Photo by Tori James
Since moving to the Mother Lode full-time from the concrete jungle of southern California and joining the KKBN crew last fall, I’ve felt privileged by the peace and surrounding beauty of my new home. My husband and I joke that we drive to work through what seems like landscape paintings. Although the drought has made the “golden” summer hills a bit browner, there’s still plenty of summer color to appreciate. This past weekend, while entertaining dear friends who were kind enough to make our home a stop on their bound to be epic, 28-day Atlantic-to-Pacific-Coast-and-back tour, we visited Ironstone Vineyards, where the always impressive container garden displays continue to elicit oohs and aahs from the likes of visitors, local and otherwise. Even though it is clear that the gardeners have reduced watering, the colors were still popping. A huge half-wine barrel full of slightly thirsty “State Fair Mix” Zinnias, shared above, heads slightly bobbing, obviously caught both my fancy and the eye of my camera-phone — enjoy!