A Riot of Rhodies - Sonoma County Getaway

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

It was a glorious day for a getaway! Driving west to the Coast, we aimed for Bodega Bay, site of Hitchcock's, The Birds. 

The route took us along the back roads, through Sebastopol, for a stopover at Sonoma Horticultural Nursery: A Northern California destination for plant geeks and garden aficionados. 

Sonoma Hort features 1-1/2 miles of pathways winding through moist woodland gardens. The magic touch of proprietor Polo de Lorenzo emerges throughout the nursery's leafy surroundings; an environment befitting the nursery's emphasis on rhododendrons and azaleas. 

Once, during a visit in early May, I witnessed the heart-stopping performance of a legendary dove tree (Davidia involucrata), its white bracts likened to fluttering handkerchiefs. In a circular driveway, one particularly enchanting dove tree has been designated a Sonoma County treasure--Heritage Tree #20. When blooming in May, Empress trees (Paulownia tomentosa) are another revelation!

The densely planted 8-acre property encompasses a pond & Blutcher Creek - a preserve for countless water-loving specimens, which add to Sonoma Hort's beguiling vignettes and picturesque vegetation. A lavish exhibition at this time of year - replete with the riotous colors of rhodies and azaleas - also takes in the strapping foliage of primitive-appearing Gunnera chilensis, accompanied by swathes of pretty primulas. Clematis cultivars are beginning to bloom, and soon, towering foxgloves will emerge along with masses of flamboyant clematis blooms decorating vertical posts and pillars placed along the paths. 

The nursery sells species, and choice cultivated varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, along with exceptional selections of trees, shrubs, vines and shade-loving perennials. Scheduling a springtime stroll is a must for local gardeners & anyone touring Sonoma Wine Country.  As it's open year-round, Sonoma Hort is always a lovely spot for a getaway.... and plant shopping!

What is a Weed? - Native Plants at Hess Collection Winery

What is a weed?

A Plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Hess Collection Winery and Art Museum

View looking down on the courtyard from the visitor center.

The garden features a design by acclaimed landscape architect Peter Walker, with plantings by John Greenlee, noted expert in grass ecology.

"The Hess Collection Courtyard is designed as an integral part of our mountain landscape and a commitment to care for the land we farm. Our vineyards are rimmed by meadows and redwood forests, and although our garden aesthetic is wild and natural, it is well-tended to maintain the experience of a lushly undulating alpine meadow. Native and exotic grasses and ornamentals are chosen for variation in height and seasonal interest. Volunteer plants surprise us in Spring, seedheads are allowed to dry and drop their contents in Fall. Thus, the garden is allowed to propagate itself and actively evolve.

Because the Eastern-most boundary of the naturally occurring redwoods is here in the Mayacamas Mountains, we incorporated these trees with Western sword ferns to echo the nearby woods."

Plantings encourage beneficial insects, taking in native species of common yarrow, Western columbine, bush anemone, creeping ceanothus and blue beach aster.

To add further color, Mimulus 'Pumpkin,' Purdy's Foothill penstemon, Salvia cleavlandii & S. spathacea were selected, along with yellow-eyes grass and Zauschneria californica.

On a recent summer day I made my way to Napa wine country to revisit the artfully arranged, Modernist landscape at The Hess Collection Winery.

A rectilinear pool and wisteria-draped pergola wrap around the garden's central layout of pristine decomposed gravel pathways: Their angular, dynamic pattern extends an invitation to enjoy the spirited plantings where butterflies hover and dragonflies dart overhead.

The garden holds a special place in my memory, having first encountered it while researching the Winery Gardens chapter for West Coast Gardenwalks - before the pieces fell into place for my move from Chicago to California.

(The Hess Collection garden also features in Gardenwalks in California, INSIDERS' Guide, 2005.)

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

Surface Tension - Andy Goldsworthy in California Wine Country

Andy Goldsworthy - Hess Museum

Surface Tension

Rock Pools ... kiln melted stones on floor

Snow Ball Drawings ... shown on walls

Surface Tension

10 x 16 ft. - On permanent display at the Hess Art Museum - Hess Collection Winery - Mount Veeder, Napa Valley. (Installation photos above: Courtesy Hess Art Museum )

Assembled by Goldsworthy in 14 hours

'Leaf stalks from a Horse Chestnut wetted and then pinned

with Hawthorn thorns.

Thorns hold entire piece to wall, ceiling and floor.

No glue or hardware.'