In our garden: Reflections on Earth Day 2013

Earth Day, a celebration of what the earth gives us, was celebrated across the world on Monday.

It is often said that love begins in the home. And, so does our love for our planet earth. Yesterday, amid clear skies and a wealth of lovely sunshine that greeted the San Francisco Bay Area, I seized an opportunity to get outside for a little while and spent some time in our garden.

As I looked around, I thought to myself: "If I love the earth, all will bloom naturally."

We are blessed to have nine different rose bushes as well as irises, calla lilies, fuchsias, rhododendrons and camellias surrounding our house. Indeed, we have an abundance of beautiful blooms throughout the entire year, especially during the month of April.

And, so, in celebration of Earth Day yesterday, I grabbed my camera and started taking photographs, recording these precious moments in our garden for others to cherish. Consider it  as my random act of kindness. 

May every day be like Earth Day to us.

Iris

Mr. Lincoln rose

Pristine rose

Calla lily

Rhododendron

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 14

Calla lily / Our first bloom of  the season

One of the many joys of living in northern California is gardening year-round, including winter.  With daytime temperatures reaching the mid-60s last weekend, my wife and I took advantage of the opportunity to get outside and catch up on some overdue yard work and to spend some quality time in our gardens.

We have been waiting what seems an eternity ~ actually a couple of months ~ for a warm, dry weekend.  Because the sun doesn't always shine on cue, we've endured many weekends of rainy and often-chilly temperatures. Certainly, it doesn't measure up that what many of my friends across the country in the East and Midwest have endured:  namely, sub-freezing temperatures and snowy blizzards.  But, we do get spoiled by our moderate, year-round climate.

Our fuchsia / A colorful edition to our front yard

So, with sunny skies aplenty on Saturday afternoon, I mowed and edged the lawn and pulled some weeds, while my wife trimmed back branches to several of our rose bushes; pruning them will come soon.  Then, it was time to take stock of what all of the winter rain has meant to our garden:  Our camellia bush, which has been blooming consistently since November, still has several blooms; ditto for our azalea.  Meanwhile, our fuchsia has enjoyed quality growth thanks to the abundance of rain this season.

Our camellia bush / Late season bloomer

Finally, the first of our calla lilies, which reside on the cool and shady east side of our house, is about a week away from opening its spathe (the part of the lily that is white and shaped like the bell of a trumpet).

Each of our plants has its own growth cycle during the year. Luckily, there is always something in bloom.

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 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.