My Lovely Neighbors

Two houses up from us live these wonderful people who help raise and protect monarch butterflies. This means that on our block and in the surrounding neighborhood, there are monarchs. Nearly year-round. Like I just said, wonderful people.

Monarch on Heliotrope, April 10th, 2026

I am not so wonderful. (True confessions here: I don't really like to grow milkweed plants in my garden. Those non-native orange aphids just creep me out.) 

I prefer to grow plants that feed the adult butterflies, who then go on to make new baby butterflies. A different "circle of life". After a few years of observation, I have found that there are two plants that 1) I love; 2) the butterflies and other insect-types love; 3) are easy to grow and bloom year-round (especially the heliotrope); and 4) don't need gallons of water to thrive.

They are Heliotrope, especially the white version (Heliotropium arborescens 'Alba') and Verbena Bonariensis. Now one entirely valid criticism of both these plants is that they are non-natives. True. So am I a non-native. But they do the job, probably better than I could ever do. 

Early Spring

I planted these crocuses in 1988. Or by now, maybe it was their ancestors that I planted way back then. It doesn't matter. They still are wonderful.

Autumn Colors

We went to the San Francisco Botanical Garden on Tuesday, expecting to see some fall colors. And there was one predominant color - green. Nonetheless, it was an engaging afternoon.

However, the Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland had a few spectacular examples of trees changing color. No, no, not the redwoods, but the Chinese pistachio trees were in their full glory.

The Golden Boy

He's big. He's bold. But he doesn't have a stinger. 

He's the Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) and he came to visit the front garden last week.  He was especially partial to the purple veronica plants in bloom. He's quite a lot of insect to manage at first glance, but he does dress to impress.

Oh yeah, and he has green(ish) eyes. What a guy!

Sooo, They're Not Really Squash

Remember waay back when - December, 2023, to be precise - I wrote about a new set of gourds I grew in the front yard, destined (fingers crossed) to become birdhouses? Most likely, you don't. But that's okay, because I can tell you about it (again?) and you probably won't mind because you don't remember, right?

So, the gourds grew all summer along in 2023, then sat outside on the front porch drying and curing until nearly the summer of 2024. It took a while, but it was a huge success: nine potential birdhouses for many, many generations of wrens, chickadees and/or titmice. 

After a bit of drilling and filing, they came into their true purpose:

One gourd/birdhouse is now suspended from the back trellis, very close to where the old one was hanging. I haven't seen any feathery bodies checking out the premises yet, but I have high hopes. In all honesty, it sometimes can take the little ones a year or more to find the site and be convinced that it's safe. 

A few more are with other friends and family members, I believe even as far away as the San Diego area. As for the rest? Shhh, my lovely niece and I are installing them in an undisclosed open space area for the very wild birds. Her son was a great little helper on our first installation event. 

Who's Your Daddy?

 Same mother sunflower plant, grown from seeds saved from last year. But since the bees are doing the heavy lifting of moving around the male pollen, any sunflower could have been your daddy. 

Yup, the power of genetics...

Tall Trees

Trillium Falls 
Redwood National Park

The Beach

It's been raining, and it's supposed to rain again. What better time to head out to Tennessee Valley for a hike. 

Sisters

Back in the days, as in, last year, when the wrens happily nested in their gourd house, life was good. But this year, it became all too obvious that the birdhouse was becoming a rickety tear-down. Something needed to be done.

A packet of seeds, a pile of compost and a long growing season later, we got some new housing stock. Potentially. All related, and all still connected. (Since then, they have been cut off the vine and moved onto the porch for shelter.)

I'm not yet hopeful, perhaps just wishful, that they will cure properly (or at least some small number of them won't rot out completely) and become new homes for the next generations of wrens. 

Charlotte

I was getting very worried, and even commented on it to a few people who wouldn't think that I was getting (even more) odd. 

But it's been years, literally years, since I have noticed orb weaver spiders hanging out in their (her, actually) large, round webs in the front yard. The last time I remember seeing them was probably in 2018; definitely since before the pandemic. 

Charlotte

But this year, perhaps because of all the rains this past winter, or for other reasons unknown to me, the spiders are back! 

My neighbor named her Charlotte (bless you, E. B. White) because she appeared while we were away on holiday and watched over Luna in our absence. And, no, she did not write, "Some Cat" in her web, but I'm sure she could have...

For a few months we dodged her web each morning, sometimes rearranging it for her in ways that probably didn't make her happy. She finally figured out the problem and positioned the support line from the top on the porch pillar and not at the middle. Brilliant!

I haven't seen Charlotte in a few weeks, so I'm assuming that she has moved on. I'm also hoping that at least a few of her babies will appear here next year. 

Ferry Around the Bay

It's summer once again, that little splash of rain notwithstanding, and the new crop of "summer" visitors should be arriving soon. Now we all know how difficult it can be to find new things for them to do and see. So why not try the ferry?

Our dear friend Helen Doyle recently wrote a comprehensive guide to ferrying around the bay in Bay Nature magazine. It spurred us to take the ferry from Richmond (easy parking) to San Francisco, and then straight back again. 

So why not stay a bit longer in SF? Well, we had to make it back for happy hour at Armistice...

Spotless

It sure looked like a ladybug, except it was the wrong color, no spots, and was sitting on this extremely weird bug-esque thing. The sort of thing that you would swat away and then step on, even with our smack-in-your-face insect apocalypse. 

And then it clicked: it's a newly hatching ladybug. Pristine, shiny and still developing.

So I watched it for a bit, got bored and went back to planting stuff. Then I remembered to go and take another look. 

A newly minted Seven-Spotted Ladybug (coccinella septempunctata)!

 

Green, Greener, Greenest

Not exactly the super bloom along the Bolinas Ridge Trail on Mt. Tam, but a wonderful hike, regardless.

I have no doubt that in a few short weeks, the lupines will be fully in bloom. Then you will need to stand back and keep your sunglasses on. 

Housing is for the Birds

Way back in 2017, I got involved in a silly experiment - gourd growing. The vines took over the entire driveway and produced four very large, and, if I may say so, beautiful offspring. These gourds were always in the state of going-to-be: a lidded pot; a decorative bowl; a something that needed time and attention. And an empty space on some table or shelf somewhere. 

Instead, they sat on a very high shelf in the garage, looked down on me with contempt and impatience, and collected dust. Until yesterday, when I noticed that the early wren bird was once again exploring the birdhouse in the backyard. It was an aha moment - those lazy, languishing gourds could be someone's new family home.

A trip to the Oakland Tool Lending Library, a little bit of fiddling (to get the cord through those small holes) and filing (to smooth out the drill holes) and, ta-da!, a new home for a wren, chickadee or titmouse family. 

Now because all of these little birdie types are aggressively territorial, these new gourd-homes had to be located in someone else's yard - one to the neighbors across the street, and the others far, far away in other neighborhoods. Fingers crossed that the new avian residents use them in good health and happiness.

Feline Fashionistas

Birdsbesafe®. Yes, those silly, brightly colored fabric collars that are designed to keep your sweet kitty friend from massacring your sweet birdie friends. And "brightly colored" works. According to researchers at St. Lawrence University, "cats wearing collars killed 19 times fewer birds than uncollared cats.

But really it's all about making a fashion statement. Sebastian, for example, looks absolutely gorgeous modeling the newest design (yup, I made them myself - just as easy to sew as to buy - and shared a few with friends).

Photo courtesy of Judy Chess

And doesn't Luna cut a lovely figure showing off an older model? It's actually, a hand-me-down from Princess, but Luna doesn't seem to mind. 

And Sebastian once again, sporting another lovely design, handcrafted by his guardian, Judy. So adorable.

Photo courtesy of Judy Chess

Available online or from your local sewing machine. 

The brighter the better!

Keep your local birds happy and safe!

The High Country

Got our reservation last month in order to visit  Yosemite this month. We skipped Yosemite Valley entirely and aimed for the John Muir Trail out of Tuolumne Meadows. 

On the way up the Tioga Road, we stopped at the Tuolumne Grove. Containing around two dozen mature giant sequoias and a steep climb back to the road, it was a perfect break from driving. Yes, Bay Area traffic is miserable again. And yes, the Yosemite reservation system can make entering the park very, very, very sloooow. Getting out of the car was vital.

The next morning, with masks in pockets for those just-in-case situations, we headed out through Lyell Canyon on the mostly deserted trail. Could not have been more beautiful!

 

The third day we hiked a section of the Glen Aulin Trail before heading back home. Reservations are only valid for three days, so you have to pack in all the adventures that you can in a short amount of time. 

Click here for information about Yosemite reservations.

They're BACK!

The gourd was hung in backyard in January, 2016 as a nesting site (it looked a lot fresher back then.). And that spring, and every spring since, it has hosted at least one round of Bewick's wren nestlings. Often two. 

Over the past few weeks, we have observed (from a polite distance, of course) a lot of "birdie-action" at the nest site: Chestnut-backed chickadees, Oak titmice and the wrens, all checking out the property. But until very recently, it wasn't clear who would be claiming the gourd this year. 

Bewick's wren, April 1st, 2021

So how did we know for certain that it was to be the wren's home again? Two days ago, one of the wrens was observed chasing away a Fox squirrel from around the gourd! We wish these fierce little ones all the best this nesting season.

Springtime

The single blooming daffodil and the new baby hummingbirds tell me that our brief winter is pretty much over for another year. 

Even the cliff maids (Lewisia longipetala) are starting to bloom.

Feasting on the Fennel

October 21st

Ms. Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) showed up one morning and simply started eating. And eating. And eating some more. 

Luckily, she seems to like the fronds far more than the bulbs, so we are able to share quite easily.

Unless she keeps eating. And eating.

At some point (three to four weeks, they say, so it looks like we have a way to go) she will stop eating and form a chrysalis.

Then it's another ten to twenty days before a gorgeous butterfly emerges. The race is on!

October 25th

 

October 30th

The fennel variety is Perfection, and I have had good luck growing it in the fall. It may even be featured on the Thanksgiving menu this year. Unless of course, she eats it all.

Surreal

A flower for these times. May I present the White-veined Pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata), which almost could be classified as a "splurge" if I hadn't grown it from seed. Yeah, not much money, but quite a bit of on-going attention - it took a full year to get them to a reasonable size. And then to bloom.

Even though these little plants are native to Brazil, they can serve as hosts for the Pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor). Although you would probably need an entire field of them to satisfy a crowd of hungry caterpillars.