The Gardens at Cornerstone, Sonoma, CA

Last year my boss asked me if I had been to Cornerstone in Sonoma. I had never heard of it and thought that it sounded like a restaurant. He teased me of course since it is one of those places I should have known about and should have experienced, seeing that I am a landscape designer. My husband and I decided to go for a ride on Labor Day to Sonoma and I remembered that I still had not been to Cornerstone. We finally made that trip last Monday and it was amazing! There was a lot of designer eye candy! I wanted to post some pictures of the inspirations I came across. Maybe it will get some of you motivated and inspired as well.

The things you can do with fishing line...I thought these would be neat if they were lit from inside. Unfortunately they don't have lights. They looked like they could be eggs or seed pods of some enormous garden organism. 

The Juncus (Rush) and Blue Fescue pictured here was part of a mediterranean grasses exhibit. I have never paired the two grasses so close to each other in my designs so it was pleasing to observe how well they look together. 

Design by Topher Delaney. A lot of interesting, yet simple contrast with textures.

I love how the blue of this evergreen specimen looked against the green lush plants around it. It helped to frame the small basin of water. An inviting view in the heat of the day.

This is the Lily Pond that looked so refreshing on this hot September day.

This tree, which is dead and covered in blue plastic balls and lights was kind of fun especially with the spiky agave beneath it. It definitely let you know of its presence in a whimsical way.

This landscape design exhibit captured my eye due to the contrasting textures. The fine texture of the Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) against the coarse textures of the Agave really play well with each other. I also love the golden yellow of the grass against the blue green Agave. The grasses blew in the wind and were so soft against the grounded and still harsh Agaves. They placed a dark sphere in amongst the landscape along with the grey-green olive trees. This was one of my favorite designs there at Cornerstone.

The pictures above are just a few of the many I took. I just wanted to mention that the lower left picture is of a design that used eucalyptus materials, creating fencing and privacy screens.

These wooden posts/columns were for sale and would be great for an arbor! I could see a beautiful climbing rose scaling these posts.

For those of you who have small yards and want to add a natural looking water feature to your garden I found this rock fountain for you. The black plastic basin that it is sitting on is to be buried underground so that only the grate is exposed. To hide the grate and still allow water to infiltrate you place gravel or decorative rocks on top. A pump sits in the basin, filled with water and pumps the water up through the stone where it trickles down over the stone, through the rocks and back into the basin again. All you need is to run electricity to the pump. It is a simple and an less expensive way to add a more natural and permanent looking water feature to a small space. I am not saying it is cheap, just cheaper than having to do any major construction, as many fine looking water features require.

Inside one of the galleries at Cornerstone was a lot of architectural elements made out of old junk or items you wouldn't normally think about making designer elements with. As you can see from the pictures it was inspiring to see what was exhibited there.

My first post on my blog was briefly about container gardens and I saw some interesting garden containers at Cornerstone. They had some unique planters drilled out of rock. Great looking for succulents! There were also some recycled steel containers, rusty for looks as well as some clay ones made to blend into any garden as if it had always been there. I also found some very modern and sleek slate containers that would fit well in a more contemporary garden. You can see what I am talking about below.

 Hopefully these pictures and ideas are helpful! Going to the actual place and seeing everything for yourself is a must. If you have a couple of hours of free time, do yourself a favor and check out Cornerstone, though try to do it on a cooler day than I did. You can enjoy more and take your time. If you want to check it out online before taking the drive I have placed the link here. http://www.cornerstonegardens.com/