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for the glowing review! "Go ask Alice ... where all the best vineyard gardens are. She's an erudite charmer; you'll have fun!"
Landscape Architecture

Open Days: America's Gardens

Rose-draped Greenhouse (Alice Joyce photo)

Rose-draped Greenhouse (Alice Joyce photo)

The vignettes shown here were photographed at wonderful private gardens I visited during the 2010 Open Days Program: One of many events and programs sponsored by The Garden Conservancy.

Deer Sculpture (Photo: Alice Joyce)

Even though it’s too early to purchase a new directory to see listings of private and public gardens in the U.S. that will be participating in next year, the holiday season has me in the mood to trumpet the Open Days Program for 2011. Click on the link, and bookmark it so you can order a 2011 directory as soon they begin taking orders.

Summer Garden: Greenhouse and Birdbath (Alice Joyce photo)

The Garden Conservancy deserves our support, and the holidays are a good time to consider becoming a member if you are not currently signed up. The organization’s sterling efforts are behind the preservation of unique American properties like the renowned succulent landscape of The Ruth Bancroft Garden …

Aloe Folly (Photo: Brian Kemble)

…and the incredible ongoing restoration work in the gardens of historic Alcatraz Island.

Whitewashed Brick Wall and Lavatera Photo © Alice Joyce

Maybe you will choose to be involved as an Open Days garden host, sharing your own garden with like-minded hortophiles, or become a volunteer or representative for your region.

Pool and Pergola (Alice Joyce photo)

Entrée to serene private settings such as the Collenette Garden – pictured above – are opportunities I look forward to each year! And the events and seminars sponsored by The Garden Conservancy are always stimulating, increasing one’s knowledge while challenging ideas. Visit the main page of the Conservancy’s web site for news, and to see what events are taking place around the country. Having just popped onto the site, I learned Heronswood is for sale –the 15-acre landscape created by Daniel Hinkley and Robert Jones; subsequently purchased by Burpee. A destination nursery and gardenscape, Heronswood lured me to the Seattle area often, where I reveled in the great garden design, and a chance to be surrounded by the rarest of rare plants collected by Dan on his wide-ranging explorations.

Heronswood (Photo: Garden Conservancy web site)

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California Wine Country

Hess Collection Winery and Art Collection

A visit to Napa wine country should surely take in the artfully arranged, Modernist landscape at The Hess Collection Winery. A tasting of The Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay will be a high point, to be followed by a stimulating tour of The Hess Art Collection.

Surface Tension by Andy Goldsworthy   —                             Photo: Courtesy The Hess Collection

Among the exciting and challenging works you can expect to see is the outstanding: Surface Tension – a rare work by British artist Andy Goldsworthy, now on permanent display  at the Hess Art Museum. Measuring 10 x 16 feet, the sublime installation was assembled by Goldsworthy in 14 hours.

Surface Tension by Andy Goldsworthy  —                                   Photo: Courtesy The Hess Collection

The detail shows: ‘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.’

Hess Collection Winery Walker Designed Landscape

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

Der Feldzug by Armando 

A beautifully put description of the Hess Collection’s ‘green’ approach is posted at the entryway: “The …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.

John Greenlee plantings – Hess Collection 

Campanula lactiflora 

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.”

Hess Collection – Peter Walker Design 

View looking down on the courtyard from the Visitor Center.

The Hess Collection is featured in the Winery Gardens chapter of my book, Gardenwalks in California – An Insiders’ Guide .. published by The Globe Pequot Press. Now out-of-print, it’s currently being updated.

The Hess Collection Pergola & Plantings

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Historic Gardens

Enchanted Ninfa : Travel Italy

Cascade – Copyright Alice Joyce

In 1297 Pope Bonifaciio VIII gifted Ninfa to a relative, Pietro Caetani. Yet, by the late 1300s, warring factions overran the thriving Medieval town, leaving it in ruins.

Ninfa

Today… Ninfa is a landscape where gardens rise up on the site of a once-prominent 8th-century town.

Documentation traces Ninfa to the 1st century, when Pliny wrote of a temple constructed in homage to mythical nymphs: The Nymphs known to dwell in Ninfa’s pristine lake, the cold waters flowing from an alpine mountain source.

Ninfa : Copyright Alice Joyce

Look to, The English Garden Abroad, should you wish to learn more about the making of Ninfa’s gardens.
In the well-researched book, Charles Quest-Ritson follows the shaping of the present-day gardens by the creators: Three generations of the Caetani family responsible for the landscape one sees today. In particular, three ladies of English and American ancestry – laudable, artistic figures who contributed to the gardenscape.

Ninfa .. Rushing Water – Copyright Alice Joyce

A breathtaking naturalism envelops the visitor to Ninfa. At every turn, the eye rests upon lush greenery, or plentiful vistas of fresh water.

NINFA frescoes –  Copyright Alice Joyce

The wistful romanticism of ancient stone walls is not easily captured in words; the stone surfaces a honey-hued canvas for fading frescoes.

Copyright Alice Joyce

Importantly, the land is safe harbor for 132 species of birds, pure lake waters, and a Pontine marshland habitat. Ninfa’s 100,000-hectare property is accorded utmost respect by the governing Roffredo Caetani Foundation & curator, Lauro Marchetti. With the dawn of the 21st century, to care for the land is a primary consideration: Ninfa’s historic landscape of treasured flora and fauna is in many ways unique.

NINFA – Copyright Alice Joyce

Ninfa’s organically maintained gardens are located 20 km from the sea, situated at the base of the Lepini Mountains, and therefore protected from harsh winds. The gardens emerge as an idyllic natural setting. Yet, at the same time, the lush plantings are a resonant reminder of the loving touch and prescient planning of the keen-sighted garden-makers of the past.

Ninfa © Alice Joyce

The restored castle tower overlooks magnificent architectural evergreen pines, playing off flowering cherries, aristocratic magnolias, and the contorted limbs of mature maples.

The atmosphere feels blessed as you explore pathways, coming upon long vistas of gently meandering streams flanked by an alliance of roses and rhododendrons, self-sown mahonia, and the lavish foliage of gunnera. The eye alights upon a banana grove in a sun-drenched clearing: A microclimate warmed by venerable stone walls and ruins. There is talk of a project to extend the gardens, creating a spacious nature reserve for the abundant wildlife.

Ninfa opens to the public on a limited basis, offering guided tours.

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