Home-Grown, September Edition

This is the second installment of Home-Grown, a closer look at the blooms and edibles that are 100% community garden, and organically grown in San Francisco.

It's September, I'm not 100% sure how it's already here. But, we are in the thick of it, the weddings are aplenty, and the product is really, really pretty.  I thank my lucky stars every day that I have two hands that are able to create, to photograph, to type, to shower brides and grooms and loved ones in floral art on the regular. 

Summer this year flew by. I'm still in denial that Fall is about to happen, but when I went to the garden to find my tomato plant was on it's last leg and my sunflowers are beginning to seed, reality set in. I'm still going to cherish the rest of the peach-juice running down my arms, the Napa Valley heat, and dahlias for the next few weeks here. 

Somehow poppies have defied time and space this year, and there are still a few late bloomers in the garden. The sunflowers are called "Moulin Rouge" and I adore that they are tiny little dainty things. Persian Carpet zinnias are some of my favorites and are still going strong. Yellow Coreopsis grows like a weed in the garden, but I love how bold they are, and are almost inverse to the Persian Carpets. I started growing the red hanging Amaranth for a client in October, but pruning is good. So I took some of that! Dahlias are still hanging in there, they are getting wilty, but I'm cherishing them while they are still here. 

As for the edibles, raspberries are going to town. I assure you that after these were photographed, the ripe ones were eaten (right after I put them on the tips of my fingers and ate them one by one, Amelié style). I topped my salad with the nasturtium bloom, which are actually very, very good for you. Hot peppers are just starting to get their color in the garden, I haven't quite dived in to these yet, since you really never know how powerful those things are. I'll use them when I really need my nasal passages cleared out.

Anyway, there you have it! September's colors are certainly more autumnal, but I'm definitely learning to be inspired by oranges, browns, and reds as the sunlight gets a bit more golden, earlier each day.