yarrows

Tony is particularly enjoying this bank of yarrow (name?) which ages through a variety of shades... while 'terra cotta', a new color, is one of my favorites.


Light through foliage creates a dramatic effect...

more flowers of summer

Out-of-garden experience

That's right, I left the safety of my own yard, for a lovely (warm) weekend with these fine folk (my dad and Tony) in and around Quincy.



Tony thought this wildflower (lavendar, below) looked like a member of the onion family. To test his theory, he ate both the flower and the bulb, which he dug up. It did taste like an onion, and yes, he is still with us...

hollyhock at 10 feet...

and climbing, rivals small tree (crimson cloud hawthorn, isn't that poetic?) for stature!


















2) one of the garden's mascots.

sunflower/bee

Remember that 'scary' looking sunflower bud of a couple days ago? Now, less scary.

'shrine'

one of the shrines that Tony's built...

virtual nursery tour, part 1:

Cottage Gardens, in Petaluma

I'd never been here before, and it is truly a beautifully put together place! (nice succulents, too)

Oh yeah, it's really summer now...

1) sunflower gets ready to go
2) dahlia 'goldie gull'
3) black-eyed susans w/ salvia clevlandii
4) butterfly bush in front of sweet peas

hot cocoa reprise

"Hot Cocoa" gets ready to bloom again, this time in big clusters...

morning sun

...just try to ignore that big silver tarp in the background!

bouquet

This was actually a week or so ago...
unseasonably cool here now, it seems...

Front Yard

Front yard, now with lavatera (tree mallow) in bloom on either side of smoke bush; California buckeye tree blooming in back...
and a new dahlia, from a 'start' I got at the SF Garden Show this spring...

feels like summer!

new rose, 'Teasing Georgia'

'Yankee Doodle' & butterfly bush

'Brandy', she's a fine girl...

Smoke bush in glory

15 minutes of gardening fame!

Technically, it's an article about our art, and Art at the Source, but here's the opening paragraph of Gretchen Giles' article in the North Bay Bohemian:

"With roses heavy and langourous on the bough, vegetables just bolting from their prim starts and heirloom sweet peas amid their twining climb, last Wednesday was a beautiful day in Lisa Beerntsen's garden. Given the garden itself, a mini-Eden behind the modest house she shares with painter Tony Speirs, it's a likely bet that, regardless of season, every day is a beautiful day in Beerntsen's garden.
The sense of color, shape and play that informs a well-tended plot imbues the couples's adjacent studio..."--- etc etc

more crazy art stuff

Now here's something you don't see everyday... seems there oughta be a snappy caption for this.
Tony is mounting the 8 x 12 foot painting we did for last years Burning Man Festival.
And that's Patrick in the garden with 5 of his pieces (or 6!)--count 'em-- visible.

art imitates life

a patrick scott gate with canna lily, the first to bloom...

Kiki boo

kind of a funny pic of the fur monster enjoying the garden...