The pleasure of our gardens, part 21

The fading beauty of our first First Prize rose of the season.

It is said that true friendship is like a rose. We can't realize its beauty until it fades.

Fortunately, most of our new roses bloom for about a week ~ sometimes longer, occasionally less ~ before their beauty fades. Luckily, their memories live on through my photographs of our beautiful flowers.

Although half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination, so it has been said, I am happy to inform you that our flower beds are full of color as we near the middle of spring.

First Prize rose

White rose

Pristine rose

In little more than a week, thanks to our recent surge in sunshine and warmer temperatures, we have welcomed first blooms of our First Prize, Pristine, white and orange roses in our backyard garden of our San Francisco Bay Area residence. And, our iris bed has produced more than a dozen beautiful purple and white blooms, too.

Purple and white iris

Soon, we expect to greet our first Mr. Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth and All That Jazz rose blooms, too.

Indeed, I am a believer of this bit of gardening wisdom, courtesy of Robert Brault: "I cultivate my garden and my garden cultivates me."

Yes, my dear friends, it's a very exciting time to be a gardener.

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2012. 

The pleasure of our gardens, part 15

A Garden party /
What started as a trio, grew into a quintet and now is a septet.

As the middle of April approaches, our spring garden is starting to take shape.  And, with the Bay Area sun shining regularly again, it's a matter of days before we welcome the return of our irises and roses.

Yes, spring colors are ready to burst out just in time for Easter.

Calla lily / Its trumpet blooming
and smiling.

Our calla lilies, which started to blossom in mid January, are now in full bloom. What started as a trinity of three (Father, Son and Holy Ghost?) in a calla lily bed anchored by our Japanese maple tree on the right side of our front porch has grown up to become a party of seven (one calla lily for each day of the week, maybe?).  Around the corner from the garden party, the rest of our majestic calla lilies are lined up single-file along the east side of our house with their trumpets all beaming with smiles.

Budding iris / Peaking out
through sword-shaped leaves.

In our backyard garden, our iris bed has been a hub of activity as sword-shaped leaves have grown tremendously during the past month thanks to plenty of rain. The first iris buds protruding through these sword-shaped leaves should start blooming within a week.

Queen Elizabeth rose /
Our first bud is ready
to open any day.

Also, our Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Lincoln rose bushes have shown some budding development after being pruned back for the winter months.

Day-by-day, along with our other rose bushes, they are showing hints that they're ready to blossom.  Once they do, we will be rewarded with a steady stream of colorful roses for days and months to come.

The pleasure of our gardens, indeed.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 13

Less than a week after wearing shorts and enjoying a string of unusually nice, mid-autumn Bay Area days  ~ full of sunshine and temperatures in the middle seventies ~ the start of another rainy season arrived.  Cue up the irritation and annoyance.

On Sunday, we received about 1.2 inches of precipitation, beneficial to the well-being of our flowers and plants as well as to our area reservoirs.  Unfortunately, the weekend's rain wasn't so good for getting out to do any constructive gardening. It did allow us to catch up on some comedies and dramas idly waiting for us in our television's DVR.  So, I guess the day wasn't a total wash.  Still ...

First Prize roses / enjoying mid-autumn sunshine

Although our Bay Area rain isn't nearly as enduring (although maybe it's endearing) as it is for our friends in Seattle, the weather has started turning cold and dreary as winter approaches.  Lately, the mercury has dipped into the low forties overnight ~ prompting us to fire up our space heater in the evening and overnight ~ and our daytime highs have settled down into the low-to-middle sixties since last week's warmer fortunes.  A month from now, as the days continue getting shorter, I'm sure our lowest lows will drop into the thirties and our highest highs will only reach the fifties.

Fuchsia / purplish-red and thriving, rain or shine

Thanks to the recent rain and occasional afternoon sunshine, our camellias and rhododendrons are still nicely blooming as well as the purplish-red fuchsia plant in our front yard.  Rain or shine, our fuchsia reacts equally well.  Plus, our little azalea bush, which blooms periodically throughout the year, is once again active.  Meanwhile, some of the rose bushes in our backyard ~ our First Prize and Mr. Lincoln roses come to mind ~ continue thriving.

Mr. Lincoln rose / bright and open-minded

Our weather be damned.

All photos by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 11

This week's Bay Area heat wave brought a couple of nice surprises to our front yard garden: unexpected blooms. Thanks to three straight days of mercury-rising, 90-degree temperatures, the first blooms for our camellias and the unexpected blooming of our rhododendrons have added a pretty dash of autumn color.

Second-wave rhododendron:
Fall blooms are adding a
pretty dash of autumn color.

We trimmed both our camellia and rhododendron bushes during summer to enable their respective branches more room for new growth. So, imagine my double-take when I stepped outside a couple of days ago to turn on the water sprinkler and discovered new blooms opening up for both of our front-yard bushes.

Unexpected bloom:
Our camellias usually don't
bloom until Halloween.

As I write, two camellia blooms and nine rhododendrons blooms have debuted, and I expect more blooms will open soon. Usually, our camellias open later in the fall season ~ by Halloween ~ then continue through autumn and into winter. While it's not uncommon to have a second wave of rhododendron blooms in the same calendar year (regular blooming occurs in spring), it's not an annual event. Still, it's a welcome sight on a hot day.

Casual but welcome:
An All That Jazz rose opens
its petals and reveals
a vivid salmon orange inside.

Meanwhile, credit the heat wave for bringing a welcome bloom from our All That Jazz rose bush.  Its demeanor may be more casual and the quantity of its blooms less than some of our more productive rose bushes like the Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Lincoln. However, when temperatures rise like they did earlier this week, our All That Jazz choreographs a great entrance in our garden that would make Bob Fosse proud.

Bursting out in blossom ~ painting the dance floor in a vivid salmon orange ~ and singing a Broadway tune.  That's All That Jazz.

Random musings about morning fog, our rose garden, French Roast coffee and Elvis Costello

As I opened the front door this morning at precisely 6:30 a.m. to bring in the New York Times, I couldn't help but notice the weather surrounding our cul-de-sac:  It was very foggy outside. The accumulated dew on the newspaper's plastic wrapper, laying idle for a couple of hours on our front steps, spoke volumes.

The fog's impact reduced visibility surrounding our house to the length of a football pitch.  It was just another typical, late-summer morning shaping up in the Bay Area.

Orange rose with morning dew
on petals and leaves

Not surprisingly, the Bay Area forecast for today predicted morning fog, then mostly cloudy skies.  Although our high is supposed to reach 70 by this afternoon, I have my doubts. Something about a trough of low pressure moving through northern California that's bringing cooler conditions to the Bay Area. I've become all too accustomed to cool, moderate summer temperatures living in the Bay Area for the past 15 years. While I would welcome a 70-degree, late-summer afternoon, now, I'll happily settle for the 65-degree temperature that is due San Francisco today, where the fog is legendary throughout the summer months.

Pristine rose

The upside to today's morning fog and lingering dew is two-fold:  The overnight accumulation of dew and moisture means I don't need water the lawn and plants as planned, and, just as pleasing, it makes for good conditions to take photographs of our roses.

Mr. Lincoln rose:
Lovely to look at,
but difficult to photograph.

When I stepped outside to our backyard garden, I witnessed the dew on many of the roses, including their petals and their leaves.  The lingering fog and dew makes observing them interesting, but it's also very challenging to accurately capture it in a photograph. Ditto for the rich redness of the Mr. Lincoln roses ~ lovely to look at in person, but difficult to achieve the right hue of red when taking a picture.

Standing among giants:
I'm 5-feet-10 and
shorter than our
Mr. Lincoln and
Queen Elizabeth
rose bushes.

In the past month, we've let both our Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Lincoln rose bushes grow.  Nothing magical about it, and yet, they've have grown quite tall ~ taller than me, and I'm 5-feet-10.  Both of these bushes continue to show great blooms in September. Ditto for our Orange rose bush and our First Prize bush, too.

With autumn less than a week away and October close, our weather, finally, will perk up ~ if only for a few weeks.  With it, there's promise that our roses can continue enjoying some additional happiness and further growth, too.

In the meantime, as I await the fog to lift and the mercury rise, I'll gather my thoughts about the pleasure of our garden, savor a warm cup of my favorite French Roast coffee, and listen attentively as Elvis Costello sings about "Shipbuilding," from his 1983 album, Punch the Clock, appreciating the mournful, lovely trumpet solo by Chet Baker that accompanies some of Costello's most poignant lyrics, written during Britain's build up to the 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.  Different times.

Morning becomes eclectic.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 7

The beginning of June marks a transitional time for our gardens.  As spring winds down and summer nears, there's a noticeable shift in the composition and colors of the flowers that dot our landscape.

Earlier this month, we bid farewell to the last of our irises and, as of this writing, there are just a few rhododendron still blooming.  It's too bad they can't extend their stay just a little longer ~ both add vibrancy with their respective purple hues ~ but their blooming cycle is limited and, thus, not to be taken for granted.  So, you can imagine my interest in documenting, through pictures, the beauty of both our irises and rhododendrons with their new arrival each spring.

Surprisingly, last weekend, while gardening on the shady, east side of our house, I discovered two late-blooming calla lilies.  I guess they are late bloomers since their prime blooming season starts in late winter and concludes in early spring. Nearby, our fuchsia bush continues an active growth cycle with dozens of colorful blooms, nicely aided by a north-facing, mid-afternoon sunshine that arrives daily almost without fail.

As Bay Area temperatures rise, our rose bushes will produce more blooms.  It also means we'll need to run our water drip system more regularly to keep our rose bushes properly hydrated.  Our rose bushes enjoy a good drink of water ~ and, fortunately, it needn't have to be Perrier or San Pellegrino to keep them happy and healthy.

With summer's arrival on June 21, soon we'll be able to enjoy more of the many beautiful colors produced by our Queen Elizabeth, Mr. Lincoln, Pristine, First Prize, All That Jazz and Angel Face rose bushes.

I've got my digital camera ready to document the welcoming of our perennial friends.  Stay tuned.

Top photo: Fuchsia.  Bottom photo: Queen Elizabeth rose.
Photos by Michael Dickens, 2010.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 5

May brings many beautiful colors to our gardens ~ and this year is no exception. While I have focused much attention in recent posts to the blossoming of our back yard rose bushes, including our First Prize, Mr. Lincoln and Queen Elizabeth roses, up in the front yard of our house ~ very quietly but efficiently ~ our rhododendrons have burst out with a beaucoup of bright, bell-shaped purple blooms.

According to Wikipedia, rhododendron comes from the Greek ~ rodo meaning "rose" and dendro meaning "tree" ~ and is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal as well as the state flower of Washington and West Virginia.

One of the joys of having a perennial like a rhododendron is you can count on it blooming about the same time every year ~ come rain or shine ~ and the first week of May is when we mark in our gardening calendar for the rhododendron's yearly return. With two unusually late April rain showers, plus one earlier this week, our rhododendron bush has received plenty of moisture during the past month. Coupled with nice afternoon sunshine it receives from its northern exposure, it's become both a purple splendor in the front yard and visibly noticeable by our neighbors.

While the buds nurture for several months before opening up, and the green leaves can be appreciated throughout the year, the rhododendron blossoms for only about a month or so before wilting as Bay Area temperatures and humidity rise.

It's too bad that rhododendron blooms have such a short shelf life. Yet, it makes you appreciate the time they're smiling at us ~ and with their arms open wide.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 4

If spring is nature's way of saying "Let's Party!" as comedian Robin Williams once suggested, then, indeed, let's break out the Champagne, pop the corks and celebrate.

As May unfolds, our rose bushes have adapted nicely to the ample sunshine and warmer temperatures that arrived this week after a couple of unseasonably late April showers. Collectively, they have given rise to many beautifully hued and magnificent blooms.

Within the past week, our Pristine, Queen Elizabeth, Mr. Lincoln and orange rose bushes, all which reside in our back yard and receive a southern exposure to the sun, have bloomed for the first time this season. Meanwhile, our First Prize rose bush, which debuted earliest of our 10 rose bushes and is also a southerner, continues to shows wonderful color and maturity.

However, as I write this post, it's our white rose bush, which faces west towards the Bay, that has bubbled over with delightful enthusiasm. Gazing down from our patio deck, I easily counted a dozen blooms whose petals have opened with much aplomb, and at least another dozen that will join in the celebration any day now.

Elsewhere, in our front yard, new calla lilies have opened next to our porch; the fuchsia are thriving, and the May Day weekend brought the return of our first rhododendron blooms (which I'll write more about in the near future).

Although April showers sometimes dampen our spirit, by May we can most appreciate the good things it's enabled for our future.

Let's celebrate!

The pleasure of our gardens, part 3

New spring colors are blooming in our back yard garden ~ red, pink, white, orange ~ and everything's coming up roses.

As April winds down, our rose bushes are taking notice of the rising temperatures and increasing sunshine to produce many stunningly beautiful blooms. A few late-season rain showers the past couple of weeks haven't hurt, either.

Our First Prize rose bush already has yielded two blooms that have reached full maturity with several more just opening their petals. The same holds true for our white rose bush. Other varieties are ready to pop open this week including our All That Jazz, Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Lincoln rose bushes.

Yes, just like the Stephen Sondheim lyric from the song in Gypsy, everything's coming up roses for me and you.

Stay tuned.