Wild Lupines .. Catalina State Park

Truly Blue...

Arizona Lupine: Lupinus sparsiflorus 

Catalina State Park

Tucson

Gardens of Tohono Chul Park, Tucson

My Tucson sojourn took in terrific meals at restaurants like Cafe Poca Cosa and Feast. There were wonderful hikes in sublime desert settings, 

and gardens, of course!

My timing was perfect to catch full bloom on the ornamental, evergreen trees, Sophora (aka Calia) secundiflora, at Tohono Chul Park located on the city's Northwest side on Paseo del Norte.

Common names for the showy beauty in the photo include Mescal bean, not to be confused with the Agave used to make mezcal.  Another moniker you might be familiar with: Mountain laurel. But I like the sound of Sophora secundiflora as it rolls off the tongue.

When I first saw the lavish blooms I thought of the Empress Tree, Paulownia tomentosa, which produces gorgeous purple panicles in Spring. They appear to be unrelated.

You can easily spend hours exploring the Park's demonstration gardens and walking trails, art exhibits and gift shops, sign up for a daily tour, or plan your visit for to coincide with special event or class at Tohono Chul.  The inviting patio of the Tearoom -- a popular spot with locals and garden tourists.  To read more, see the Tohono Chul feature on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz - click at the top of the page on the right.

And stay tuned for more Tucson highlights!

Dream Catcher .. Kudos, Kolkwitzia!

Reprise: 
Having turned the corner on the 3-year anniversary of Bay Area Tendrils,

I'm reposting one of the loveliest shrubs sent by 'Proven Winners' to trial in my garden.

The company released the plant about 5 years ago.

Finally, the rain returns .. and the garden is a dance floor where juncos strut.

Having been buried in a mountain of tax forms - always anxious to put this yearly task behind me - I await the emergence of some of my favorite spring-bloomers to begin showing signs of life.

I photographed this fairly recent addition to the garden last April. 

Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Dream Catcher' is the aptly named Beauty Bush, a Proven Winners cultivar worth seeking out.

A profuse bloomer, it boasts glowing foliage in filtered shade, and a graceful branching form.

Beschorneria Bloom: An Update

Beschorneria yuccoides

(Note: This is an updated post with the spelling corrected: The plant is not blooming now, but ... it has had pups!  Multiple plant offsets have formed at the base and I'm in the process of detaching a few.)

With each passing day the Beschorneria flowering stalk continues to unfurl.

The weather persists in a strangely cold and wet pattern, despite having entered the Bay Area's dry season. Still, the garden has enjoyed a thorough, natural, watering and that's a good thing!

Part 1 - Mexican Lily .. Countdown to Bloom

San Francisco Flower and Garden Show

Part I - A handful of highlights from the 2012 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

GardenMob by Saunders Design

featured expansive walls representing "upcycled landfill rescue materials,"

a long rectangular pool and colorful Rhodies.

Below: The PLANit Green garden demonstrated the successful use of recycled 'Urbanite' as a hardscape material, reclaimed wood, recycled glass, and local rock.

Created by the West Valley College Landscape Architecture Student Club and Habitat Horticulture,

the minimal design is set off by a cool color scheme, with planted pillars as focal points,

and a massed planting of Astelia 'Red Gem.' 

Savanna! 

An engaging garden on every level of sensory experience, designed by the guru of grasses, John Greenlee.

 

Today: Saturday March 24th at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show Gala, this fabulous garden will be raffled off - value $25,000 - to benefit the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society.

To read more, visit... Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Mariposa Gardening and Design 

Their stonework is always outstanding!

Photos © Alice Joyce

The Darjit garden, with its golden dragon sculpture by Kobi Beck, drew plenty of crowds as show visitors posed for photo opportunities. The material, Darjit utilizes primarily recycled paper together with a mix of china clay, rock powder and cellulose fibre.

An excellent selection of beautiful poster art at the ...

Vintage European Posters booth: 

The company is located in Berkeley on Fourth Street.

Seriously Stormy: Thornless Flowering Quince

Early Spring Bloomers...

My garden boasts new blooming shrubs this Spring, in shades of scarlet and orange.

Photo: Courtesy Proven Winners

The shrubs are thornless varieties of Double Take flowering quince and they're proving to be an excellent addition to Alice's Garden.  Some time in May last year the plant shipment arrived, sent to me by Proven Winners to trial.  I planted an "Orange Storm' in the enclosed front patio area and another in the main garden outside the french doors at the rear of the house.

The showy, double flowers began opening in early March. Now fully open, stems have many more flower buds forming. As you can see, they look a lot like camellias, though not as large. They are quite a bit bigger and with a more beguiling form than the flowers on species shrubs.

Flowering Quince Double Take 'Orange Storm'  - Chaenomeles 
Photos © Alice Joyce

Double Take 'Scarlet Storm' - Chaenomeles 

One of the'Scarlet Storm' plants has been planted in a rather sequestered spot in my garden. I'm glad to see tall stems emerging as they seek the light. 

'Pink Storm' is planted in T's sunny community garden in our town center, where it receives full sun; more than anywhere here at home. Another is planted at my friend's plot a block away, where I can keep an eye on it. There's been so much rain lately that I haven't had a chance to photograph the pink form, but it's blooming abundantly and clearly thriving at the community garden plot. I'll surely continue to photograph these beauties. I'm smitten!

Garden Art: The Tempo in Tucson

My travels in Tucson yielded much to share when time permits. 

For now, I'll tempt readers with two exceptional streetside vignettes that I photographed just down the street from the centrally located Arizona Inn.

These artworks pointed to the generosity of local home owners. In sharing such creative artworks, they've  enhanced the surroundings for all who pass by. 

I certainly wouldn't have guessed that taking a short stroll in the neighborhood would prove so gratifying. Perhaps you'll agree, the colorful gateway and stunning wall treatment make walking in this area a visual treat.

Arizona Inn .. Gracious Gardens

Stay tuned for features on my travels in Tucson.

Here's a sneak peek of the gardens at the historic property where I stayed for a couple nights: the Arizona Inn.

Forgive the iPhone photo - real photographs and trip details soon to follow!

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!

Malibu Musings .. Getty Villa

Monday Musings on Malibu

Looking back on my most enduring garden travels ... The Getty Villa

Morning Dew on Grasses: Kenzo Winery

In a reflective mood....

...as I look back on my 2011 sojourns. I pore over thousands of photographs taken this year and think about the highlights of my gardenwalks. In touring California wine country, a visit to the elegant landscape of Kenzo Winery, Napa stands out.

Arriving in late-morning, the sight of dew on a grass meadow caught my eye immediately. Here, the landscape has been designed to encompass just such sublime vignettes. Shortly after being greeted, I learned that Kenzo Winery's lovely white wine...  Asatsuya Sauvignon Blanc is named for the dew's sparkling display.