My Back 40 (Feet)

Hello again, welcome! Dramatic growth since my last blog post, May 6... I already talked a lot about Echium 'Blue Steeple' last time. California tarweed (Madia elegans) is a summer staple in the ...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2019/06/mid-june-in-small-city-garden.html

Things are coming along... I think the biggest goof I've made planting the new garden (so far) was putting the black aeonium 'Zwartkopf' so close to the smoke bush. It may not look so bad here, b...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-back-40.html

Alternate title: Echium delights in Bernal Heights. We had a wonderfully slow spring, with cool temperatures and regular rains--for months! Spring flowers that would often tap out in March are go...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2019/04/everyday-sights-in-bernal-heights.html

Hi, I know it's been a minute, and I feel like some kind of explanation is warranted, but I am not sure what it would be. And I will say it feels surprisingly awkward to attempt blogging after 4....

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2019/04/return-to-my-back-40-feet.html

We just got back from Lana'i. Would you like to see some pictures? After this, we only have one more Hawaiian island to visit (Moloka'i) before we've seen all of the inhabited ones (unless you co...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/10/lanai.html

I had Monday off and spent the morning at a favorite haunt, the Blake Garden in Kensington, an unincorporated pocket between Berkeley and El Cerrito. Fall is here, but it's early so it still feel...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/10/blake-garden.html

Guy found a Groupon for Filoli, so we went for it.

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/09/filoli.html

We went "glamping" in Stewarts Point a couple weekends ago. Sonoma County, north of Jenner. Just south of Sea Ranch. The next several pictures are from the Black Point Beach trail. Sea Ranch Chap...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/09/scenes-from-sonoma-coast.html

We went to Ukiah... a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures? It was hot. The poison oak has turned red in all my usual hiking haunts. People on Instagram (@chuck_b) thought that log was a hole. R...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/08/vichy-springs.html

I don't get to do this much anymore -- walk around my neighborhood. Because I work all the time. Well, it's nice to be wanted (for work). Up to a point. And then, blech. Am I right? The Leonotis ...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/07/everyday-sights-in-bernal-heights.html

Vallejo between Montgomery and Kearny is too steep for cars, so it has stairs instead of street. And, guess what, you guys? The stairs have been planted. My office is about 6 blocks south of here...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/07/vallejo-street-steps.html

Hi again! We had some family business in Seattle last week and took the opportunity to make an overnight trip to Vancouver. We stopped at VanDusen on the way back. Here are some pictures. Dogwood...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/06/vandusen-botanical-garden.html

Tap, tap, tap... does this still work? Burning question: How long are you "a blogger" for, after the last time you blogged? What is a "blogger", anyway? Well, regardless, here are some pictures I...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2014/06/return-to-ruth-bancroft-garden.html

We were up in Seattle a couple weekends ago visiting family and friends. Here are some pictures from Snoquera Falls, a fine, two-mile hike about an hour south of SeaTac.  After about a 1-mil...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/07/snoquera-falls-loop.html

A walk in San Francisco this time of year is a blessed thing. But maybe not today. Today is foggy and a little cold. I took these pictures yesterday when it was sunny. Today, staying home with yo...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/05/everyday-sights-in-bernal-heights_27.html

Obvs, I found the cliffs as compelling as the beach.  Erosive forces and what not have opened huge canyons now colonized with the usual coastal scrub. You can step into them a little bit, bu...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/05/low-tide-at-sculptured-beach-cloaked-in.html

Some pictures from a 4-mile hike to my campsite in Point Reyes a couple of days ago. Leaving work in SF at 4pm, I had to hustle a bit to get there before the sun went down. I had site #6, on the ...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/05/point-reyes-on-way-to-glen-camp.html

Crossed the Golden Gate to go hunting for Calochortus tiburonensis on Ring Mountain this morning. Didn't find it.  Found other things to enjoy. I was especially happy to indulge my fond...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/05/ring-mountain.html

Before we roll into the Ruth Risdon Storer garden, here are some pictures from a nearby border, next to the plant sale area. Unforch, I failed to get a long shot of the whole thing (I wasn't thin...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/04/ruth-risdon-storer-uc-davis.html

Do you like to visit old cemeteries? Have you seen the one in Sacramento? We've come here twice before, once in 2010 and before that in 2007. Maybe I came another time without blogging about...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/04/sacramentos-historic-city-cemetery.html

Just got home from a fabulously fun, garden-centric weekend in Sacramento with my friend Carri Stokes and her family. We visited Carri's favorite first, the WPA garden, a 1-acre gem in ...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/04/sacramentos-wpa-garden.html

I accompanied friends on "a short hike" in Marin County today. A shorter hike would have been fine. Well, it was a lovely day-- bright sun, blue skies, cool breezes... The oaks have all leafed ou...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/04/mount-burdell.html

Not a complaint so much as an observation.    A complaint might be, this garden has too many plants.  The lily stalks are poking up everywhere. I love them.  The nasturtium ar...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-has-been-rainy.html

My garden is still a thing. It's getting to be springtime so it's fun to take pictures again. All the plants are getting so big. I prune and prune, but you would never know. The buckeye, pruned e...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/03/back-in-garden-again.html

It's March. Are you sick of daffodils? Well, we were a little too early for tulips. Tho' we did see a few. I rather enjoyed the remnants of winter. The remnants of winter. Winter is going.  ...

http://back40feet.blogspot.com/2013/03/winter-in-retreat-at-filoli-today.html