Revisiting the Blue Poppy

Among the most magical of plants,

the Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis) is quite the mythic character within our community of avid gardeners.

At one time it could be found growing to perfection in the Pacific Northwest

at the Berry Botanic Garden, which sadly now, has shuttered its gates.

It was in this setting of rare flora that I first came upon a vigorous stand of blue poppies
intermingled with blooms of pink, peach, and red!

An unforgettable sight.

Be that as it may, I'm currently enjoying a very wet San Francisco Bay Area winter,
where Napa & Sonoma Wine Country always beckons.
Especially when the sun decides to peep through the clouds.

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 

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.

Howell Mountain Hillside: O'Shaughnessy Winery

O'Shaughnessy Winery Vista: Slopes of Howell Mountain in the hills above St. Helena.

(Photos © Alice Joyce)

Jack Chandler, Landscape Architect

Spent a lively day buzzing around Napa Wine Country with Jack Chandler, looking at various projects of Jack's spanning private estates to inviting wineries.

One project we toured, O'Shaughnessy Winery in Angwin was new to me. Difficult to imagine a more beautiful site than this East Napa County landscape, with its terraces that take full advantage of the view.

An off-the-beaten path locale for wine loving cognescenti, the winery boasts a scented entry path lined in fragrant roses, befitting a tasting of their 2007 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, which proved to be delectably stimulating. A full-bodied melding of blackberry and chocolate, blueberry, black raspberry and plum notes with cinnamon and vanilla aromas that distinguish the varietal, there are still more complex flavors to tease the palate and emerge at the finish. ((A Robert Parker rating of 95 points.))

Landscape architecture by Jack Chandler.

Meet me at Cottage Gardens! Wine Country Landscape Design

 Should you be in Northern California on Sunday, April 10th around 11 a.m., Cottage Gardens in Petaluma I hope you'll drop by and say hello!  I'm pleased to be a part of the Springtime schedule of events taking place at this wonderful plant nursery. 

Photographed at Darioush Winery

My presentation will feature my favorite destination wineries, along with aspects of landscape design, and...

I'll be giving away a limited number of complimentary wine tasting cards.

Matanzas Creek Winery Dry Stream Bed

Cottage Gardens is located at 3995 Emerald Drive, Petaluma. 
Photos © Alice Joyce

Chateau St. Jean's romantic setting.

Benziger Winery's Biodynamic Flow Form Water Feature in the 'Discovery Trail'

On FaceBook? I'd love to connect with you.

Log in and ...  'Like' Alice's Garden Travel Buzz 

Hope to see you at Cottage Gardens!

Looking Back .. Going Forward!

2010 draws to a close: The time of year to look back, moving forward!

Above... a new garden installation at Cornerstone Sonoma

'Cocoons' by Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot -- created with 5 miles of colored monofilament wrapped around a laser cut stainless steel armature fabricated by William Massie, architect. Forms that turn and spin in the windy, open landscape in wine country.

Since early 2010, I've focused more on regional destinations, news & events on this blog: Bay Area Tendrils, and have taken to highlighting garden settings and public landscapes near and far on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz.

Below:

La Cocina que Canta Cooking School - Rancho La Puerta

When I look back over 2010, my dream journey to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate stands out. You may recall the flowing form of this dry-stone bench; an element of the garden's site-appropriate hardscaping.

I'll always have fond memories of my spa week at Rancho La Puerta

Sky at Dusk .. Tecate, Mexico.

I'll recall the beauty of the cultivated gardens, and especially the surrounding natural landscape, which is protected open space.

A lush vignette from my Springtime sojourn to Britain: a Tamarisk at the Chelsea Physic Garden: I wrote about a treasure trove of English Gardens & a rare Welsh landscape on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

A recent sojourn to experience the legacy of Rene & Veronica di Rosa in Napa Valley.

A Celebration of Art and Nature at:

di Rosa Preserve

Visit di Rosa and enjoy a nature walk through the Sculpture Meadow: Learn about the Preserve's restoration efforts of riparian areas, and wildflower plantings.

Ron Mann Sculpture - Stone Edge Farm and Winery

2010 opened my eyes to ancestral English estates, verdant autumnal walks, and to artists and designers who continue to push at boundaries as a means of personal expression.

Only Snowmen Round Here! Cornerstone Sonoma

Although the San Francisco Bay Area may not boast any real snowmen, after having lunch at Sage this past Friday -- the Cafe at Cornerstone Sonoma in Wine Country -- I found a cheery installation to celebrate the season.

Holiday Hugs & Best Wishes for a Peaceful, Healthy 2011 to All!

Asian Species .. Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo: Christine Walker

(Photo: San Francisco Chronicle)

Some years ago one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Garden Walks' columns

highlighted Quarryhill Botanical Garden

The site is a horticultural paradise that is surprising to discover when touring Sonoma's Valley of the Moon in wine country. What sets Quarryhill apart is the fact that most all the plants - trees, shrubs, bulbs, roses - have been grown from wild collected seed gathered during plant expeditions undertaken by the garden's director, Bill McNamara, who travels extensively to China, Japan and the Himalayas. You can click below to read...

...the original feature in the archives on SFgate.com...

More photos of the garden are posted on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Writing about garden travel is especially gratifying when sharing information about a place like Quarryhill.

Rain Did Not Dampen the Delights .. DeLoach Vineyards

It may be rainy season in Northern California Wine Country, but that did not stop an international coterie of journalists, authors, bloggers & permaculture professionals from enjoying a day of garden touring, wine tasting, and a delectable locavore lunch at DeLoach Vineyards.

At De Loach the entire approach to the land, from the vineyards to the culinary and insectary gardens, is fully organic and biodynamic: Awarded CCOF certification.

Our host, Jean-Charles Boisset applies sustainable principles, biodynamic farming, and organic methods to every aspect of the Boisset estates in California, France, Italy & Québec.

On the local level, in partnership with the Redwood Empire Food Bank, 100% of the proceeds from one of the excellent wines we tasted -- DeLoach Vinthropic Chardonnay -- are donated to the Food Bank.

Winegrower Eric Pooler spearheaded our tour, and allowed an up-close and personal look at the innovative bio-reactor - one of the first in the industry - that relies on micro-organisms to purify all the water used in the winemaking process so it can be called upon for landscaping and irrigation use.

Maria Mobilia is shown behind the camera, filming the tour for 
Your Garden Show.

In-depth coverage of my day at DeLoach Vineyards ...

Biodynamic Gardens & Wine Tasting on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Bloom's Bodacious Borders at Kendall-Jackson Winery

A few years ago, one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Garden Walks' columns celebrated the opening of new perennial borders in Wine Country designed by British horticulturist Adrian Bloom.

(Above: Chronicle photo - All other photos: copyright Alice Joyce)

Son of famed plantsman, Alan Bloom,and author of numerous gardening books featuring Foggy Bottom, Adrian Bloom's personal 6-acre garden in Norfolk, Bloom shared his thoughts on the Blooms of Bressingham borders at Kendall-Jackson Winery. Here: a long view of the garden on a recent summer's day, with bees abuzz, flitting among the bountiful blooms.

I'll be returning to the winery's varied landscape in future posts, to visit K-J's vineyard demonstration & culinary gardens, where visitors can relax and enjoy a picnic.

To find the borders, amble from the formal parterre garden fronting the main chateau, and continue around the side of the building. A signpost heralds the Blooms of Bressingham garden, where drifts of plants meld together in what Bloom calls "macro and micro views."
Reflecting Bloom's refined gardening style, the garden plan revolves upon artful combinations of conifers, flowering perennials, ornamental grasses and shrubs. The tall, vertical shapes of evergreen Italian cypresses draw the eye, and as Bloom shared, "give you a bit of structure... whichever way you're looking.. on either side of the pathway to take the eye through," calling attention to the surrounding plant combinations.

One of the lessons I took home: "Even small gardens must have a vista."

The Kendall-Jackson Winery chateau and formal gardens

appear upon exiting the parking area.

Back to the Bloom Borders! Plant tableaux come into focus as you walk along the curving central pathway, where groupings are linked by contrasts in foliage and flower color, texture and form: Purple-toned leaves of heucheras and phormiums; blue-violet, long-blooming Geranium 'Rozanne;' mounding Anthemis 'Susanna Mitchell;' bushy Coreopsis 'Limerock Ruby.'

Geranium blooms weave through hydrangeas; salvias and feathery silver-filigree artemisias are backed by dark Cotinus foliage and butterfly-attracting buddleias.

A bee feasting on... Asclepias incarnata?

Flanking a bench, fragrant rosemary, lavender & Verbena bonariensis

envelop the visitor who stops here to bask in the setting.

Kendall Jackson Winery - www.kj.com

Essential Focal Point! A Parade of Garden Benches

One of the benches at .. Veddw in Wales

I can think of no other garden element as essential as a bench:

(Above: A private garden, soon to be featured on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz)

Hestercombe - England

An element that can take an intriguing variety of forms...

...while expressing a distinctive style.

Rhododendron Pavilion Stonework - San Francisco Botanical Garden

An element that makes a bold, artful statement!

Stone Bench/Blue Arbor - Alice's Garden

Or adds a highly personal touch. 

An element that can act as an architectural device, yet be totally inviting.

Cornerstone Sonoma - Wine Country

An element of beauty...
...or a spot to simply take in the surroundings.

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

A form that pays homage to great garden figures such as Lutyens.

Historic Ninfa - Italy

Or reminds visitors of a garden-maker's most treasured place to enjoy the landscape.

California Wine Country ... Harvest Vignettes

Darioush Winery ... soon to appear on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

Napa Valley

Rainy season arrives ... a bit early for the grape harvest.

Opus One Winery (above and below)

Prickly Pear (Opuntia) with its colorful fall fruit.

Click ... for a trove of California Wine Country destination Winery & Rose Gardens

Harvest Season, Napa Valley - Before the Storm!

Formerly: Go Fish restaurant, St. Helena

Yesterday, the ebullient harvest season in Napa Valley reigned!

After a delicious lunch at Go Fish,

an afternoon spent photographing winery gardens beneath overcast skies.

On the drive home, the clouds forecast the threatening rain.

Après le deluge ... a drenching storm blew in overnight, 

its blustery winds and rain

unabated this morning.

Let's focus on the scene on Monday: 

Napa Valley restaurant gardens, featuring an abundance of edibles & ornamentals. 

Mustard's Grill, one of many Napa Valley restaurants that cultivate lush kitchen gardens.

A welcoming water feature at Brix restaurant, Yountville.

Mustard's Grill - another section of the gardens, with a structure providing some shelter.

Opus One Winery colonnade....

Fuyu Persimmon

Edible blooms ... the peppery flavor of nasturtiums adds spice to a salad.

Click on link below for entree to a trove of.... California Wine Country destinations