Sunday Morning at Cornerstone
Thanks to Alice over at Bay Area Tendrils, I was reminded that a visit to Cornerstone Sonoma was overdue. Sunday morning I filled the commuter mug with Peets French Roast, grabbed the camera and set off, pouting at little the clear blue cloudless sky. Too bad they don't have an early bird special for photo hounds. I promised myself I would go back when the gloomy mornings return.
Cornerstone is unique, featuring several display gardens by the likes of John Greenlee and Roger Raiche, among others. They are sculpture gardens too, and in fact the gardens are vital to the art, and vice versa. There are shops, restaurants and gallerys on the property ; most folks I saw were clearly tourists, many of whom seemed bemused as they wandered from garden to garden, no doubt wondering where the flowers were.
I was happy to see a few new installations.I have to believe that keeping a place like this going in the current economic climate must be a challenge. The fabulous Late Show Gardens that took place there 2 years ago was zenith of Cornerstone, and it has yet to be repeated . One only has to remember near demise of the San Francisco Garden Show, a far more 'consumerish' event to understand the difficultly of mingling accessibility with art. The people who don't 'get it' will always outnumber those that do.
One of the new gardens, sunny and reflective.
This was my favorite ..bundled up wire screening festooned with sparkle-thingys..rain clouds ! It looked pretty cool up close, but there were new discoveries from far off corners of the gardens.
Cornerstone is unique, featuring several display gardens by the likes of John Greenlee and Roger Raiche, among others. They are sculpture gardens too, and in fact the gardens are vital to the art, and vice versa. There are shops, restaurants and gallerys on the property ; most folks I saw were clearly tourists, many of whom seemed bemused as they wandered from garden to garden, no doubt wondering where the flowers were.
I was happy to see a few new installations.I have to believe that keeping a place like this going in the current economic climate must be a challenge. The fabulous Late Show Gardens that took place there 2 years ago was zenith of Cornerstone, and it has yet to be repeated . One only has to remember near demise of the San Francisco Garden Show, a far more 'consumerish' event to understand the difficultly of mingling accessibility with art. The people who don't 'get it' will always outnumber those that do.
One of the new gardens, sunny and reflective.
This was my favorite ..bundled up wire screening festooned with sparkle-thingys..rain clouds ! It looked pretty cool up close, but there were new discoveries from far off corners of the gardens.
How exiting and fantastic!!!! Now you make my day, thats for sure :)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Norway, Tone.
Did I read that right? Were you actually wishing for gloomy skies? Loathe the thought.
ReplyDeleteGreat tour! Always enjoy seeing this gardens.
Your favorite is mine too. So glad you saw Alice's post. Another of Andy Cao's "clouds" is a permanent feature of a Malibu garden.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoyed our visit to Cornerstone last year.
ReplyDeleteThose clouds are wonderful. I want! Would make an awesome patio cover, if I can be mundane about it.
dang it! i was just up there visiting and forgot about this amazing garden! thanks for the tour. next time i hope i don't forget to remember!
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never, hopefully, to say thanks for the mention.
ReplyDeleteLove your passion for plants & design!
Maybe we'll run into each other one of these days .. I hope ;-)
'You Know Who'
aka Bay Area Tendrils
Thank you for coming by Tone, always happy to make someones day !
ReplyDeleteLoree, I only hope for gloom before noon, and then sunshine for the duration. Rain only from 9pm to 5am. Fat chance.
Hoover, I don't think that cloudy action would be a mundane patio cover-you'd be the talk of the town I'm sure !
You can do Cornerstone in a couple of hours Laguna, especially if you can tear yourself away from the aromas that waft around from the restaurant there...
Hi Alice, you have tipped me off on more than one garden destination in the bay area that I was unaware of..I thank you for that! My next Sunday morning trip will be the Wave Garden, never been ..never would have known it existed if not for your post ...