Dahlia imperialis

Dahlia imperialis exploded into bloom last week. I don't recall it ever happening this early in my garden before, but maybe I'm wrong. I haven't noticed them blooming in the usual spots around town yet either.



Deep blue sky but you can tell it's fall by the shadows in the leaves.

Point Reyes Interlude

We are taking a break from your regularly scheduled road trip to visit Point Reyes. I got Thursday off from school (the second day of the quarter!) for Cesar Chavez. When I found out Tuesday that I didn't have class on Thursday, I came straight home and reserved a campsite in Point Reyes National Seashore.



It's both cool and ridiculous (mostly ridiculous) to get a 2-page receipt for "Backcountry Camping" from the federal government, especially when it arrives after I have already come home from said backcountry camping and merely recites a bunch of notificatory gobbledegook the website and the park ranger already told me when I reserved the campsite.



Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday, "San Francisco was brilliantly sunny, diamond-clear, cool, and green." Or in this case, blue. That's a quote from Julia Childs' biography My Life in France. She wrote that recalling her visit to San Francisco promoting her magnum opus Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I intone that line whenever we have clear skies.



I parked my car at the Bear Valley Visitor Center and humped my pack up to Sky Camp (from sea level to 1000' elevation) by way on Meadow Trail, which sounded less strenuous to me than Mount Wittenberg Trail (no "Mount" in "Meadow", right?). Since I hiked down from Sky Camp on Mount Wittenberg Trail this morning, perhaps I can say that Meadow Trail is in fact be less strenuous than Mount Wittenberg, but it's matter of fine degrees. I was sweatin' my ass off by the time I reached the meadow.



Point Reyes is geologically and ecologically fascinating. The whole land mass broke off from the southern coast and moved north millions of years ago along the San Andreas Fault when the continents were in different places, bringing with it a different bedrock and soil type parent material than what is otherwise found in this part of California. The whole peninsula is on a different tectonic plate than all the rest of California. This epicenter of the earthquake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906 is now a trail near the visitor center. We visited it once on the old blog and I showed you how it broke a fenceline, moving it several feet, but I cannot seem to locate that post now, so nevermind. Ahem.

Point Reyes' dominant megaflora is Doug Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Bishop Pine (Pinus muricata). You find the Doug fir on the east- and north-facing slopes and Bishop Pine on west and south. The zonation can be quite dramatic in places. Literally, one tree type starts in a line and the other begins. I tend to appreciate the microfauna a bit more.



The most exciting (to me) microfauna on this trip was the geophyte Brodiaea terrestris (below), growing sooo low to the ground, blooming so thickly in places it was hard not to trample it. Seriously. Can we call it a micro-pedicel? Why do some of the most beautiful plants insist on growing in the compacted soil of a foot trail, anyway? Sorry little flowers! I think it hurt me more than it hurt you. Invasive Romulea rosea, abundantly distributed.



I'm sorry this picture is blurry. I'm sorry all of these pictures came from my iPhone. My camera batteries died as soon as I got started, and there is noone but me to blame for not having replacement batteries. As a blogger who relies as heavily on pictures as this one does, I feel downright amateurish. Well, I can't stand professional blogs anyway. So fuck it. Noone ever swears on professional blogs. Fuck, fuck, fuck!!! Love it, or leave it baby.

As I made my progress to Sky Camp, mixed-oak woodland gave way to meadow (above) gave way to Bishop Pine forest,





Ferny scenes,



and epic views.



I set up camp and headed to the beach.



Woodward Valley trail to the coast was epic.



And I think if you go soon, you will see epic blooms of Doug Iris on Coast trail. It was just starting to happen yesterday.



I don't mind telling you I got a little over-exuberant and ventured beyond what I was provisioned for on this trip, specifically with regard to water. That is to say, I was six miles out from camp (downhill) when I ran out of it. I could tell I was getting a little dehydrated. In my desperation, I plucked an unusually large clump of Claytonia perfoliata right out of the ground and stuffed the whole thing in my mouth. It was quite literally the sweetiest, juiciest, creamiest, crunchiest thing I have ever eaten.

If you think running out of batteries is amateurish, try running out of water. Shameful. Don't ever do it.

Tired and thirsty, I hiked back to camp. I timed it from the bottom of Sky Trail. And now I know. I can hike 4.1 miles, mostly uphill, in exactly 1.5 hours.

At Sculpture Beach, two hikers warned me off the trail claiming to have seen "very large" cat prints. Should I have heeded their warning? I would have liked to have seen Sculptured Beach again. Ah, what might have been. Doesn't a tiny bit of that coulda-shoulda-woulda add something unique to a vacation experience? The path not taken is left behind, with a standing invitation to take it next time.

I had dinner back at camp



And as I was drifting off to sleep, I had two thoughts for what I would like to have if I could have anything in the world, in this order: 1) A bit of satellite reception so I could call Guy to say goodnight, and 2) beer. Specifically Lagunitas' Cap Stout.

You are planning a medium-long roadtrip.

Are you going to fly out and drive home, or drive out and fly home?

Those are your only two options.

2010!

The blog year began the year in the Coachella Valley desert town of Palm Springs, California. We visited the Coachella Valley Preserve, Tahquitz Canyon, and Palm Canyon.







Back at home, we entertained the usual visitors.



I rhapsodized longingly about the California meadow garden at the Woodside Library.



Bernal Hill remained as lovely as ever,



While nearby Glen Canyon Park was resplendent with yellow mustard.



We explored the new Pennsylvania Garden on public land rounded by a freeway exit here in the City after I read about it in Pacific Horticulture. I meant to go back later in the year, but I never got around to it.



I thought my garden looked lovely in late February



But it was nothing compared to the monocotyledonous glory of the Cazadero Garden we visited in March.








While we were up there, we spent some time on the Sonoma Coast.



I admired the springtime bloom of the rosemary among the restios at the Blake Garden



and John Greenlee gave a rousing talk on meadow gardens at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.

We went to Kauai at the end of the March. The Moir Garden's massed aloes and lava walls reminded me of Lotusland.



We buzzed through Kauai Nursery & Landscaping and took in the hardwood plantation and lovely ornamental landscaping at Na'Āina Kai Botanical Garden.



I snapped this picture of a baby albatross there.



I wouldn't mind being in Kauai right now.



Meanwhile back home in April, I detected a tropical vibe creeping in to certain corners of my garden.



The winter-growing crimson-flowered favas were fun and memorable. I'm sorry I didn't grow them again this year, but I dedicated those containers to Southern highbush blueberries and there is no room for them now.



We dropped by the Sunnyside Conservatory to appreciate its recently renovated gardens:



Then I buzzed up to Sacramento to spend a great weekend with Carri from Read Between the Limes. We stalked the Old City Cemetery,







and visited the incomparable, inspiring potager at UC Davis' Mondavi Institute.







UC Davis, the western United States' premier center for agriculture and horticulture research, is home to many fine gardens. When you're there, don't forget to visit the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden too.

I had a May reverie about beauty vs. interestingness in the garden of my guru






and Rosa 'Veilchenblau' bloomed for the first time in mine.



Chaos prevailed:



And I enjoyed a few of the many juxtapositions that began to occur spontaneously in my small space.



We continued to visit other people's gardens, including the Mad Englishwoman's



and that of my Flickr friend Mark Delepine who invited us to a party across the bay in Berkeley.








I think we agreed that Berkeley in general is a bit of a horticulture head-trip.





San Francisco was no slouch in that department. We finished off May with a stairway walk in Corona Heights.







Guy and I kicked off June with a quiet weekend at Nick's Cove in Tomales Bay,



where, among other things, we walked out to the ocean through Abbott's Lagoon.




June highlights included a visit to UC Berkeley Botanical Garden



Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland



And an art sale benefit for the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek.




My garden was full sun and I marveled at the endless numbers of anise swallowtail larvae eating fennel I planted out precisely for them. Note that I still haven't seen a single anise swallowtail butterfly!



We spent two nights at Safari West in Santa Rosa,



That was fun and different for us.



I got the idea to grow dahlias and summer squash on the front steps. It was a success and I will do it again in 2011



I was tremendously thrilled to visit the Melissa Garden designed by Kate Frey with Annie Hayes and her gang from Annie's Annuals and Perennials.



I'd be happy to have a little cot in the garden tool shack here.






In August my buddy Kirsten and I continued our annual late summer tradition of visiting the San Francisco Botanical Garden just as the gates close. The Garden is breathtaking in the summer light of late afternoon / early evening. This year it was overcast and downright foggy, but still lovely as ever.




I had better light on my own at the Blake Garden a couple weeks later.



The blog records a severe heat wave in August. I vaguely remember it.




Starting in September, I made a concerted effort to get out of Bernal Heights and visit more of the City where I live.

Even more unusual, I was in the mood to take pictures of people.




That was downtown. I did it again a couple days later in the Mission.

Meanwhile the first tawny colors of Californian fall began to reveal themselves in the coastal sage scrub at Crissy Field.



Between summer school and the start of fall quarter I found time to do three very long (for me) hikes at two of the large open-space preserves off Skyline Road.

There were no tawny summer colors in the fogbelt of El Corte de Madera Creek.



I could have been in Washington State for all the moss and lichen everywhere.



That's also where we saw the tafoni sandstone formation. I came back later to see the old growth redwood (singluar), but I'm not sure if any of you came with me. That blog post got no comments (my only comment-free blog post of 2010).



One week later, I was pretty sure Purisima Creek a few miles north was haunted.




Guy and I went to the beach and I had a lot to say about the fountains at Sun Studios in Half Moon Bay. Arlie Middlebrook talked about Edible California Natives at September's CalHort meeting and I dutifully wrote up my notes.

October was a fine time to visit John Greenlee's meadow garden at Cornerstone in Sonoma.



In fact, it was a fine time to visit all the gardens there.

We went back to Palm Springs in October and stayed at the fabulous Parker.



While we were down there this time, I finally got to see the Moorten Botanical Garden and I took 352 pictures of it.



Joshua Tree was sublime but the unseasonal heat discouraged us from seeing more than a little bit of it.




I was happy we got to visit the cholla garden again.



The next weekend Carri and her husband came down from Sacramento to visit us and we went to the pumpkin patch. Then a week later Guy and I were off to Big Sur.




We drove along the coast and visited the Light Station at Point Sur.

My buddy Claire escorted me to the Albany Bulb in November finally allowing me to cross that off my to-do list.



What passes for "winter" in our part of California seemed to arrive in the garden all at once on November 8. We got our first cold rain of the season that dropped temperatures into the 50s, which is pretty much where they've stayed since then, and where they will continue to stay until April (excepting the annual heatwave in January when everyone wears shorts for a week and marvels about our great fortune to live here, imminent economic catastrophe and constant, horrible traffic non-withstanding).



Regardless, the Montanoas bloomed and I was happy.



I gave the blog my last big hurrah for 2010 in December when I had to go to the DMV for an extension on my driver's license. I took the opportunity to walk all the way home, starting with a visit to the Golden Gate Panhandle.



That led to a somewhat nostalgic walk down Haight Street,





and proceeded through the Lower Haight and the all-bread Christmas tree on Church Street



and concluding with our third cemetery of the year (a record on this blog), at old Mission Dolores.




I do hope you enjoy your travels here. I want you to know that I am grateful to have your company whenever you can join me.

Right now the garden is quiet, but spring will be here soon enough, and as I type these last words 2011 is less than one day away.



Happy New Year! May it bring good things to you and your garden.