The flowers get as large as a silver dollar, while the plant can reach almost two feet tall.

090622 - Love in the Mist

Here are three photographs from yesterday of one of my new favorite flowers. I purchased one plant from a nursery last year, and it readily reseeded all over the backyard.

090622 - Backyard

Here is a photograph I took yesterday of the backyard. I was standing near the gate looking up the hillside.

You can see the bald spot near the top right, where we pulled out the echium, which had grown much too large, expanding across the trail and making it dangerous to pass by.

In its place, I've planted three canterbury bells, one of which is an unusual perennial and a pale whitish purple. I plan on growing amaranths and asters there, as our summer takes hold.

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- Candy Tuft

I don't think I have a favorite flower - They're all my favorites! - but if you asked me right now which one am I the most excited about, I'd have to say the candy tufts.

In the photo showing the staircase and waterfall, you can see the candy tufts have taken over the bed with the flowering cacti.

At the bottom right of this photo, you can see part of a long, narrow bed just above the lemon tree. It was here where I first encountered candy tufts, which sprang up spring, 2008, from a mixed-seed pack I tossed into this bed when it was clear the pocket gophers had decimated the gladioli.

I love the intricacy of the flowers and its color range from white to pink to dark purple, and I must say I was thrilled and Phil was annoyed by how massive the plants grew when started in early winter, 2008. Phil was annoyed because we literally had to wade through the plants to spot the anemones and ranunculus also in this bed.