I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers. – Leif Enger, American author, from Peace Like a River
Alas, November has arrived, and while most of the garden has slowly gone dormant, there are still flowers that insist on blooming. Here are the last bouquets of the season. Post script: I spilled juice from my dinner on my keyboard and it’s difficult to type because some keys aren’t working. So you’ll have to enjoy the photos without commentary. I apologize that many of the bouquets are similar. Such is the case when you have a limited selection of flowers. Enjoy! Until next season!
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. – John Muir, influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America
When the county issued a shelter-in-place order on March 16, 2020, I was finishing up working out at our local gym. We were told the order would last for three weeks. Without a structure in place, especially for someone who is so reliant on routine, I fell off of my exercise regimen. Soon, suffering from cabin fever, I started looking for a different form of cardio exercise. We decided to go on long walks with our dog, Sammy. First it was a threesome with my husband, David, and my daughter, then it became just David and me. In the beginning we walked to Memorial Grove in El Cerrito, but the downhill walk was a little treacherous with the gravelly and pebbly path.
We started our walks after our work day, and we headed up a long, uphill road and took meandering streets to get back to our house in the flats. It was about 3.5 miles, which took us a little over an hour. Sometimes we walked all the way up Moeser Avenue to Arlington, which wound its way through the towns of Kensington and Berkeley, and then to El Cerrito. That walk often took 2.5 hours. This walk was mostly with my daughter and me, which was a really peaceful and leisurely time for us to connect. Soon we developed a routine when my daughter stopped walking the rigorous uphill climb. At one point, we timed the uphill climb to 11 minutes and 55 seconds in June, but we haven’t been able to beat that time.
Along the way, we saw some great views, fauna, and flora. I knew at some point, wherever we were with shelter in place and the pandemic, I would put together a collage of photos from our walks. With autumn here and daylight savings looming a month away, our routine will once again change, but for now, here are memories of what I call our “shelter-in-place” walks. Enjoy!
Black birds on a bare tree in March.
A late end to our walk results in a beautiful sunset.At the top of Memorial Grove, a view of the bay, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin.A closer view of the City.
Tangled tree branches at Memorial Grove.
This is a closeup of a tree at Memorial Grove. This reminds me of a Georgia O’Keefe painting.
Another closeup view of the tree. This is more O’Keefe!
A field of poppies.
A majestic cloud, like a bust, in shadow and light, near our house at the start of our walk.
A blustery March view at the top of Memorial Grove of San Francisco Bay.
Looking upward at the trees at Memorial Grove.
Another view of a Memorial Grove tree.
An iris near the high school.
I need to download the app that identifies plants and flowers on your phone. This bloom looks like a bouquet of tiny flowers.
April sunset from behind Sunset Cemetery.
Another view of the sunset.
The sinking sun at Sunset Cemetery.
We are all familiar with the turkeys that rule El Cerrito and the hills. This is up Stockton Street.
On the longer walk along Arlington Avenue, I recognized this house that I had seen years before and admired for its beautiful landscaping and details, and the traditional Colonial-style house, of course.
A closeup of the house.
A delicate bloom in a garden along Colusa Avenue.
The ferny bush and blooms.
Tangled tree branches dark against the green leaves at Memorial Grove.
Another view of the tree branches and leaves.
Closeup of a giant succulent.
A very plump turkey.
This turkey is strutting in style – belongs in a fashion magazine for turkeys.
Birds on a wire and tree branches.
Is this a monkey flower?
A May view of the City from afar, along Terrace Avenue.
A very elegant raven posed for me on rocks, iron benches, amid poppies. Surely, it deserves four photos!
Strike a pose, Raven!
Another shot of the raven.
The last raven photo.
I’d love to know what this beautiful flower is!
David spotted this hawk in a tall tree along Terrace Avenue.
A crane seen along Moeser Avenue.
A mid-May view of the City along Terrace Avenue.
A beautiful May late afternoon of the San Francisco Bay.This is an otherworldly plant and its blooms.A small park along Arlington Avenue.
A deer in someone’s yard along Arlington Avenue.
Turkeys rule the front yard of this home in early June.
An amazing bloom of an unidentified plant in late July.
A bucolic front yard with a steel bird bath at a house along Arlington Avenue.
This has been a terrible firestorm season and we’ve had some really bad bouts of heat waves, which all point to the impact of climate change. The one day where the sun didn’t come out, it was completely dark outside, and when the sun did show up it was an eerily orange disc, it felt horrifically Apocalyptic. I didn’t take any pictures, although I’ve seen many that have captured what it felt like that day. Instead, I’m going to end with two photos of the view from Terrace Avenue in El Cerrito of San Francisco Bay and the City. So clear on that Friday late afternoon. This is my home.I leave you with this one image showing both the City and the Golden Gate Bridge on a sunny and very clear day, a rarity this summer and fall. Had we not gone through shelter in place, I don’t think we would have taken this walk for our daily exercise and seen this gorgeous view. Once daylight savings hits, we’ll be limited in taking the walk up Moeser and winding down Terrace on weekends and fair weather, but we have these great photos and memories to keep this view in our hearts. May some good come out of your shelter in place.
There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that is all about to end. – Sharyn McCrumb, American writer
September usually means the first of two months of our Bay Area Indian Summer. We’ve had such a strange flower season this year, which is in keeping with all the tragedies and oddities of 2020. Our dahlias caught powdery mildew quite early in the season and succumbed. In a last-ditch effort, we put nematodes in the soil and started watering more, which seemed to perk many of the flowers in the garden. Now instead of waiting for the dahlia stalks to brown and harden so we can dig them up and separate the tubers, we are waiting to see if any buds appear on the leafy green stalks!
The flowers that are really flourishing right now are the various varieties of scabiosa that I planted in June. I’m hoping that next year they bloom earlier. Additional watering produced a longer flowering season for the alstroemeria, although it looks like most of the green stalks will not produce flowers. Alas, the bachelor’s buttons, gerbera daisies, and chocolate cosmos are telling me it’s time to wind down. The zinnias are having a growth spurt, but I fear I may give up trying to coax these fickle flowers to bloom in my garden next year.
Strangely, a lot of my plants on my wish list at Annie’s Annuals are now available, include the sweet peas. I still have a small bag of sweet pea seeds. But I couldn’t resist, and I bought more plants. I’ll be planting them soon, and we’ll see if I continue to get flowers late into fall. Part of me is ready to hang up the clippers and gardening gloves, though I do love looking out the family room windows and seeing my beloved garden. Without further ado, here are the bouquets of September.
This bouquet is anchored by one of the last dahlias of the season.
The other side of this bouquet. Another cream-colored dahlia.
I love closeups of the Florist Blue scabiosa atropurpurea and their delicate needles.
A petite bouquet.
The alstroemeria saved this month’s bouquets, giving nice foilage and bulk, as well as vibrant pink and orange colors.
I love the rudbeckias on the right – the yellow spiked flower is rudbeckia subtomentosa “Henry Eilers” and rudbeckia “Sahara.”
Ah, a perfect salmon-colored zinnia on the right, with a lime-colored zinnia to its left.
Rudbeckia hirta “Cherry Brandy” on the left and right are one of my favorite rudbeckia, although I have difficulty getting more blooms out of my one plant. Here with zinnias, rudbeckia Sahara, scabiosa atropurpurea “Snowmaiden,” the delicate cream-colored scabiosa ochroleuca, and the vibrant purple trachelium caeruleum “Hamer Pandora.”
Another view of the same bouquet, but with one orlaya grandiflora “Minoan Lace” to the left, one of my favorite flowers.
A closeup of the the orlaya grandiflora “Minoan Lace.”
Red and pink gerbera daisie, two kinds of zinnias, two kinds of rudbeckia, and scabiosas.
A closeup.
Another closeup.
I love this sunny, full bouquet.
A closeup of the yellow rudbechia, different varieties of scabiosa, and pink alstroemeria.
Another view of the bouquet, but with more scabiosa atropurpurea “Snowmaidens.”
Another “stuffed” bouquet.
A closeup.
Another closeup, with white daisies and red straw flowers.
A creamy yellow miniature rose with scabiosa atropurpurea “Snowmaiden” and the purple lacy trachelium caeruleum “Hamer Pandora.”
Another sunny, bright bouquet.
A closeup. I love the scabiosa caucasica “Fama Blue.” More rudbeckia subtomentosa “Henry Eilers” would have made this bouquet sunnier.
I love how the scabiosas grow on wavy stems because I don’t stake them very well. When you put them in bouquets, they give a Dr. Seuss kind of vibe to them.
Here I only had two blooming alstroemeria, so this is mostly a scabiosa bouquet. But is that a bad thing? 🙂
Another view of the same bouquet.
Six different kinds of scabiosas.
Relying on alstroemeria stalks to give this bouquet some interest.
The other side of this bouquet.
Last closeup, with a delicate miniature rose to the bottom left.
And the last bouquet of September, I used the last of the bachelor’s buttons (vibrant cornflower blue) and used some greenery from our shaded corner of the backyard. It gives such great texture and shape.
When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and, like a dream, glides away. — Sarah Helen Whitman, American poet, essayist, transcendentalist, spiritualist
We’re coming to the end of August and also the end of the summer bouquets. It’s been a strange season in a year we can all say we wish would end. One pleasant discovery is that with the demise of the dahlia garden, I’ve had to rely on other flowers and I’ve had to be more creative in building out my bouquets. David always told me I needed more greenery for balance. As you know, I’m all about stuffing the vase with flowers and more flowers. This time around, I have been using branches from the camellia tree — setting them up in the vase and building the bouquets around the branches. And here are the results.
Being creative here, I pull from many different flowers — from the top going down, orange alstroemeria, black scabiosa atropropurea, cornflower blue Centaurea cyanus or bachelor’s button, dianthus “pinball wizard,” red straw flower, white echinacea, chocolate cosmos, salmon-colored zinnia, and a perfect yellow miniature rose.
A close-up to highlight the zinnia, rose, chocolate cosmos, and red straw flower.
Close-up of the pretty brilliant-blue Centaurea cyanus, white echinacea, and dianthus “pinball wizard.”
The variegated camellia leaves add interest to this bouquet. I’ve learned to make symmetrical arrangements!
The other side of this bouquet looks like a completely different arrangment.
A close-up of one side of the arrangement: scabiosa atropurpurea black, a small yellow dahlia, red gerbera daisy, cream-colored scabiosa ochroleuca, yellow rudbeckia hirta “Chim chiminee,” and the pin cushion-looking trachelium caeruleum “perennial blue lace flower.”
The blue Centaurea cyanus and a pair of rudbeckias, Sahara and hirta “Chim Chiminee.”
Here’s a new favorite of mine: Scabiosa atropurpurea “Florist’s Pink.”
More Scabiosa atropurpurea “Florist’s Pink,” cream-colored scabiosa ochroleuca, and chocolate cosmos.
So while the sweet peas expired in July (see empty trellis to the left), I discovered that if I kept watering where the alstroemeria grew in abundance wth the spring rains, I would keep getting alstroemeria (not as big as in the spring and early summer, though). So that’s how I’ve been able to beef up my dahlia-less bouquets this August.
It took a few months, but the different varieties in this flower box of scabioas are finally blooming.
One of the rare variegated pink dahlias in the center of this small bouquet.
Close-up of the pink dahlia, scabiosa ochroleuca, Centaurea cyanus, and salmon-colored zinnia.
I love this horizontal bouquet with its abundance of scabiosa.
The rudbeckia Sahara is surrounded by scabiosa and Centaurea cyanus.
Close-up of the cream-colored scabiosa ochroleuca and red zinnia.
A mostly scabiosa bouquet, reminding me of a Rembrandt painting.
A blue Cupid’s Dart nestled among the scabiosa atropurpurea “Snowmaiden.”
A mostly scabiosa and alstroemeria bouquet.
Close-up of a rare orange miniature dahlia.
Now blooming – trachelium caeruleum “Hamer Pandora”! This is the deep-purple version of the “Perennial Blue Lace Flower” trachelium caeruleum.
Top view of this bouquet. White, chocolate, and bright blue colors really pop out in this arrangement.
The second-to-the-last bouquet of August. I love this one. There’s a nice balance to it.
Close-up of alstroemeria, zinnia, scabiosa, and rudbeckia.
Other side of the bouquet.
Close-up of the zinnia, rudbeckia, and scabiosa.
This is looking more like a fall bouquet than the last of two bouquets from August. Scabiosas, zinnias, gerbera, dianthus, and rudbeckia.
Close-up where the red gerbera daisy and the Rudbeckia hirta “Sahara” are ushering in September.
An interesting shape made by the twisting stems of the scabiosa atropurpurea “Florist Blue.”
Another view of this tall bouquet of mostly different kinds of scabiosa and alstroemeria.
Ah, the irrestible scabiosa atropurpurea “Fama Blue.”
White daisies and some differentiation to this scabiosa and alstroemeria bouquet.
Close-up of three different kinds of scabiosa – atropurpurea “Florist Blue” and “Florist Pink” and white ochroleuca, along with the bachelor’s button or cornflower.
I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year. – from Sonnet XXVII, Edna St. Vincent Millay, American lyrical poet and playwright
Now it is August. Midsummer. I came across this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, and I thought this first line and title of her sonnet is what the flowers are saying to me. Enjoy.
A pleasant surprise from the front yard is the appearance of more peach-colored gladiola. Here paired with alstroemeria, chocolate cosmos, and love in a mist green seed pods.
An abundance of dahlias the day before 4th of July. The pale yellow dahlias were my steadfast variety this season.
The yellow dahlias gave it their all this season but petered soon after. Here the petals looks like sinewy flutes.
A rare magenta dahlia.
Dinner-plate yellow dahlia.
Dahlias, red lilies, and love in a mist green seed pods.
Another view with a red-and-white dahlia and orange with yellow tips dahlia.
A smaller bouquet with chocolate cosmos, orange alstroemeria, miniature creamy rose, pink zinnia, blue and light purple scabiosa, and creamy scabiosa ochroleuca.
Close-up of the blue and light purple scabiosa – I love the little filaments in the middle – and tight-budded miniature rose.
Same flowers of earlier bouquets, but here with helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” (the white miniature daisy-looking flower), a sturdy red gerbera dominates, accompanied by “red velvet” achillea millefolium.
Clearly I should have cut the magenta dahlia’s stem shorter!
A pink gerbera sandwiched between two dahlias.
An addition of white scabiosa caucasica “Perfecta Alba” sandwiching the salmon zinnia at the base of the bouquet.
David’s parents gave him this vase before I came along. It’s a beautiful Japanese vase and it works really well aesthetically with the four gladiola in various stages of blooming.
The deer used to snap up the few gladiola that popped up in the front yard. This year, despite the sighting of many deer in the area, they must be munching on other people’s gardens. Here’s a close-up of the gladiola blooms.
The ever reliable alstromeria. I continue to work on filling them in as I build out the bouquet!
The last remaining blooming sweet pea – my favorite, Frances Kate.
A beautiful yellow dahlia, like coral, highlights this mid-July bouquet.
A tiny compact bouquet, filled with a pink straw flower on the left, red gaillardia on the right, and the tiny white flowers of the lantana.
The other side of the tiny bouquet – a perfect orange dahlia and a rare pale orange miniature rose.
A beautiful bouquet highlighted by a white, dinner-plate dahlia. The three helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” tower.
A close-up of this beautiful dahlia, with the helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” top left.
This pretty zinnia didn’t bloom very often.
This bouquet reminds me of the bouquets at one of the chateaux in the Loire Valley in France, although mine is not artfully done so that it looks natural. The florists there were truly magnificent with their creativity and vision. Featuring the airy, pin-headed blue trachelium caeruleum “Perennial Blue Lace Flower,” scabiosa, red and white dianthus, cream-colored miniature rose, four different kinds of scabiosa, love in a mist seed pods, chocolate cosmos, and deep-blue Centaurea cyanus (also known as cornflower or bachelor’s buttons).
A close-up of this bouquet. See how intricate it looks up close!
See how brilliant blue this Centaurea cyanus is! It looks striking in front of the cream-colored miniature rose.
The trachelium caeruleum “Perennial Blue Lace Flower” next to white and cream-colored scabiosa, and a white gerbera.
A gladiola bouquet that will last quite a while because of the buds not yet blooming.
Light on the delicate peach-colored gladiola.
Perhaps the last Frances Kate sweet pea. Note the blooms that have yet opened.
A mixed bouquet.
The other side of this mixed bouquet.
I planted a variety of scabiosa. Here is the dome-shaped scabiosa atropurpurea “Florist’s Pink.” It’s a beauty. Next to a chocolate cosmos and the cornflower-colored bachelor’s button.
A stately gladiola arrangement.
A bouquet that has a nice spread. Note the red geum quellyon “Blazing Sunset” top center.
Another view of this multi-flower bouquet.
Another compact bouqurt.
Another view of the same bouquet.
Close-up of the miniature rose – you can see the light pink edging – paired nicely with the fragrant chocolate cosmos (it really smells like chocolate!).
The curved alstroemeria and achillea millefolium “Red Velvet Yarrow” make for an interesting arrangement shape.
Another version of the same bouquet.
Close-up with the blue Cupid’s Dart, also known as Catananche caerulea, yellow dahlia, and chocolate cosmos.
And that concludes our July, our midsummer, bouquets. Stay tuned for the late summer (August) bouquet and the fall bouquet blogs.
A flower blossoms for its own joy. – Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright
2020 will go down as a strange year, to say the least, all the way around. Many just want the year to end. We have been battling a host of pests and disease in our garden, from grasshoppers and snails and gophers, to powdery mildew and mysterious diseases, that are attacking our beleaguered plants and flowers. Our dahlias have been hit hardest. And that means we’ll need to dig up the tubers, separate them, and store them until late winter. This is a chore, but we want to bring back our beloved dahlias. Still, I was able to make bouquets – not as many as in years past – and share them with family and friends. Here we go!
My sister gave me this dinner-plate dahlia because it wasn’t doing well in her hot weather summer. I just got this one dahlia, though I’m still waiting for the other smaller buds to bloom.
Love in a Mist blue flowers and favorite seed pods, Cupid’s Dart blue flowers (that is, until the gopher got this plant!), smaller dahlias, red and bi-colored Farley Chomley dianthus, white orlaya grandiflora (Minoan Lace), and white gerbera daisy.
Close-up of red-and-white miniature roses at the top, Cupid’s Dart purple flowers and then blue and white scabiosa.
Another view of this favorite petite bouquet of mine with so many of my favorite flowers.
I love the way the dianthus hang over this bouquet to give it a nice shape.
An early June only-dahlia bouquet. That is rare now. So let us enjoy this beautiful gathering of healthy-looking dahlias!
A bountiful alstromeria bouquet. These are huge!
These petite red-and-green lilies join the dahlia bouquet.
A close-up of this bouquet.
Mid-June bouquet. Notice the fewer dahlias, now joined by alstroemeria and lilies.
A different vase, but the same beautiful flowers as in the petite bouquet above.
More scabiosas, please!
A close-up of scabiosas, dianthus, and orlaya grandiflora.
My favorite Frances Kate sweet pea and orlaya grandiflora.
My one dinner-plate white dahlia.
Mid-June dahlia bouquet needs some Love in a Mist seed pods and pink alstroemeria to fill it out.
Dinner-plate yellow dahlia.
A small pitcher of Frances Kate sweet peas or lathyrus.
June 21st is Jacob’s birthday, and I had a great harvest of sweet peas.
A petite alstroemeria bouquet.
Our peach-colored gladiolus are coming up now. They have slowly naturalized in the last few years, and this is the first time we have had multiple flowers blooming.
Another petite bouquet. I’ve had to pivot to smaller vases to make smaller bouquets.
A late June bouquet.
One of my favorite burgundy dahlias didn’t produce as many flowers this season.
Late June harvest of multiple sweet pea varieties.
A few big dahlia blooms!
The very rare magenta dahlia and the faithful yellow dahlia.
This beautiful, ethereal yellow dahlia is the centerpiece for this bouquet.
Adding purple echinacea to this bouquet.
Another view of this bouquet. Gerberas (red) have been a reliable staple in my decimated garden this year.
Close-up: Speaking of staples, the scabiosa anthemifolia has been a reliable flower this season.
This orange-and-yellow dahlia was short-lived this season.
Dahlia fireworks.
The sheer, silky, fluted petals of this white dahlia.
A white rose and white helipterum roseum add to this petite bouquet.
Top view of this petite bouquet. Now you can see the white helipterum roseum and the creamy miniature rose at the top left. The salmon-colored zinnia, and in fact, all of the zinnias didn’t do well in the garden this year, but I harvested one here and there this season.
And finally, to end, the last of the June bouquets, the frilly Frances Kate sweet pea. Stay tuned for the July bouquets in a few weeks!
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