I’ve lived in the Bay Area practically all of my life and had no idea that this gorgeous place existed. Fioli Historic House and Gardens is just about an hour away from where I live Marin county. It’s in the peninsula, south of San Francisco. Back in the day, it was a private residence, but now you can visit it and explore the mansion and the grounds.
I went a couple weeks ago with my friends, Jen and Cindy; you might remember them from the MAC Evolution Revolution launch from waaaay back when. 🙂 We had tea at the cafe, explored the gardens and caught up.
Sometimes I can’t believe that I used to talk to these two and see them every day. That’s one of the magical things of my childhood and teenage years that I didn’t fully understand the wonder of until I got older. To be able to say that I spent almost every day of my formative years with good friends was such a gift.
Anywho, back to the gardens! Everywhere you go, there’s something gorgeous to see.
If you ever get the chance to visit, please make your way to the rose garden and read through all the names of the roses. They’re low-key scandalous, LOL!
Where you live, are there any cool houses with gardens like this one?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The Dallas Arboretum has a rich person’s house as its centerpiece, so to speak. The biggest deal there is the “Dallas Blooms” event in the spring when all the bulbs planted by volunteers the previous fall come into bloom. Tulips, daffodils, etc. Also delphiniums (not a bulb) and azaleas. Most of these have to be replanted every year because our 6 months of hot weather every year will destroy these plants. I see you got a photo of some tall dahlias. I’ve grown those to blooming stage in the past (1983). The great local plant expert Neil Sperry says that’s impossible in this area, but I did it. It helped that a late hurricane that hit Houston brought some cooler weather with rain to my area just around the time it was needed to get the dahlias to bloom.
Side note – the Arboretum was built on land that used to have an apartment complex that figures into the Kennedy assassination lore. Look up “Sylvia Odio” in connection to the JFK story. The street the building was on no longer exists – the gardens are there now. Additional side note – this isn’t far from where H. L. Hunt, the famous right-wing multi-millionaire lived.
Hi Karen!
The gardens are lovely. What a beautiful afternoon it looks to have been. There is nothing better than hanging out with friends – and in such a beautiful location to boot.
Down south here in LA, hubs and I will occasionally trek over from West LA to Pasadena to the Huntington Library (Gilded Age mansion and botanical gardens) or La Canada-Flintridge to the Descanso Gardens. If we go up to Santa Barbara, we’ll check out the botanical gardens there. Here in town we have a few smaller public gardens as well – what a good reminder to go see them! Thank you so much for the article!