I must have flowers, always, and always.
– Claude Monet, founder of French impressionist painting

I’ve been away from blogging for two weeks – the longest stretch that I’ve not been blogging. In that time, I have become uber-obsessed with nurturing the garden. Although I’ve been tending to my flower garden for years – 17 to be exact, the last few years have seen minimal effort from me because of a lack of time.

Wide-ranging Portola bouquet.

June 20th Portola bouquet front side.

June 20th Portola bouquet back side.

A bountiful second weekly Portola bouquet.

This summer, I succumbed to the allure of the local nurseries – discovering or rediscovering nurseries closer to me than my usual haunt of Annie’s Annuals (740 Market Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801, 510.215.3301). I’ll come back in another blog post to my visits to a couple of rediscovered nurseries, but for now, I’m just going to share the fruits of my labor. I’ll also post on Friday my latest garden project, which is at the heart of my absence of blogging and the mother of all obsessions of the garden kind.

July 1st anniversary bouquet for my friends Kelly and Scott side 1. See the dianthus chomley farran’s bicolor purple and red stripes at the top of the bouquet and the explosion of dinner-plate white dahlias! It’s also the last of the peachy gladiolas.

July 1st anniversary bouquet for my friends Kelly and Scott side 2, with new deep purple dahlias.

July 1st anniversary bouquet for my friends Kelly and Scott side 3, featuring scabiosa caucasica ‘Fama Blue’ to the left, the first time it’s really bloomed for me this summer. And the yellow dahlias are starting to bloom.

Here, I present the latest couple of weeks’ worth of flowers. I have a bounty, but I confess to having planted quite a number of new dahlias, while many of last year’s dahlias are still forming buds, and trying new perennials and annuals that self-sow to bring variety to the garden and future bouquets. Enjoy!

Bouquet close-up….

Almost-black burgundy dahlia, another dinner-plate variety.

Red-and-white striped dahlia.

Spiked burgundy dahlia.

The new deep purple dahlia with its multiple fluted petals.

Lipstick-red dahlia.

Close-up of the dinner-plate white dahlias – worth the wait.