Thank you .. ‘Dirt du Jour’

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

Intoxicating Lavender Fields .. Matanzas Creek Winery

The lavender and estate gardens at Matanzas Creek Winery are situated amid hilly terrain in Sonoma County’s Bennett Valley. Washed over in luminous hues, the setting combines an elegant naturalism and robust verdure, where majestic native oaks tower over extravagant plantings.

© AlicesGardenTravelBuzz.com

It’s difficult not to be swept away by the heady perfume of lavender that greets you during a June visit.  Some 4,500 plants grow on staggered terraces, the cultivated varieties ‘Grosso’ and ‘Provence.’ The distinctive hues and textures create diagonal patterns, leading you on a gradual ascent up the steps of a central path toward the winery’s main building.

Matanzas Creek stairway    © Alice Joyce

Drifts of swaying grasses like the tall purple moor grass, which produces blooming spikes from June through December, soften the hillsides and walkways, alike.

Grass featherheads © Alice Joyce

Masses of perennials thrive under Sonoma’s bright skies, in a design first conceived by landscape designer Gary Ratway (Digging Dog Nursery):  Gary is acknowledged for his contributions to the restoration of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

Matanzas Creek Lavender Field  © Alice Joyce

In addition to compositions of ornamental grasses and pungent herbs, the gardens feature selections of ornamental vines, shrubs and unusual trees:

Lavender field Vista – Photo Copyright Alice Joyce

Parrotia persica boasts medleys of amethyst & lemon-lime leaves in spring, shifting to shimmering golds and reds in the fall.

Fountain Sculpture Matanzas Creek Winery

Eloquently described in the winery’s garden tour booklet, the governing philosophy at Matanzas Creek is one of “designing to reduce design.” It’s readily apparent throughout the grounds, but perhaps the most striking examples are boulders weighing 21,000 pounds. Set in place near a stairway, these massive forms look as if they have been there forever.

Dry Stream Bed ~ Copyright Alice Joyce

4 comments - (Comments are closed)   California Wine Country, Wine Tasting   ,  
Historic Gardens

Sacred Wood of Bomarzo .. Sojourn in Italy

BOMARZO: 16th century landscape populated by strangely compelling creatures, gods & goddesses carved in stone.

Bomarzo: Sleeping Beauty

Designed by the architect, Pirro Ligorio, the Sacred Wood of Bomazo is a marvelous Mannerist landscape in the province of Viterbo, in Italy’s Lazio region, north of Rome.

Bomarzo Dragon attacked by Dogs


Bomarzo: Neptune

The terrain of Bomarzo or Parco dei Mostri (Park of the Monsters) is a well-worn parkland today:  the price of admission yields a faded copy of a map. Yet, after having been abandoned for hundred of years, the 16th century estate of Prince Pier Francesco Orsini – called ‘Vicino’ – is open to the public to be experienced once more.

Imagine the astounding undertaking Orsini entered into when creating the setting, and you’ll be swept away by the Prince’s dramatic intent, unfolding along intricate, convoluted pathways: A theme that effectively rejected the dominant geometric formality common to gardens of the period.

At the entrance to the woodland, an invitation is etched: “You who go wandering about the world in search of sublime and awesome wonders, come here where horrendous faces, elephants, lions, bears, ogres and dragons are to be seen.”

Bomarzo ..  ‘Giants Do Battle’ – Hercules Copyright Alice Joyce

In Visions of Arcadia (Aurum, 1996), author, May Woods reflects on the playful character of one of Bomarzo’s stone beasts. The representation of a dragon with the wings of a butterfly. Woods suggests the depiction rests not in the creature’s diabolical nature, but rather in the role of protector, ensuring the purity of the fountain’s water.

Bomarzo Ogre

Huge in size and impact, the landscape’s much photographed Ogre, albeit engaged in an apparent scream, houses a table where you can enjoy a picnic.

Bomarzo

In the exoticism of the garden plan, Orsini presented an alluring challenge to his aristocratic guests – artists, poets, and intelligentsia of the day, to decode the symbolism, the iconography of mermaids, gods and monsters, populating the extravagantly theatrical setting.

Copyright © Alice Joyce

Mask of Madness Copyright Alice Joyce

An elephant about to kill a warrior;  a mythological Orc carrying a globe of the world, topped by a model of the Orsini castle:

Melancholic or humorous?

Horrific or strangely compelling?

At the culminating point in one’s journey through the Prince’s gardens, you come upon a building of subtle beauty, The Temple of Divine Love; built in memory of Orsini’s wife by renowned architect, Vignola.

Comments are closed   Historic Gardens, Italy   , ,  
Culinary Gardens

A Culinary Banquet.. Rooftop Garden, Vancouver's Fairmont Waterfront Hotel

Fairmont Waterfront Hotel – Vancouver, British Columbia ~ Below: The Rooftop Gardens

On a long-awaited visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, I reveled in a blissful stay at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. The room’s comfortable, contemporary decor and great views were a welcome prequel to my tour of the Fairmont’s rooftop culinary garden.

Installed around 1991, the hotel’s rooftop array had been on my radar for some time. At 2,100 square feet,  the 3rd floor green oasis holds a place as one of the first living roofs in a city that now boasts the largest green roof in Canada, the nearby 6-acre Vancouver Convention Centre.

Patrick Dore at Herb Garden Gates - Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver

Patrick Dore at Herb Garden Gates 

The plantings were refreshed in 2006, and fifteen cubic yards of compost later, the garden layout boasts box hedging that effectively defines the planting beds. Espaliered apples and bay trees add beauty and structure to the design. Not surprisingly, organic gardening practices are employed in these productive gardens, where the Fairmont chefs harvest such delicacies as alpine strawberries, rose blossoms, lovage and calendulas, for the tasty fare at Herons Restaurant. May through September you can tour the garden, or book to see Bee Hive demonstrations: the honeybees are the latest addition to the gardens. Phone or check the web site for tour times. Tours of the Herb Garden can also be arranged along with a lunch reservation in Herons.

Garden Plan Fairmont Hotel Roof Garden

As you might imagine, these organic gardens are a haven for many species of birds. Here’s a gardening tip revealed on my tour of the garden: Orange pekoe tea with a little bit of soap added is used at times for aphid control.

A Birds Eye View .. Fairmont Waterfront Hotel Roof Garden Plan: The hotel offers guest rooms with views of the garden’s herbs and flowers; also Terrace Rooms featuring private patios that lead to the garden.

One comment - (Comments are closed)   Culinary Gardens, Green Roofs/Vertical Gardens, Hotels & Inns, Vancouver   , ,  
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