Happy Halloween!

I went to Calistoga yesterday evening to carve pumpkins with the nieces, which was very fun!
And I just hadn't seen them in a while.
Claire modeled her Claire-wolf costume for us...

more of that Fall beauty

(click on any photo to enlarge)

...and the leaves came down...

plus:
Happy Birthday Today: Wendy!
Happy Birthday Yesterday: Dad!
Happy Birthday Last Week: Tony!
Happy (89th) Birthday-- earlier this month-- my Gram, still going strong!
hmmm, lots of good things happen in October...

Back to the Garden!

1) Charisma!












2) Teasing Georgia













3) Brandy (of course)











4) Gingersnap












5) Dahlia "Goldie Gull"

















6) CastorBean: majestically sculptural, this was the most inquired about plant in the garden these past weekends

more Sonoma County Fall

Tony went out for a bike ride this afternoon, and this is some of what he saw:

on a beautiful Fall day...

Immediately following an open studios weekend, we usually feel like getting as far from the studio as possible; this time we drove north, and went to the charming Jimtown Store (where we had lunch), then onwards to Hopland, and back by meandering country roads.

Hi Garden People!

Sorry, I've been a garden-posting slacker. Busy getting ready for ArTrails & all...

Tony was up on the garage roof, in the name of art, of course, and was able to see our lands from a slightly different vantage point, where he took this picture...

And here's one of the shrines that Tony's built, surrounded by wisteria in the late afternoon light.

garden tour, part 2: Discoe/Hatch

This was the second garden I visited, with friend Leslie, 2 weeks ago during Open Garden days. I remembered reading a Press Democrat article about this couple, and the house that he built

(Discoe/Hatch Press Democrat Article)

and so when I read the description of the grounds, I knew I'd have to go. They were, of course, more beautiful then these photos can convey. These corn stalks are in fact metal sculptures, with little solar panels on their leaves; the corn kernals and tassels light and twinkle in the dark. We saw a whole field of these a number of years ago-- where else, at Burning Man!






(click to enlarge any photo)

a very 'wine country' mulch

Apparently there are some wines which come by their 'oak-y' flavor not by soaking in the traditional oak barrels, but from oak chips, in mesh 'sachets', such as these. (I hope I'm not giving away any trade secrets here!) When they come out of the wine, they have a very rich dark color (which fades away fairly quickly), and a strong wine scent. Anyways, they're great for topping off the paths, which I was thinking of doing, just shortly before our friend David, who is a local winemaker, pulled in with a stack of these sacks. Thanks!

and then the sun came out

and there was much rejoicing!



a different kind of 'rainbow'; yes, that's a standard height roof-line.