We pass the Bettie Page house on the way to our friends' house.
And we pass a Ceanothus in bloom.
In the morning we go for a walk around the neighborhood. I'm reminded how Chuck once said, "I don't like Acer dissectum cv. atropurpureum (Laceleaf Japanese Maple), mostly because it's grafted, but also because it looks like the Cousin It of plants. And I totally acknowledge that it's pretty. Sometimes being pretty just isn't enough."
Japanese maple.
Cousin It.
I like this gate.
I like this fence.
Pretty Euphorbia.
I think I'd have put taller plants behind Venus, though I do like the blue at her feet.
Nice.
I like Japanese lanterns in other people's yards, though (like Buddha, like Venus, like the Virgin Mary, like Roman columns, like just about anything) they're too culturally specific for me to want to use in my yard. I think I only want modern and/or natural objects in with my plants. I can't even handle planters that aren't neutral monocromes.
Moments after I take this photo, a woman jogs past me with her dog and apologizes for breaking the rules.
Cute. (Though there will never be words in my yard.)
A beautiful trellis.
Look, it's local gardening personality Ciscoe Morris's house again.
The castor bean plant has grown a lot.
EDIT: This is not a castor bean plant. It is Tertapanax papyrifera "Steroidal Giant" (giant rice paper plant).
I've taken this shot before. Maple, Mondo, moss.
Smoke bush. Lovely.
Ciscoe's Ceanothus isn't blooming yet.
Bye, Ciscoe!
Someone's been hard at work.
Nice colors.
This is totally Seattle. A Japanese maple and a bunch of evergreens.
And I'll show you one photo of our charge, because she's kind of like a rock star, she's so perfectly cute.
