Portal to a Mediterranean Garden - Chateau St. Jean Winery

 Chateau St. Jean - Kenwood, Sonoma County

A classic pergola enhances the setting.

Clipped hedges - composed of evergreen boxwood, wax-leaf privet and rosemary - define the garden's elegant framework, and outline the decomposed gravel paths. A centrally placed fountain sets the tone for this oasis, where a sculpture of St. Jean holds sway.

Garden Plan - The Olin Partnership / At Chateau St. Jean winery in Kenwood (Sonoma County), the garden's formal layout draws inspiration from the Mediterranean-style villa, built in the 1920s: The landscape's graceful proportions and symmetry distinctively echoes traditional gardens of Italy and southern France. Cork oaks, fragrant lavender and ground-covering verbena braid together in the parking area's island beds,  while the arched portals of a masonry wall beckon visitors to enter and experience beautifully framed views of the central parterre garden appearing beyond.

Formal parterres....

Italian stone pine, London plane and windmill palm trees provide order and structure in the central parterre and adjoining garden rooms. American arborvitae hug metal arches to establish transitions between spaces.  

Decorative highlights include potted Citrus specimens, especially 'Dwarf Satsuma Mandarin.' The heady scents of 'Iceberg' roses and frothy 'Gourmet Popcorn' fill the air, while blue annuals, planted to evoke the alluring glaze of oil jars, harmonize with the pearly floral color.

Clytostoma callistegiodes  - Photo © Alice Joyce

Many showy shrubs reach their peak bloom in summer: Hydrangea 'Lanarth White' and H. 'Mariesii Variegata' thrive in a shady haven beneath California sycamores.

The tasting room terrace offers a welcoming spot to relax, where head-turning orange trumpet vines scramble up pillars. In an inner courtyard, unusual perennials grow in pots, and a stunning red camellia many decades old grows with Fatsia japonica.

Visitors can enjoy self-guided tours of the gardens during open hours.

Radiant Lavender Bloom Fest Part ll

Matanzas Creek Winery

The gardens at Matanzas Creek are situated amid hilly terrain in Sonoma County, California. Washed over in luminous hues, the setting combines an elegant naturalism and robust verdure,

where majestic native oaks tower over extravagant plantings.

Landscaping was undertaken in 1990 by former owners and founders, Sandra and Bill MacIver. Sandra's early years in New Orleans were unique; her grandmother Edith Rosenwald Stern the doyenne of the acclaimed estate, Longue Vue House and Gardens. Undoubtedly that tantalizing realm planted the seed for the MacIvers' Sonoma garden.

It's difficult not to be swept away by the heady perfume of lavender that greets you during a June visit. Some 4,500 plants Grow on staggered terraces, the cultivated varieties 'Grosso' and 'Provence.' The distinctive hues and textures create diagonal patterns, leading you on a gradual ascent up the steps of a central path toward the winery's main building.

Precise angles and planes of a rectangular water garden provide a refreshing contrast to the lavish plantings. Specimens include Cyperus papyrus, with its airy terminals, and giant scouring rush, a California native.

Drifts of swaying grasses like the tall purple moor grass, which produces blooming spikes from June through December, soften the hillsides and walkways, alike.

Masses of perennials thrive under Sonoma's bright skies, in a design first conceived by landscape designer Gary Ratway (of Digging Dog Nursery). Gary is also acknowledged for his contributions to the restoration of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

In addition to compositions filled with ornamental grasses and pungent herbs, the gardens feature selections of ornamental vines, shrubs and unusual trees. Parrotia persica boasts medleys of amethyst & lemon-lime leaves in spring, shifting to shimmering golds and reds in the fall.

Eloquently described in the winery's garden tour booklet, the governing philosophy at Matanzas Creek is one of "designing to reduce design."

It's readily apparent throughout the grounds, but perhaps the most striking examples are boulders weighing 21,000 pounds. Set in place near a stairway, these massive forms look as if they have been there forever.

Every year the winery hosts a celebratory event before the lavender harvest. www.matanzascreek.com/

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.