Fire, San Francisco and Wood Buildings

Not earthquakes but fires gives me anxiety.   I love the patterns of the wood.  The charred mark are interesting.  

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90-foot Steel Sculpture of Venus

I've been wondering about this sculpture ever since this apartment complex was completed in the last couple of years.  This guy must be Italian.  This courtyard is Italianate.  Venus is huge.  The rocks are a collections of really big expensive blocks of rock.  And the geometric Q*bert marble courtyard is impressive.   A large communal table that seats over 20 is cool. 

Summer Vacation

Provincetown Mass., New York, Highline & East Hamptons....

October Seed Heads

Fading year with Aster seed heads.

Spring & Summer MUG Gardens

Here's a posting showing my professional gardens (MUG) for Spring & Summer this year, 2017. Starting in March, this garden is in Glen Park with lush green growth from a phenomenal season of rain. This years additions include the blue Dutch iris, Orlaya, Magnolia and Exochorda.

Late Summer in Full Glory

This is my plot at Dearborn Community Garden in San Francisco.   I use this bed to test out new plants and color combinations and just see what happens.  It's always beautiful.  But today is the pinnacle of this seasons planting scheme.  Lots of late season dahlias and asters.

The High Line in NYC - Piet Oudorf

Silver and White Front Entry Garden in Glen Park

 I have added more white agapanthus to fill in this bed.  This is a tough location.  High, dry, sunny with two Monterey Cypress sucking up everything.  But Agapanthus is a tough one too.  Let's go!

Cottage Garden in Bernal Heights

Beautiful bright summer afternoon on the top of Bernal Heights.  This slightly sloping garden is small and packed full of plants.   Below roses and lilies in bloom.

Design Drawings

I often get asked if I do design.  Garden design.  Of Course!   Here's some design drawings.  Many are options that never realized.

On top of Liberty Hill, this Noe Street terraced garden is a new project.  I've been there about a year but haven't shown it here yet.  It needs a full season before it will show.

Potrero Hill, San Francisco

Front garden on Arkansas around where 20th would be.

Second Year English Borders

Potrero Hill

Yes. A Rose climbing up the loropetalum and lemon in front of the bamboo and plum.  It's a lovely rose but I don't know it's name.

Only in San Francisco?

In our garage well I usually find cigarette butts, bottle, bags, clothes,...  Lots of urine and an occasional vomit smear.

But this I love.  Someone carved a pipe from an apple.   I appreciate its biodegradability.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Border

The back bed is my precious metal border highlighting gold, silver and bronze colored leaves and blossoms.   There's a second burgundy color scheme here too.

Eureka Valley in May

Rosa ‘Julia Child’

Year in Review for Eureka Valley Garden

I have been tending this garden for twelve years now. This post gives the highlights of the seasons for 2016. This terraced garden with view of San Francisco skyline feels like a sunken garden and pack in many blooming shrubs, vines, bulbs and annuals.

Glen Park Perennial Terraces

Spring is in full swing this second week of April. Roses have just started to open along with the many annuals like Cerinthe and Orlaya. As next few weeks will burst into color, I wanted to share last year's photographs of my garden in Glen Park, San Francisco. I have been working this garden regularly, almost every Thursday, for thirteen years. So much has changed in that time. This year you see a lot of attention on spring bulbs and vigorous annuals. Enjoy.




Spring 2016 dominated by self sown arugula in the March photo above. We been planting an increasing number of white flowering plants to this hillside terrace bed.

Low-Impact Lawn Substitute

You would never know from our rainy winter that last year everyone was thinking severe drought.   This was installed last year one of our driest years.

My Plant Palette

Here's my Spring 2017 plant palette.  These are plants that I either installed in one of my gardens or liked it in a nursery.

Eureka Valley Terraced Garden

After a most glorious rainy winter, spring 2017 will be excessively floral. Above is Winchester Cathedral, a David Austin rose with erigeron, Scottish thistle and a orange poppy. Below is Forget-Me-Nots blooming just below a cottoneaster crown just leaving out.

Noe Valley Cottage Garden 3 or 4th year.

Today I passed by a garden I created 3 of 4 years ago. I stopped to see how it faired this very rainy winter for us. That's not a Halloween prop but a clump of miscanthus boldly plant next to the generously wide steps to the front door of this Arts and Crafts inspired building and garden.   Numerous gardens we saw in England inspired this planting.  Great Dixter keeps coming to mind.  I do stake it and bind the grass clump into a column tied off with twine.  

Planted tightly with perennials and grass-like plants grounded with five balls of clipped pittosporum.   The front door is framed with sentinel thujas in large terra cotta containers. And three clumps of choisya ternata including a pair of mock oranges in terra containers flanking the front door.