You're An Obsession, My Obsession

My current gardening obsession is hunting for nurseries and resources that carry perennial vegetables. Such plants are usually available in the U.S. during the Spring (they are currently available at this time of year in Australia), but being the impatient personality that I am, I am anxious to get going now.

But this post is not about perennial vegetables—that will come in a later post once I succeed in acquiring said unusual and rare plants (such vegetables will go well beyond asparagus and artichoke), which may occur sometime in August (if you are interested, see www.oaec.org). It was my pursuit of these perennial vegetable plants that led me to recently stumble across a wonderful bakery and a small edible garden tucked behind it, which is the subject of this post.

So you ask—where is this place where one can find both amazing food and a beautiful garden? The answer--in Freestone located in Sonoma County. The bakery is called “Wild Flour Bakery” and features tasty creations such as sticky bun bread, scones dotted with strawberry and white chocolate, and savory goods (see http://www.wildflourbread.com/). The garden behind the bakery is cleverly named “Wild Flower Gardens” (play on the word “Flower” and “Flour”) which I suspect supplies some of the fruit used in the bakery’s baked goods. Unlike many edible gardens that can become overgrown because there is so much to manage, Wild Flower Gardens is, on the whole, well-ordered. In that space, you will find a small grove of young fruit trees consisting mostly of pears and plums. Also, in that space, are edible plants (kale, lettuce, raspberries, grapes, herbs, etc.) combined with ornamentals, the arrangement of which always interests me, because I enjoy seeing how people integrate these seemingly disparate groups of plants so that they look harmonious together. Best of all, there is seating scattered throughout the garden where you are invited to bring your fresh baked goods in to sit down and enjoy. It is a great little weekend getaway, just slightly over an hour from Solano County--not to be missed!

Rows of vegetables. (photos by Betty Homer)