Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Surely the winter season is apropos to conjuring up the scents and sounds of summer! Wine tasting, of course, is an activity enjoyed year-round at the Wine Center at Kendall-Jackson, in Fulton near Santa Rosa.

Below: A long view of the Blooms of Bressingham borders on a summer’s day, with bees abuzz, flitting among the bountiful blooms at the Kendall-Jackson Winery gardens.

Shrubs and trees add year-round interest to the winery’s perennial borders, designed by British horticulturist Adrian Bloom: The son of famed plantsman, Alan Bloom, and the author of numerous gardening books featuring Foggy Bottom, Adrian Bloom’s personal garden in Norfolk.

To find the Bloom 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.”

Kendall-Jackson Winery - Reflecting Bloom’s refined 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.

K-J Bressingham Borders (Alice Joyce photo)

A 2 1/2 -acre culinary garden provides herbs & produce for Kendall-Jackson’s  …  Wine & Food Pairings

You’ll want to stroll through the K-J International Cuisine gardens, and the Viticultural Demonstration plantings, too, which provide an informative look at arrays of grape varieties.