Daffodil Days at Filoli

Filoli's 16-acre English Renaisssance Garden comes to life every year with the Daffodil Days, a grand flower display that features 144,000 daffodils from 118 different varieties planted throughout the garden. Some are in pots, some in the ground. Some are fragrant, some are not.

However you'll recognize the tell-tale spherical shape of "...golden daffodils, beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" (Wordsworth's full text here). Minus the lake part, that is, but Filoli has some lovely ponds and pools for the water element.

As you exit the visitor center with your tickets in hand, you have a map of all the daffodil locations in the garden. Look right away on the spot #4 for big pots of Saint Keverne narcissus. They are a deep canary yellow with large cupped flowers. This daffodil is so fragrant! It was intoxicating. It reminded me of some irises. Next to it is the Minnow daffodil, a multi-florets fainter-colored daffodil that smells like a flower honey and that kids should like.

Out in the park and if fragrance-hunting seems like a good game, look for Avalanches and Sugar Cups. They shouldn't disappoint either. The map tells you where to find them.

I started my daffodil stroll by the sunken garden where bold red tulips are already looking good and getting ready for the Spring Fling. Since the weather forecast predicted rain and wind the crowds were few and far between, which wouldn't be the case of a glorious sunny day such as Woodside knows. As I walked along the sunken garden and headed towards the fruit orchards (walled garden), I was attracted by another fragrance that I knew belonged to other flowers. Hyacinthes.

To my left, the garden house was entirely decorated with potted white, purple, and blue hyacinthes, a fittingly seasonal addition to the gorgeous flower bouquets next to the Edwardian pigeon cage - with a live white pigeon in it. Gosh I love it when hyacinthes open up. It means that spring really isn't far. The walled garden had more beds of pink and lavender-hued hyacinthes but pots of swaying daffodils and pink tulips definitely stole the show.

Where in the Bay Area do you get that close to garden perfection in the Western sense of the term? Undoubtedly you will pass countless dedicated gardeners raking, weeding, pulling, and improving what already looks like a jewel of a garden.

So knowledgeable are Filoli's gardeners that they are partnered with University of California Master Gardeners, San Mateo and San Francisco counties. Indeed I had a question about a pink blossoming tall tree and I asked one of the gardeners who told me I was looking at a plum tree.

After you go past the hedge that separates the walled garden from the rose garden, head to the fruit garden which currently resembles a country meadow. A dirt path meanders through a vast green expanse punctuated by yellow dots undulating to and fro at the mercy of the winds. What I liked most in that field was the presence of fruit trees (as winter skeletons, compliments of late February) in the middle of daffodil dreams.

Rather than the orderly potted varieties that grace other areas of the garden, this one seems less tame and wilder - inasmuch as daffodils are ever wild in California. It's a place to frolick, to bend down and touch, to spot oxallis carpetting the ground between the bulbs, to relax. Kids would like to follow the path that in places disappears between stems of daffodils.

As you continue on the olive walk, notice the white fluffy blooms of the Santa Rosa plum trees. Now turn around the corner and enjoy. You made it to the high place, one of the spectacular sights of this garden. This is a spot where I could spend hours just admiring the architecture of the garden.

As the name suggests it is placed on a promontory and the view embraces all the other gardens. By the way, this is one of the spots for the sugarcup daffodils (right by the stairs).

Now retrace your steps in the direction of the house using the middle alley until you hit two square planter boxes with bonzai trees in the knot garden. Look at the design in the box very carefully and then turn around. Both boxes are miniature reproductions of the gardens right behind you, intricate knot patterns in lavender, myrtle, rosemary and barberry. Simply amazing and even more enjoyable when lavender scents fill the air and the hedges textures are accentuated by the summer colors.

Continuing my daffodil tour I made it quickly to the swimming pool (now clouds had turned from grey to menacing) and headed to the west daffodil meadow, probably the biggest daffodil display at Filoli. Again a dirt path slithers through the meadow and you will be able to admire the main building, a brick Georgian revival historic mansion now turned into a museum.

Feel free to take a look at the hills surrounding the estate. From the edge of the field just west of the House, a line of trees marks the edge of the San Andreas Fault and, beyond that, the hills and patchwork of broadleaf evergreen forest, redwoods and chaparral.

Now if you have children like mine who enjoy nature but other things too, it might be high time to return to the visitor center where you can hit the crafts tables and make daffodil pinwheels, magnets, frames and other daffodil-inspired arts and crafts. Daffodils only last so long and at Filoli so long means three days - until Sunday February 28 at 5pm. Go for it, it's gorgeous and it'll be sunny.

Winter swimming in the San Francisco Bay: is it cold?

It never fails. As I get out of the water at Aquatic Park with a swim partner and we cross the sandy beach to reach our flip-flops, a couple of jetlagged tourists having strayed from Fisherman's Wharf walk up to us with a complacent smile and pop the million $ question "Is it cold?"

I wonder, what do they expect? It's 42F outside. They are bundled up in all their fleece layers, arms crossed over their chest to keep warm. We are either in speedos & swim caps or in wetsuits and dripping wet. It can't really be that toasty in the bay now can it? We always chuckle and reply with bravado that "Oh no! It was great." Which doesn't exactly answer the question.

Yes we want to convince that it's great to swim in the bay on a windy January morning but the fact is, you better get your strokes going if you don't want to experiment with hypothermia in salty waters. After I completed my Alcatraz challenge last September, I wondered if I would keep swimming in the bay over the winter.

There were rumors about frigid waters. Seriously. Winter swim events are notoriously for swim nuts. The iconic Polar Bear challenge (see 2008 results here) of the Dolphin Club rewards people who swim at least 40 miles between December 21 and March 21 in the Bay. If you do, you're honored as an official Dolphin Club Polar Bear.

The South End Rowing Club (SERC) Alcatraz Swim on New Year's day (starting the year bright and early before 7.12am) gathers a number of yellow caps in speedos or criss-crossed black swim suits. Oh the joyous sight of them jumping off the Hyde Street Pier wooden railing down below!

Now, I am not (yet) a Dolphin Club or SERC member - although my heart would go to the SERC - but swimming in the San Francisco Bay is sort of addictive. Sure I have the Farmer John wetsuit and wideview mask-goggles and might as well make good use of them. But I also like the feeling as you make your way to the opening of the cove to catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge on your left and Alcatraz on a backdrop of Marin rolling hills across.

I kept swimming through October when the days got shorter but temps were mild, November when autumn settled in and flocks of birds kept diving in the cove because of an exceptional sardine run (tasted fishy too), December when the rain showed up and sea lions playfully joined swimmers, January when the heavy storms made for rougher conditions and sea lions went to Oregon, and February when it's getting warmer and pelicans are the only bystanders with seagulls and fishermen.

It still tastes pretty fishy but at least there's no risk of becoming the target of a steep-dive attack from a hungry bird. March will be the unofficial kickoff for the swim season for Alcatraz contenders. That's when training transitions from the heated swimming pools to the bay.

Two Saturdays ago diehard "crowds" at Aquatic Park were swimming laps along the buoys. That's dedication. If I was swimming laps, I'd much rather do it in a pool. I always go around the cove, sometimes cutting across but always getting to the opening.

Now, to the real question.

How cold is it really in the water?

Turns out, you can find out the water temp the easy way, the digital way or the Michael Phelps way. The easy way: dial 1.866.727.6787, then station code 010 for wind speed and air/water temps at the GG Bridge.

The digital way: check the NOAA web page for the port of San Francisco.

The Michael Phelps way: there is a thermometer in the water hanging from one of the buoys under the ship Balclutha. Just swim to the buoy, poke around in the water and you will find it. I heard it was broken in January. Hopefully it's been repaired since.

Greg and Laura showed me. Greg is a SERC member and knows all the Aquatic Park insider gossip, as in "last week a sea lion tried to bite so-and-so" or "there's this new guy who swims at Pier 7".  Laura is an enthusiastic swimmer who swam with us with Leslie's Swim Art.

Last time we checked the water temp was 51.7F (just under 11C). Yesterday it was 55F (roughly 12.8C). What do you think, is it cold? It's never going to be tropical anyway so why bother asking? Just enjoy the swim. It's quite a thrill.