Week in Mykonos - Travel Buddies Edition

A week in Berlin

Oh the trees of Berlin.  Wow, I would love to live in a forested city.

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.

What's blooming in August in the Fog?

Vitex agnus-castus with dots of white little pom-pom Dahlia 'Tiny Treasure'

Yuba River Day

Oh how I've been longing to get out of San Francisco and feel some real summer heat.   Yuba River.  Emerald water, white granite and some trees.   Not too hot, 86.   Smokey drive up to Grass Valley.  The Central Valley was dense smog.  It's what LA was in the 1970's.

FOG! The beginning of our second winter....

July is the start of our second winter when this massive blanket of fog engulfs The City.   From now through August and sometimes mid-way through September, we surrender to depression and extra coffee.  Soup is good too.  I use some of this time to travel.  The photo below is from my roof deck looking toward Castro showing just the top of Sutro Tower on Twins Peaks.  In foreground is the spire for The Mission Delores.   

Sidewalk "Hell-Strip" Planting

I love all plants but succulents in general don't make it into my gardens.  Succulents have a many great fans and I do appreciate their easy, low maintenance qualities.   Design wise, most plantings look like someone up-chucked a kaleidoscope.   Most people fail by choosing too many varieties of color, texture and stature.   I came accross this street side planting and instantly appreciated the simple, refined palette choice.   Like most planting schemes, limited number of plant but repeated is the way to go.  

What makes this planting successful is just three plants repeated.   Aeonium, Cotyledon orbiculata and Senecio.

Street of San Francisco - Jacaranda

Jacaranda mimosifolia in full bloom along 14th Street in San Francisco.

Plant Profile: Plectranthus neochilus

This lovely aromatic Plectranthus is an easy, non-stop flowering perennial here in San Francisco.   It is not at all cold tolerate and will turn to black mush anywhere near 32 degrees F.  Most places it must be considered an annual. What makes this plant so spectacular here is it's ability to root anywhere, any time of the year.   I toss my clippings where ever I want it to root and establish and it does!   I got mine at Plectranthus neochilus at Annie's Annuals.

Here it is with Verbena and Nigella.

Streets of San Francisco - E line

On my way home, I pull up behind the Melbourne Car #496 going home from a day of work on the new E-line.   The E-line connects Fisherman's Wharf with Caltrain running the entire way along the Embarcardo.  Next to gardens, trains are a dear passion of mine.

Streets of San Francisco - Bernal Heights

An unseasonably blue sky today in San Francisco.  This neighborhood has uniquely small lots, small cottages, small gardens and some steep streets.  Click on MUG Bernal Gardens to see my work.   I currently have one garden in Bernal Heights but have worked over 9 sites on all sides of the hill.

Plant Profile: Datura wrightii

Up next in my plant profile is Datura wrightii.   I got mine at Annie's Annuals.   My friend Frank calls it a ditch plant and I'm sure he is right.   It thrives in disturb, impoverished soil.  I let a few of the seed heads ripen and toss them about my garden   They will come up where others won't, usually dry, crappy areas.   The leaves are beautiful and is the main attraction for me.  The blooms only last a day or two but are beautiful too.

Sowing Seeds for This Fall

Here's the seed packets I'm sowing for the fall 2018.   These Ageratum I found at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds look gorgeous.   I know they never look exactly like the photo on the seed packet or catalog but I have hopes for this one.   I like the electric blue.  Or how about a pink dandelion-like annual?

Mendocino Garden Update

It's been three years since I helped update the planting schemes in this Mendocino Coast house.   It is right on the coast, no less than 50 feet from the Pacific Ocean.   The wind can be fierce.   This part of the garden is the hot border.  Yellows, Oranges and Reds with a bit of cool purples.