Texture .. Architecture - Plants as Ornament

Living Green Wall ..Hotel Modera in downtown Portland.   

An element of the hotel building's mid-century modern design: 

The courtyard landscape features soft pillows of golden Scotch Moss - Sagina subulata 'Aurea' ...set into the pavement.

Silky ... The inspiration for Bay Area Tendrils:

Clematis tibetana seedheads in Autumn - Alice's Garden.

Formidable architecture of an Aloe in bloom - Getty Center, Los Angeles.

Bedazzling ... Vertical structure of Himalayan blue bamboo:

Entry Garden Borders - San Francisco Botanical Garden

A Hint of Autumn .. Blooms in my Bay Area Garden

A bee enjoying an Anemone: The large swathe of Japanese Anemones - a melding of 'Pamina' and 'Mont Rose,' burst forth in the bed where roses once grew; too little sunlight now for roses.
Photos © Alice Joyce

Anemone 'Pamina' ... she's quite the lady.

What would I do without Toad Lilies! Especially Tricyrtis lasiocarpa : Yes, it spreads vigorously, but that trouble-free habit is just what's needed now in the spot where it grows along the back fence, beneath the limbs of my neighbor's enormous evergreen.

As I've had to cut back on the time spent on garden maintenance, I appreciate the elegance of this long-stemmed beauty more and more with each passing year.

Scrophularia 'Lemon and Lime' exhibits my favorite hues, brightening a bed that gets less and less light as the daylight hours grow shorter. In the ground Scrophularia languished, but planted now in the moist conditions of a faux terra cotta planter, it flourishes.

The blooms on this member of the mint family are a magnet for bees.

To read more about 'sticky germander' ... the common name,

here's a link to my San Francisco Chronicle Pick of the Week column.

A Perfect Shade of Apple Green: Bells of Ireland

'Apple Green' Bells of Ireland

This year marks the first time I've had an opportunity to cultivate this charming, old-fashioned annual, grown from a trial packet of seeds from Renee's Garden.

Moluccella laevis ... aka Bells of Ireland.

Many fine bouquets were produced!

The seeds - sown directly in the ground in late-spring - were able to thrive in the full sun of T's community garden plot.

Not surprisingly, my attempts to grow but a few seeds here at home failed, with nary a spot that received enough sunshine for the plants to flourish.