Filoli in Northern California

5 Apr '07 3:22 pm

I visited this beautiful garden about a year ago. It is a 654 acre estate located on the eastern slope of the Coast Range mountains about 30 miles south of San Francisco. The lovely home is sourrounded by the most amazing collections of both formal and informal gardens. I took pictures until I ran out of memory and then only photographed about half of everything there was to see. I never even got photos of the rose gardens, tennis court gardens and several more areas. Hope you enjoy seeing this beautiful garden.

5 Apr '07 7:25 pm

Some fascinating photos -.Somehow I never thought of California having such gardens .(sun sun surf surf )They look very European .The trellis supports interested me too -the first trellis photo looke like tomatoes growing .As my tomatoes have flopped all over the ground at the moment ,something like that would be handy .
Dixie.

6 Apr '07 3:15 pm

I agree with Dixie that it seems very European, like some of the ones I've seen in France.

The scale of FIloli is surprising and apparently always has required an army of gardeners. One of my favorite memories there was of the strong contrast in colors between orange and blue flowers in one large room. Another is of several large gold/apricot climbing rose that contrasted very nicely with the bricks walls in the courtyard near the store and cafeteria. The long views down corridors of tall hedges is unlike anything else I've seen in California.

Well I determined to get there soon and for Lia to see it too.

-Mark

7 Apr '07 8:03 am

Filoli is one of the gardens I've always wanted to see. From pics I find much of it daunting in its expensive perfection, but there are parts that are sheer magic to me exactly because of the obsessive attention to detail. Enjoy, Mark and Lia! And thanks for posting, Faith! Almost all your pics are of angles or even parts that are completely new to me.

9 Apr '07 1:43 pm

It's an extremely beautiful garden. While I can admire the perfection I can't see me ever replicating anything like it. Very Happy

10 Apr '07 3:02 am

Yes, Anna and Jack, I agree that Filoli was done on a scale that no home gardener could hope to re-create. However, I did come away with quite a few ideas that could be tried on a much smaller scale in my own gardens.

Speaking of which, I must get outside. I am wasting valuable gardening time inside poring over the Forum. Wasting is not really the right word, because I thoroughly enjoy keeping up with my fellow members. Yet, I sometimes get lost in it and spend entirely too much time.

13 Apr '07 10:19 am

Faith, where were all these magnificent photos have been??!! It is great you decided to share them with us! I think this is one of the most beautiful gardens we've seen in the Forum so far ! And it has a lot of Italian touch! Is the name "Filoli" an Italian one?

Your photos present the garden in an excellent way , being themselves very beautiful captures!

14 Apr '07 12:46 pm

Well Liza, I had actually forgotten about taking these pictures until Mark's recent post reminded me. The name Filoli actually was created from the key words of the garden owner's favorite motto. Fight, love, live. The whole phrase is "Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life." I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. Mark has promised that he is going to visit Filoli before summer arrives and take lots more pictures. Hopefully he will post them for us.

14 Apr '07 9:50 pm

Wow, Faith!! I love this inspiring phrase!! But what is ..."a good life"- - unfortunatelly-- might be given so many different meanings by each one of our fellow humans.. But , according to this inspiring man, "a good life" would be impossible to live, without figting for just causes, and loving and respecting our fellow human beings, no? I totally agree!!

Filoli in Northern California

Filoli in Northern California

California

Quick visits

Beautiful!

Filoli