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!"

Culinary Gardens

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

Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver - In the Garden Facing Hotel

A long-awaited visit to Vancouver, B.C. included a blissful stay at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, where my room’s comfortable, contemporary decor and great views acted as a prequel to my tour of the hotel’s rooftop culinary garden. Installed around 1991, the hotel’s roof garden had been on my radar for some time. At 2,100 square feet, the 3rd floor green oasis is rightfully celebrated 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.

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Culinary Gardens

Green Roofs Thrive in Eco-Friendly Portland

Portland Central Library  Roof View Photo @ Alice Joyce

Portland is on top of the Green Scene. Visitors to ‘PDX’ (that’s how most Portlanders refer to their city) discover eco-roofs on public and private buildings, alike. Wildflowers and organic veggies are cultivated on the Multnomah County Building. The city’s Central Library features a beautiful green roof planted with 17,000 succulents and grasses. And one of the city’s top wine bars, Noble Rot has its own culinary garden atop the 4th floor of a LEED platinum certified building.

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California Wine Country

Benziger Winery's Bio-Dynamic Gardens

Benziger Winery Biodynamic Flow Form Photo © Alice Joyce

Benziger Winery offers a perfect destination for a day in Wine Country, with a self-guided Biodynamic Discovery Trail that takes its inspiration from biodynamic agriculture: A movement associated with philosopher and founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner.

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