Jeanne's Garden: Art for the Walls - pics from Jeanne's Garden

These are some photographs from Jeanne's garden, taken over the last few decades. There are many plants on this page that are growing in many yards acrss the country, but they're overlooked. We tend to take for granted some of the most hardy, robust species on the planet (like dandelions) when we should be celebrating them, not exterminating them.

This one is my favorite photos - seeds from a plant called Jupiter's Beard, aka Centranthus Ruber. It's an extremely hardy, \drought tolerant, low-maintenance plant that makes any yard look more like a fancy English garden. I used to see it growing along the roadside in the Glen Park district of San Francisco. Butterflies love this plant. It reminds me of Jeanne, who was very independent and strong. She was the opposite of "high maintenance," but she was reliable and cheerful. She was like these plants that keep coming back strong, producing lots of bright, colorful flowers that feed hungry butterflies, year after year.

After Jeanne passed away, I saw more butterflies in the front yard, than I'd ever seen in my life, and they were very drawn to this plant. One day I looked more closely at the plant as it was going to seed, and noticed how beautiful they are. The gold and red colors of the seeds that looked like little fans made me think of Chinese New Year. Jeanne came to the United States from China on a scholarship when she was just 16 years old.

One day in 2019, I was taking pictures in the front yard, of one of the most prolific plants I have, called Red Valerian, or Jupiter's Beard. Butterflies love this plant, and it's easy to grow. When the flowers would turn into seeds, the plant would look a bit messy. I'd just chop down the dead looking branches and throw them in the yard scraps bin.

But one day I looked more closely at the seeds, and it was like peering into a beautiful world full of bright colors I'd never have noticed without the macro lens on my camera. There was so much red and gold - colors often used during Chinese New Year celebrations. I couldn't help thinking of Jeanne, and how she loved red flowers. One day I want to blow up this photograph and frame it.

Chinese New Year decorations:

One of the many butterflies I saw on this plant, the year after Jeanne passed away.

These are flowers from a large mirabelle plum tree in the front yard.

Mirabelle plums are said to be one of the sweetest varieties of plums when they're fully ripe.

Peach blossoms in early Spring

Oxalis flowers in late winter

Over the years, I've found dozens of these "4 leaf clovers" (oxalis leaves) in Jeanne's garden.

This is one of them.

This was one of my Grandpa Jack's favorite rose bushes. I transported it from his house in Palo Alto, to Jeanne's front yard, after my Grandparent's house was sold in 2002. I was never sure what variety of rose this is, but the blooms are stunning, and sometimes they almost seem to glow at sunset, with their shades of gold and pink.

A morning glory flower I planted from seed.

An oak tree leaf from a small oak tree that began growing after a squirrel buried an acorn in the front yard.

A bee looking for the next poppy to land on.

Pure yellow poppies grown from seeds I found on a walk in San Francisco.

White ginger grown in my back yard in California! I posted this photo on Flickr, and was contacted by a graphic artist who wanted to use my photo on the packaging for white ginger root cuttings that are sold to tourists at the airport. She paid me to use the photograph, and I asked her to make the check out to the Homeless Cat Network.

This is the seed ball from Sow Thistle. It's a highly nutritious plant that I sometimes feed to my cats and dogs.

A simple dandelion flower. Dandelion is one of the most nutritious plants ever known to mankind. Did you know you can eat every single part of the plant? Maybe it's no wonder that companies like Monsanto want you to believe nothing mroe than a nuisance that should be poisoned. But it should be celebrated, not exterminated.