Exuberant Gardens Along Route 101 North
Explore gardens along the Santa Rosa | Cloverdale corridor (Route 101 North) in California, in a summer outing not-to-be-missed.
The tour aptly illustrates the ideas developed in our April 15 seminar in San Francisco: The Way We Garden Now—a seminar on sustainability, aesthetics, and gardens with integrity. The tour will explore five beautiful and playful garden landscapes that illustrate the various ecological themes from the seminar and portray a strong sense of place.
We will travel by bus as you relax, dream, and absorb creative solutions to various design questions. We promise you will eat well throughout the day (bee tea, picnic buffet, gelato con frutta y cioccolato, and a mini-barbecue reception with plenty of North County wine!)
ITINERARY
8 a.m. prompt departure by bus from the Presidio, San Francisco
Two additional stops in Marin and Santa Rosa
Return to the Presidio by 7:30 p.m.
Tour proceeds rain or shine.
Gardens on the tour include (see longer descriptions below):
Melissa Bee Garden, Healdsburg; Kate Frey, garden consultant | Barbara Schlumberger, owner
Medlock Ames Tasting Room Garden, Alexander Valley; Alexis Woods, landscape architect, project consultant to Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscapes Architects
Walden Studios, Geyserville; Andrea Cochran, landscape architect
Villa Galactica, Cloverdale; personal garden of Todd Cole, landscape architect
Split Rock Springs Ranch, personal garden of Gerry Etcheverry and Glen Lajeski
Kate Frey, Barbara Schlumberger, Alexis Woods, Andrea Cochran, Todd Cole, and Glen Lajeski will be with us on the trip.
REGISTRATION
$235 per person
Includes bus and food throughout the day (picnic buffet, mini-barbecue reception, and more)
Register soon as capacity is limited. Cancellation policy: refund of registration fee less 20% if requested 7 business days prior to the tour. No refunds after the grace period.
June 13 update: registrations for this tour have reached full capacity.
If you'd like to be put on the waiting list, please call Karen Armstrong at 415.441.4300 in the Garden Conservancy office, San Francisco.
GARDEN DESCRIPTIONS AND LINKS
Melissa Bee Garden, Healdsburg
Kate Frey, garden consultant, Hopland | Barbara Schlumberger, owner
The Melissa Garden is a sanctuary for honeybees, native pollinators (there are 1,700 species of native bees in California), and habitat in Healdsburg, California, at the western edge of the Russian River Valley, on top of a ridge at 850 feet in elevation. The garden sits in the center of a 40-acre ranch.
Medlock Ames Tasting Room Garden, Alexander Valley
Alexis Woods, landscape architect/member of garden project team, San Francisco
See also a garden description on nbwla.com.
To create this delightful vineyard-reflecting edible garden and wine-tasting room in the Alexander Valley, Medlock Ames “employed a dream team of eco-minded designers." The outdoor space includes a farm-style table amidst a grove of 30-year-old olive trees and a fire pit seating area. (City Dirt, May 2010)
Walden Studios, Geyserville
Andrea Cochran, landscape architect, San Francisco
Walden Studios is in the flood plain of the Russian River. The design draws on the memory of the prune plum orchards that once filled the valley to create a palpable link with its agricultural past and its present vineyard surroundings. The design of the site integrates a working vineyard and agricultural buildings with art studios and offices of its art patron owner.
Villa Galactica, Cloverdale
Personal garden of Todd Cole, landscape architect, San Francisco
Villa Galactica’s garden began with a piece of land, the ruin of an electric substation, and the remnants of a managed landscape that surrounded the structure. Of the 8.5 acres, approximately one is usable and does not include an active slide, a flood plain, or a cliff. The resulting gardens are compact and bring delight and color to the substation house that offers a relaxed environment in a hot climate.
Split Rock Springs Ranch, northern Sonoma County
Personal garden of Gerry Etcheverry and Glen Lajeski
Entering the 160-acre property through an olive grove of 1,400 Italian varietals, Split Rock Springs Ranch has the advantage of a year-round spring which gushes 80,000 gallons of water daily. Using that water as an element, Glen has created a hillside garden and tent deck complex of extensive levels as a temporary residence until the main house is built. The gardens emanate from the tent complex forming various garden rooms.
Further details will be added as available.
For more information, please call the Garden Conservancy in San Francisco at 415.441.4300.
