Perfume Roses! Russian River Rose Co.

Russian River Rose Company Nursery and Display Garden

Jan and Michael Tolmasoff harvest more than a half-ton of rose blooms -- that's 130,000 intensely fragrant flowers -- from their Healdsburg, California gardens in order to yield a mere 2 ounces of distilled rose oil.

The Tolmasoffs' gardens sprouted in 1980. And over time, the layout evolved into a historical arrangement of roses, starting with species such as Rosa californica, a California native. A tour of the garden begins across the way, in a setting anchored by antique roses of European and Middle Eastern descent, creating extravagant displays

A naturalistic butterfly garden encircles the house's turret, with annuals, perennials and roses coming together to provide continuous bloom. The relaxed planting features irises and calendulas for color and contrast in spring: summertime allies - verbena, cosmos, pincushion flower and echinacea are outlined by a vibrantly colorful border of miniature, own-root roses.

Look for the entry arch, supporting hybrid musks among a bevy of shade-tolerant roses that thrive in Northern California. Tender tea roses boast an area of their own. Jan mentions Etoile de Lyon as one of the most beautiful, recommending it to people looking for an antique rose, but not a once-blooming type.

A compelling element of the garden design: An allee articulated by seven arches 12 feet high and wide entices visitors to stroll through the vineyard to the perfume rose field.

Garden Valley Rose Ranch

It's high summer, when a visit to Garden Valley Ranch is the order of the day.

North of San Francisco in Petaluma, this plant nursery & display garden offers a cottage rental & more. (Photos Courtesy GVR)

'Trollius'

One of the distinctive garden areas at GVR is a delightful mixed border

inspired by the designs of the English gardening doyenne, Gertrude Jekyll.

Columbines, Cardoons & Foxgloves

The Rose Field - 'Climbing Iceberg' Arbors in the background.

Here you'll find landscaped gardens and rose fields

to tour,

either

on your own, or call ahead for a scheduled docent tour.

Garden Valley Ranch is open for touring Wednesday through Sunday, events permitting.

Ph: 707.795.0919 for a schedule of events, information on classes,

or for tour information.

May through September Tour Hours 10 - 5

Only Snowmen Round Here! Cornerstone Sonoma

Although the San Francisco Bay Area may not boast any real snowmen, after having lunch at Sage this past Friday -- the Cafe at Cornerstone Sonoma in Wine Country -- I found a cheery installation to celebrate the season.

Holiday Hugs & Best Wishes for a Peaceful, Healthy 2011 to All!

Essential Focal Point! A Parade of Garden Benches

One of the benches at .. Veddw in Wales

I can think of no other garden element as essential as a bench:

(Above: A private garden, soon to be featured on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz)

Hestercombe - England

An element that can take an intriguing variety of forms...

...while expressing a distinctive style.

Rhododendron Pavilion Stonework - San Francisco Botanical Garden

An element that makes a bold, artful statement!

Stone Bench/Blue Arbor - Alice's Garden

Or adds a highly personal touch. 

An element that can act as an architectural device, yet be totally inviting.

Cornerstone Sonoma - Wine Country

An element of beauty...
...or a spot to simply take in the surroundings.

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

A form that pays homage to great garden figures such as Lutyens.

Historic Ninfa - Italy

Or reminds visitors of a garden-maker's most treasured place to enjoy the landscape.

Sumptuous Springtime Garden Travel!

May I suggest:

Sumptuous settings for Springtime Travel!

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

Sonoma County Getaway

Click on garden to read full feature on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel.

Sonoma Hort Display Gardens - Sebastopol, California

Van Dusen Botanical Garden .. Vancouver, British Columbia

Surface Tension: A Permanent Installation by Andy Goldsworthy

Hess Collection Winery Napa Valley, California

Jardin de l'Alchimiste - Garden of the Alchemist
Photo Courtesy of the Garden

Note: No longer open

Eygalieres, France

Ira Keller Fountain .. Portland, Oregon

Exquisite Rush of Cascading Water .. Multnomah Falls & Ira's Fountain

Cherry blossoms! 2010 Sakura Matsuri Festival takes place May 1 & 2 at:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

...you'll see Trillium & slipper orchids,

peonies, shooting stars and wisteria amid the garden's glorious blooming displays.

Blue... but not Sad - Hail to the Horticulturists!

Hail to the horticulturists!

A look back at display gardens & plant nurseries ...

garden installations & public gardens ...

 featured in 2009.

Perhaps, like me, you can't get enough of the magical blue poppy.

Above Photo:  Garden Valley Ranch

Petaluma, California

Click on garden links to view the original posts.

Berry Botanic Garden  Portland : Photo: Kris Freitag  

Topher Delaney - Garden Play Installation

Cornerstone Sonoma

Photos: Alice Joyce unless otherwise indicated

Tibouchina ... Getty Center  Los Angeles

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

Sebastopol, California

Eryngium  -  Cistus Nursery

Sauvie Island, Oregon

Photos Copyright Alice Joyce

Looking back on  2009:

Clamor .. Murmur .. Plash! A Potpourri of Fountains

Elementary! Arbor .. Pergola .. Loggia .. Colonnade

Words and photos (unless otherwise noted) © Alice Joyce, Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

The theft of content and photos on the Internet is widespread.

For now, I'll be taking steps to insert links back to my site.

The Late Show Gardens ... The Hermit's Garden

The Hermit's Garden .....at The Late Show Gardens

Designers: Kate Frey and Ben Frey

Kate Frey is known for her long stint as the garden director/designer of the lovely Bonterra Gardens - edible, ornamental and habitat - at Fetzer Vineyards, alas, now closed.

To my knowledge, Kate is a rare U.S. designer, having won medals, including 

a Gold Medal for her designs at London's Chelsea Flower Show.

Kate has worked recently with Ben Frey, her husband and owner of Rustic Towers. 

Ben "rescues" wood, bringing it back to life as eye-catching garden towers, furniture, buildings, gates, and other constructions both useful and playful. 

In The Hermit's Garden, the designers create a cautionary narrative.

Their artist's statement presents the image of "man striding from a pastoral, rustic past into an unreflective future where destruction of the environment occurs around him."

Detail from the figure pictured above.

"...the unquenchable desire of the masses for more of everything the earth has to offer has drained the land of water and life. The hermit cannot avoid the momentum of his shared destiny...."

While the garden's delightful aspects draw the viewer in,

I see the design as positing a future that will be bleak 

unless we collectively reassess and change direction.

Meconopsis grandis - The Blue Poppy at Garden Valley Ranch

Meconopsis grandis at Garden Valley Ranch

And furthermore....

Ron Robertson has graciously shared photos of the blue poppy growing at GVR, located in Petaluma, California - about 45 minutes north of San Francisco.

Ron raised these blue poppies from seed, and tells me that they grew very well during the summer, and even multiplied, before the gophers got to them the next winter!

Ron is now growing the Himalayan poppy, Meconopsis x sheldonii, 

(a hybrid of M. grandis & M. betonicafolia)

- a more robust form -

and they are planted in gopher baskets.

Meconopsis grandis opening....

Link to Part 1 - Garden Valley Ranch

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/09/fields-of-roses-fragrant-oasis-and-blue.html

Fields of Roses, A Fragrant Oasis and Blue Poppies!

Garden Valley Ranch

featured in Gardenwalks in California

INSIDERS' Guide, The Globe Pequot Press

Rosa 'Blanchefleur' by the Pond

Rosa 'Trolius'

Third Pergola ... Garden Valley Ranch

Columbines & Cardoon with Foxgloves

Another nostalgic post, as I recall traveling from Chicago to San Francisco in the mid-1990s, 

crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in a rental car to explore the beauty of  Napa, Sonoma, & Mendocino.

 Intent upon finding the best nursery display gardens for a book idea -  a project that began as a basic guide to Northern California gardens - I encountered Garden Valley Ranch for the first time and returned home to write about it in The Chicago Tribune.

By the time I signed a contract with publisher Michael Kesend for my first book, West Coast Gardenwalks, it had become a guide to coastal destinations from Vancouver to San Diego!

And the memorable journey planted the seed for a move to the Bay Area!

Archways in Fragrance Garden

Garden Valley Ranch Rose Field - 'Climbing Iceberg' on Colonnade in the distance.

Border & the house at GVR, formerly owned by renowned rose expert and author Ray Reddell.

Now home to Mark Grim and Ron Robertson, Garden Valley boasts a long mixed border

 - 220 by 14 ft - with a color scheme inspired by Gertrude Jekyll.

Link to Garden Valley Ranch

on Bay Area Tendrils 

Garden Travel Buzz 

- column on the right -

for information on garden tours,

cottage rental,

bare root roses from Garden Valley Nursery,

& chemical-free cut flowers treated with compost tea.

American Meadow Garden - John Greenlee ~ The Late Show Gardens

Gentle paths wind through John Greenlee's

The Mediterranean Meadow

A Garden Installation at Cornerstone Sonoma

Greenlee's design for 'The Mediterranean Meadow'' takes its cue from the prairies that once blanketed the Sonoma landscape.

Greenlee weaves together grasses and sedges in a palette of soft hues and contrasting textures, in alliance with California poppies. Shifting with the changing seasons and the sky above, the garden's naturalistic style exhibits an atmosphere colored by the weather or time of day: Its contours subdued on an overcast morning; aglow in the setting sun; or brillantly basking in the sapphire haze of a summer afternoon.

Greenlee’s plant selections were chosen to fit the Cornerstone site’s heavy soils, hot summers, and windy conditions; taking into account that the garden is sited on a septic mound!

Used on walkways: Carex pansa "makes a fine natural lawn,"

according to The American Meadow Garden.

Other choice grasses used in the meadow: Dark green Carex divulsa, "one of the best groundcover grases for meadows."Pennisetum 'Fairy Tails' & P. 'Tall Tails.' Boer's Love Grass - the grass with glaucous blue fine-textured foliage. John’s new book, The American Meadow Garden (Timber Press, Nov. 2009) is illustrated with beautiful photographs by Saxon Holt. After reviewing the book recently, I expect it will become the go-to manual for professionals and keen gardeners.

Greenlee addresses the basics of grass ecology, explaining how grasses grow in different regions, so if you’re thinking about revamping an existing lawn, or creating a new planting with drought-tolerant grasses and companion plants, you'll find the book highly useful.

Ornamentals, Edibles & Herbs -A Biodynamic Garden

Sheep Photo: Colby Eierman

Biodynamic Discovery Trail - Benziger Winery
Photo © Alice Joyce

Benziger Winery now boasts a self-guided Biodynamic Discovery Trail, inaugurated at the Glen Ellen estate on Earth Day. Inspired by biodynamic agriculture, a movement associated with philosopher and founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, the Trail melds ornamentals, edibles and insectary plants. Demonstration stations describe the farming practices Benziger employs on its 85-acre Sonoma Mountain ranchland, while a flow form water feature exhibits an aerating, recirculating vortex pattern.

I'll be lauding the Benziger's overall approach: A respect for the land and for the environment (rather than summarize the herbal preparations or more esoteric techniques of biodynamics). What I found to be outstanding: Unlike most winery settings, the Benziger landscape is incredibly diverse.

On a beautiful day in wine country, I toured the estate with Colby Eierman, the director of sustainability, seeing first-hand the integration of sheep, cows, and chickens in the vineyards. Yep.... that's Colby's photo showing the sheep posing for the camera! As Colby explained, in the complex topography of the site, sheep do a great job of mowing under the vines, and on the steeper slopes.

Then, too, there is land set aside for insectary habitats to attract the good bugs, and edible gardens teeming with herbs, veggies, and fruit trees that provide fresh organic ingredients to the chefs at El Dorado Kitchen; a Sonoma destination restaurant. (Disclosure: I enjoyed lunch there with Colby. As it happens, however, I can highly recommend the restaurant and the El Dorado Hotel. When I was an about-to-be-published, first-time guidebook author, I booked a beautiful room overlooking the outdoor dining area, and had a memorable meal. In all, my stay there turned out to be a high point among my research forays for West Coast Gardenwalks.)

My photo of the east facing slope of Sonoma Mountain reveals a lovely arrangement in its terraced construction, where a variety of habitats are created amid plantings of lavender, echiums, bottlebrush, and groves of olive trees.

All of which contributes to the health of the organism that is the larger farm system. Grounded in holistic methods, the Biodynamic farming at Benziger surely affects the soil in distinctive ways, coloring the flavor of the grapes and the quality of the wines.

A Riot of Rhodies - Sonoma County Getaway

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

It was a glorious day for a getaway! Driving west to the Coast, we aimed for Bodega Bay, site of Hitchcock's, The Birds. 

The route took us along the back roads, through Sebastopol, for a stopover at Sonoma Horticultural Nursery: A Northern California destination for plant geeks and garden aficionados. 

Sonoma Hort features 1-1/2 miles of pathways winding through moist woodland gardens. The magic touch of proprietor Polo de Lorenzo emerges throughout the nursery's leafy surroundings; an environment befitting the nursery's emphasis on rhododendrons and azaleas. 

Once, during a visit in early May, I witnessed the heart-stopping performance of a legendary dove tree (Davidia involucrata), its white bracts likened to fluttering handkerchiefs. In a circular driveway, one particularly enchanting dove tree has been designated a Sonoma County treasure--Heritage Tree #20. When blooming in May, Empress trees (Paulownia tomentosa) are another revelation!

The densely planted 8-acre property encompasses a pond & Blutcher Creek - a preserve for countless water-loving specimens, which add to Sonoma Hort's beguiling vignettes and picturesque vegetation. A lavish exhibition at this time of year - replete with the riotous colors of rhodies and azaleas - also takes in the strapping foliage of primitive-appearing Gunnera chilensis, accompanied by swathes of pretty primulas. Clematis cultivars are beginning to bloom, and soon, towering foxgloves will emerge along with masses of flamboyant clematis blooms decorating vertical posts and pillars placed along the paths. 

The nursery sells species, and choice cultivated varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, along with exceptional selections of trees, shrubs, vines and shade-loving perennials. Scheduling a springtime stroll is a must for local gardeners & anyone touring Sonoma Wine Country.  As it's open year-round, Sonoma Hort is always a lovely spot for a getaway.... and plant shopping!