Visiting Dry Creek Valley & Healdsburg

Over the summer I made a trip to Sonoma County to visit a few wineries and sights.   Sonoma County has hundreds of wineries to taste, so you really need to decide where or what wineries you want to try otherwise you could spend weeks trying all of the wineries.  For my trip I decided to head to the Northern part of Sonoma County near Healdsburg to wine taste in the Dry Creek Valley.  Check out this link for a map of the wineries in the Dry Creek Valley Region.

There were more wineries in the area then I had time for, but here are the one's I did make it to:


                  Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery
                  Dutcher Crossing Winery
                  Seasons of the Vineyard
                  Kendall-Jackson Winery Center           


The wines at Ferrari-Carano and their tasting bar, Seasons of the Vineyard, were excellent.  It is worth making the extra trip to their tasting bar as there are plenty of other shops, boutiques and restaurants in downtown Healdsburg.  Some of the shops are dog-friendly and the two dog boutiques are just lovely - for large and small dogs alike.  There are some great dog-gift items, dog toys and treats available.  If you are shopping for clothes or jewelry there are some great choices and local handmade jewelry that is quite unique.    Check out this link for a listing of menus and restaurants choices.  Besides shopping, wine tasting and checking out the local food, there is a great Muesum and Historical Soceity a few blocks from the all these attractions.  History buffs may want to check out the changing exhibits at the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society.  Downstairs there is a research center where you can browse records with the help of the Research Curator.  I did a little genealogy research here and did find records that pertain to my family tree when they lived in the Healdsburg area.

Ferrari-Carano

Garden area at Ferrari-Carano

My last stop after leaving the Dry Creek Valley was at the Kendall-Jackson Winery Center.  Currently they were remodeling so there was some noise from the workers, but the gardens were still interesting to walk through.  You can ask for a guided tour of the garden grounds and the recommended wine tasting would be the wine pairing experience.  Plan for some time if you are up for the wine paring experience, personally I think I would try the dessert tasting.  I do think the wines are pricey here, but then wine can be expensive.

Driving up to Kendall Jackson

The garden area

             

My garden is growing

With the storms past, Northern California was hit with a bit of a heat wave, with temperatures hitting the 90's in some places.  Personally I wasn't ready for such hot temperatures so early, but it does wonders for my garden. Now the temperatures are cooling and the spring breezes are back.  Whew . . . summer can wait a little bit longer.  My irises are in full bloom with only two of them not blooming; my azaleas are also in full bloom, and the rest of my garden is growing.  Take a peak at my garden (a work in progress at the moment).

Green bean 2 weeks after starting from seeds

Left to Right: Green bean 3 weeks, rosemary, cucumber

Tomatillo (a new addition) already in bloom

Lemon Balm - Will be great to add to my drinks this summer

Black Beauty Eggplant

Strawberries

First harvest of Swiss chard

It's Spring . . . well not quite

For awhile we had very unusually (early) warm spring temperatures.  However the last few weeks we have had some spring showers and storms.  The rain is a good thing, since we had a dry winter.  My difficulty is getting my garden started and without a greenhouse, figuring out the best time to start my seeds.  So I decided that since April is approaching, it's now or never to get my seeds started.  Check out my Twitter page for my recent tweet on the article for making your own soil to start seeds.

Some of my flowers are in bloom, though not my irises; my chives are returning and my swiss chard is finally taking off!  For my seeds, I am growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, pumpkin, green beans, watermelon and squash.  I love reusing old plastic pots for starting seeds.

Need some color in the yard?

With winter fast approaching, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us are planning our spring garden.  Well, maybe not all of us.  For me, I love having vegetables and fruits.  I mean you can't beat reaping the rewards with fresh fruit and vegetables to eat.

Now I admit I do like other plants and flowers, but I do not like to tend ones that I have to replant every year (unless they are fruits or vegetables).  If I am going to plant something I want to benefit from the plant in some way. 

I love lavender, it's a natural pest control around the house and the flowers can be harvested.   If you plant the English or French lavender you will have a lovely smell in the garden and around your house.  Another great bonus is that lavender plants are drought tolerant.  Besides lavender, I like to plant bulbs, such as irises, day lilies, freesias and tulips to name a few.  I find that I do not have to tend the bulbs much, other tend trimming dead leaves and flowers and separating the bulbs every few years. 

My Aunt introduced me to a few local iris and day lily farms in Northern California.  This year we made it to the Pleasant Valley Iris Farm while the irises were still in bloom.  It was a sight to see, so many combinations to choose from.  You can view the catalog and even order online during the season.  If you live in the area it is worth the trip.  The grounds are nice to stroll through and there are picnic tables to enjoy your lunch (be sure to bring one with you).  In addition, there are several local farms and farm stands to pick up local produce.

 

 Here are a few of the many colors and variations of irises.  You would be surprised with all them.  The names are always interesting and amusing. 

There are many other iris farms, especially in Northern California.  See if you have an iris farms near you!  I'd love to hear about it. 

The next flower I really love is the day lily.  Some of you might be wondering why, right?  You probably see the typical yellow day lily that many landscapers like to use.  Again there all the colors of the rainbow and type of flower bulb as well.  My favorite is the Amador Flower Farm in the foothills, that my Aunt introduced me to.  But you will find more that just hundreds of day lilies here.  Many other plants and trees are for sale in their nursery and they have a pumpkin patch in October.  It's a great place to visit with the family and you can picnic there as well.  But if that's not your thing, there are plenty of wineries in the area and you can have lunch at one of them with some wine tasting.

These day lilies are available on their website, so you can order them if you do not live close by for a visit.  Each of these bulbs add such great color to your yard and do not require a lot of gardening.  So you can see why I love to add color to my yard with some flowers, but even you can grow these, you don't need a "green thumb".