Meadow at St Francis Woods Garden

Looking back at old posts of this garden, I realize I have been working here since 2016, about nine years.  But lots of work needed to prepare the site before any plants were added just two years ago.  This is the first autumn the plants have reach a good mature size.

Flowers of March

 What is flowering in my gardens:

Freesias at Dearborn Community Garden

Flowers of February

 

Introducing My Newest Cottage Garden

 I have been working this tiny front plot for about five years now.   I have slowing been planting new layers of flowering plants in the Potrero Hill garden.  New addition this spring is the ruby red Ixias in the last couple of photos.

Spring Bulbs in San Francisco

 

Narcissus 'Minnow' in Eureka Valley

Potrero Hill Entry Garden

 Third week of May and full of flowers.  Roses, Gerber Daisies, Asters, Scabiosa, Alliums and much more packed into this tiny garden in San Francisco. 

Lighting up my garden in the Marina.

Two Years On - Roof Top deck in Richmond

It's hard to see, but these two photos are of the same containers, two years apart.  French Lavender is growing through and completely obscuring the white picker railing.  The Hollywood Junipers are growing taller and filling out.  The windows of their back neighbor almost completely gone.

English Double Border in Small San Francisco Back Yard

This garden was planted in March of 2016.  It is barely 2 years 5 months old.   Second photo was taken on February 9, 2016.   The growth has been phenomenal.   Some of the new blossoms this month include Agapanthus, Aster x 2, Gladiolus and ...

Planting a Small Garden Tightly

This garden has three different faces or attitudes and all packed into a small 10 x 20 foot space.   The five round Pittosporum 'Golf Ball' really hold the mess together and help differentiate the three views.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Border

Today was great.  I'm finishing up a short but packed work week in order to get out of town for a 4-day holiday in Mendocino.   My friend Frank is turning 50.  Ha!  We're gonna have a party.   Last garden of the day before my holiday starts and it was looking stunning.   This garden is a theater stage floorplan with the main bed being a gold,silver and bronze English border.  The Irises we're the character today.

Spring in the Marina District of San Francisco

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.

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.

Bay Street Entry Garden

My latest installation in the front entry stairwell for a building in the Marina neighborhood. This low light interior space is open only to the sidewalk. It's a southern exposure with bright indirect light reflecting off the sidewalk.

Arts & Crafts Front Entry Garden - One Year Maintenance Visit

One year after planting, today I detailed this garden: staking, weeding, shearing and deadheading. This is my first garden design to incorporate those plants and ideas from my trip to England in 2012. This small front bed was a blank slate. The building's Arts & Crafts style is the theme for this planting.

Noe Valley Entry Garden

An Arts & Crafts inspired front entry-way planted in October 2013, ravished by gopher for 3 months, replanted in March. Here's what it looks like eight months after planting.

Achillea millefolium 'Moonshine', Senecio mandraliscae, Pittosporum 'Golf Ball' spheres, Geranium 'Rozanne', Lavandula (English), Erigeron karvinskianus and Verbena bonariensis

Vicksburg Terraced Dry Garden

Gertrude Jekyll and her garden at Hestercombe was my inspiration for this garden design. I picked mostly Mediterranean plants and laid them out in drifts. Silver plants, seed heads, yellow & purple, I wanted lots of hot colors along with the cool lavenders and blues. 

Pacific Heights Roof Deck

Here's a roof patio in Pacific Heights a year after I planted it. It is a southern facing patio that can really bake on those sunny days. In the top photo from the upper left: Phormium, Chamaerops h. cerifera, Lotus berthelotti and Philodendron xanadu.



In the next photo from the left: Cordyline soledad with Lotus berthelotti, Podocarpus gracilior, Cussonia transvaalensis again with Lotus. And the last photo is a Cycad with an amazing fern I got at Flora Grubb Gardens but can't remember the name.

Noe Valley Vegetable Garden & Lawn

This is an installation I did in Noe Valley.  The positive side of not having a view is having a flat garden.  A rarity in San Francisco and in my opinion a real asset.