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

Heritage Rose Garden: Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Rosa chinensis var spontanea

A magnificent setting year-round! Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo courtesy, Christine Walker - Quarryhill

From the garden: Quarryhill director, Bill McNamara returned from a trip to New York City after accepting an award marking Quarryhill's induction into the Great Rosarian's Rose Garden Hall of Fame. Bill received the award at the headquarters of the Manhattan Rose Society in recognition of the outstanding dedication to the preservation of Asian species roses and cultivars.

This honor comes at the same time as the Heritage Rose Garden takes shape at Quarryhill. A new feature at Quarryhill, it will trace the lineage of hybrid tea roses back to their Chinese ancestry, and expand the scope, beauty, and accessibility of the public garden. New attention is being paid to species or wild roses that require less chemical pesticide and fertilizer use.

www.quarryhillbg.org

David Austin Roses New Introductions: Chelsea Flower Show

David Austin Rose Gardens

Albrighton, Wolverhampton,

England.

'Wollerton Old Hall'

A new rose named for a beautifully designed & planted Arts & Crafts-style English garden, a favorite of mine.

Do visit should you be traveling round Shropshire.

These brilliant new rose varieties were introduced by David Austin Roses at the Chelsea Flower Show 2011.

I'll admit to being more than partial to Austin's 'English Roses' .. with their lovely flower forms and heady fragrances.

'William and Catherine'

Photos: David Austin Roses

'Queen Anne'

'Fighting Temeraire'

Look for an upcoming post on the David Austin Roses' display in the Pavilion at Chelsea!

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.