FILOLI GARDENS - FLOWERS & MORE FLOWERS

Today we headed to the Filoli House & Gardens about 30 miles south of San Francisco. This was another of Lou's day trip discoveries. He keeps finding interesting places to visit. I lived in the Bay Area for 50 years and never knew this place existed. It is a stately old mansion built in 1917 with incredible gardens!

I assumed that the owners were named Filoli (an old Italian family??), but I was wrong - the Bourn family built the house and the Roths bought it after the Bourn's deaths. The name was derived from the first two letters of Mr. Bourn's credo - "Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life" - FI-LO-LI.

I was totally impressed by the beautiful, unique and varied flowers that grew everywhere. The volunteers change the fresh flower arrangements in the house every Tuesday.

The front entrance to Filoli House

The back of Filoli House

Another view of the rear of the house

One of the lovely flower arrangements in the library

There must have been 20 or 30 floral arrangements on the ground floor of the house

My inside photos of the house weren't the greatest but the gardens were stunning! In just about three hours of wandering around I took 131 pictures. Narrowing down which ones to include here was not easy. The gardens were divided into many smaller themes - a sunken garden, a rose garden, a fruit garden, etc. I can easily see how Mrs. Bourn or Mrs. Roth could spend hours enjoying the gardens.

The Sunken Garden - the first one you see as you leave the house

The entry way into one of the several garden houses

A view of the reflecting pond in the Sunken Garden

One of many colorful and varied garden areas

A sundial backed by a large bed of blooming flowers

These are just a few of the stunningly beautiful flowers that greeted us everywhere we turned. The gardens were well designed with colors and styles that complimented each other. There is also a fruit orchard, a swimming pool and a tennis court on the property.

One of my favorites - Naked Ladies (Amaryllis) - I love their sweet, savory fragrance

These bright blue flowers (Morning Glories) were everywhere on vines lining a pathway

It amazes me how God creates so many varieties of exquisite flowers (Hibiscus)

I loved the numerous shades of color in this large bloom (Hybrid Cabbage Rose)

I'm a sucker for white roses - they are so simple and beautiful

I love this photo, it is one of my favorites (Dahlia - thanks M'Lynn for your flower IDs)

Following our visit to Filoli, Lou planned to drive a few miles south to Stanford University where we could go to the top of the Hoover Tower for a great view of the campus. Fortunately, it wasn't far out of our way because we arrived to find it closed for renovation until mid-October - a fact that the website neglected to mention.

The Hoover Tower on Stanford University

A building on the grounds of Stanford University