What could be more delightful than having lunch with long-time friends who are also gardeners? It was a grey day, but Hilda’s smile could light up any amount of gloom.

This is a food-centric garden. Hilda does the planting and tending, while Bill pitches in by building structures like these raised beds out front,

and systems like this one for capturing water, tucked away behind a grape vine on a trellis.

Espaliered fruit trees divide the space.

Many of the plantings could pass as purely ornamental, but careful thought has gone into attracting bees and other pollinators.

Colorful Achilleas spill over gravel paths.

No reason yummy cannot also be beautiful.

Not that there aren’t a few plants included for their beauty alone.

Some architectural fragments peek out here and there.

Ditto bits of whimsy.

A bench for taking it all in.

Thanks, Bill and Hilda, for inviting me to spend an afternoon in your urban oasis.