All posts filed under: secret gardens

In The Garden

Although I am one who manages stress pretty well, I might say, there are moments where I need to stop all things and simply sit in my garden and reflect. That’s what I did last night, while experiencing an unusual heatwave for June in San Francisco. At seven-thirty in the evening I pulled a recline from the garage and went down to my garden and sat among the colorful plants and I watched the birds, the bees and the butterflies feast among the lavender for hours. And then I heard a fluttering near my ear, and I turned my head slowly and shifted my eyes to see the most beautiful of hummingbird simply inches away from me, and I said hello… For my life, if only for a few hours, felt peaceful and complete.

Garden Therapy

I went to the local garden shop over the weekend, in hopes of purchasing a few more plants so that I may add them to my garden. Which has become my haven-no doubt-for anyone who understands the impact of a personalized outdoor space. I mean, I do visit gardens in parks, and walk past home front gardens or partial views of some through neighborhoods I can only dream of living. But there is nothing better than the art of creating a garden that you hope the birds, and butterflies and bees would visit often. The idea of it all makes me smile…in the most peaceful manner imaginable.

Friday Thoughts

I have to say it was a tough week. Long work hours, even longer life chores or obligations and more, which kept me away from my garden. Sure I can come up with all sorts of excuses, like awful coastal weather in San Francisco this time of the year preventing me from enjoying the garden. Back to back zoom meetings, caring for my mother, the raccoon that dug up a hole and made his way to our garden, and up over the fence to the neighbor’s rooftop one morning-which scared me to death-while I sat listening in on a global presentation at five in the morning, about how much more we needed to do to reach the level of success engineered and carved in stone by our executive leadership team… I am not a fan of raccoons. But after an entire week of garden neglect, I sit at my desk by the window this morning thinking just how much I missed out on the serenity, and calmness I feel when I am out there simply …

Garden Creation

While a hectic weekend, I did find an hour’s time to settle on plants for the challenging garden I am aiming to create from sandy soil, hills and coastal foggy summer days. Someone said start Jasmine, Bougainvillea and New Zealand Flax might just do the trick. So far lavender and Japanese dwarf Maple are hanging tough. Also potted Gardenia, where I control the soil and nutrients. Next up – paint dingy fence or not. Thought for the day – how to decide what is misinformation and what’s the best advise online for plant how to. May I ask – What is your garden regret?

union square san francisco – a holiday treat

This year, being that we are super busy on the weekends, we opted to do our annual traditional holiday dinner and shopping downtown on Monday night instead. So after work, we met up at Union Square and after a few cocktails and a wonderful dinner here, we shopped at Macy of course, then Bloomies, Saks Fifth Avenue, William Sonoma and then took a break with hot chocolate to enjoy Union Square. Thankfully the weather was nice and the ambiance as always unforgettable during this time of the year: