Hot Flash .. One Heavenly Hellebore

Helleborus x sternii  'Hot Flash' .. photographed when the plant first bloomed in Alice's Garden.

Winter-blooming Hellebores are harbingers of spring days that are soon follow in my Northern California sanctuary - a secret garden hidden from the street. Behind the front patio's blue wall, you must walk through the house and out the french doors at the rear before the garden is revealed.

This fancy pants variety, Helleborus 'Hot Flash' is reaching full bloom with March 1st just around the corner. Growing in a prime position in the garden's central bed, the plant would likely be even more robust if the winter rains weren't proving to be practically nonexistent this year. In their place, we've enjoyed a long period of unseasonably warm weather. Broadcasters are predicting rain to return this week. My garden really needs the moisture, so let's cross our fingers....

Chateau St. Jean .. Wine Country Reprise

If you plan to tour California Wine Country ...

...a stopover at Chateau St Jean must be on your itinerary.

Read more about the Sonoma setting:

Link to the original feature on Bay Area Tendrils 

Desert Beauties .. Anza-Borrego Wildflowers

It's that time time of year....

The deserts are bursting into bloom rather early, it seems. What a strange winter it has been, and continues to be. One can never be certain when or if it will be a good year for wildflower displays. I've had word that the landscape is blooming already in Anza-Borrego.

I'm conjuring up images and savoring memories of my sojourn last March, from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea to Anza-Borrego and onward to Joshua Tree.

 Eremalche rotundifolia - Desert Five-Spot

A diminutive beauty that captured my heart, just in time for Valentine's Day.

Another sweetheart ...  Camissonia claviformis  -  Brown-eyed primrose 

 Photos © Alice Joyce

In a remote area of Anza-Borrego, the Dune Evening Primrose thrives. 

Oenothera deltoides

 Sand Verbena - Abronia villosa - scrambles over the parched earth.

Garden Sojourns - London

The memories we bring back from our travels....

....are an essential part of the journey. Long after returning home, the beauty of a setting, and the sense of discovery remain to be savored on a winter's evening. A richly rewarding surprise on a recent trip to London: Kensington Roof Gardens - adjacent to Sir Richard Branson's Babylon Restaurant. 

Spring was an excellent time to see the wisteria blooming above an ornate arched portal. Sadly, the Roof Gardens are no longer open.

Celebrate Truffles! Napa Truffle Festival

January 13 - 16, 2012 / Napa Truffle Festival

My knowledge of truffles has its limits, despite the delight I take in savoring cuisine boasting the flavor of the extraordinarily renowned fungus.

The Second Annual Napa Truffle Festival promises to add to my familiarity of all aspects of the strangely beguiling yet homely truffle, be it the black Perigord winter truffle or the summer species known as Burgundy: 

In botanical nomenclature, that's Tuber melanosporum or Tuber aestivum/uncinatum.

The Westin Verasa, Napa hosts the festivities that bring together expert scientists and shining stars of the culinary realm. Participants will have opportunities to partake in the culinary bliss of gourmet meals and in stimulating seminars out and about at Robert Mondavi Winery, Raymond Vineyards and Robert Sinskey Vineyards.

Michelin Chefs working their own magic at lunch & dinner events are certain to draw serious food aficionados and wine lovers to reserve a place at the table to they'll in elegant menus prepared by Ken Frank of La Toque; Suzette Gresham-Tognettini, Chef/Proprietor of San Francisco's Acquerello; Michael Cimarusti of Providence, Los Angles; Italy's Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia; and Andrew Zimmerman of Sepia, Chicago.

Images, Courtesy Napa Truffle Festival / American Truffle Company

Glorious Great Dixter ..

Spring Display .. Great Dixter

The Legacy of Christopher Lloyd 

Celebrated garden writer, the Dean of British Gardening passed away in 2006.

I will always remember these magnificent gardens on a tour led by CL himself.

Though I returned whenever travel to England allowed, 

it was that rainy day in May that stands out in my memory.

Springtime Array of Containers ... Maximum Visual Impact!

More to see and read on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz:

https://www.alicesgardentravelbuzz.com/great-dixter-christopher-lloyd/

A Most Romantic Garden...

Romantic gardens abound in the English countryside...

One garden visit that remains etched in my mind's eye is the beautifully serene, lush landscape
of   Cothay Manor.

Opulent Epoch .. Wordless in Italy

Hadrian's Villa

Dreaming of Italy....

Citron Cachet! AIC Ptrizker Garden

Modern Wing of the Chicago Art Institute

I love the sharp tang of citron, or maybe I should say, chartreuse - the color of the chairs

in Chicago's Pritzker Garden.

It's the structure and evergreen forms of the landscape architecture that I'm drawn to when I visit this downtown setting.....

A Quiet Spell in my California Garden

The holiday season has arrived, with a Happy Hour time-out at a local restaurant.

This is a quiet period in my garden, although there are a few treasures in bloom. A remarkable plant, commonly called Australian Fuchsia, Correa 'Carmine Bells' blooms on and off for months on end.

The spreading shrubby specimen grows in our enclosed front patio outside my office window, its flowers visible when I shift my head just a bit to the left of the computer. In late Fall and during the Winter, this evergreen plant is visited by hummingbirds, much to my delight.

During this reflective time of year, I'm taking an opportunity to reprise memorable garden sojourns.

My visits to Portland never cease to amaze. Such a vibrant city, with an avid population of gardeners.

 Here's a link to a post from my travels in Portland, musing on... 'what is a garden?'

For my U.S. friends, I hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving Day!