If you plan to tour California Wine Country ...
...a stopover at Chateau St Jean must be on your itinerary.
...a stopover at Chateau St Jean must be on your itinerary.
Read more about the Sonoma setting:
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
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.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
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.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Celebrate Truffles! 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
Monday, December 19, 2011
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!
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