During April, an astonishing display of tulips and other spring blooms is open to the public at the Crystal Hermitage Gardens, part of the 800 acre Ananda Village community, 16 miles north of Nevada City, in Northern California’s Gold Country. I joined a group for the drive to the garden and, although I’ve visited many gardens around the world, I’ve never seen anything remotely like it.
The gardens spill down a mountainside on terraces and are a study in the art and science of crafting a garden to explode into color, all in unison. Trees were in bloom along with 13,500 tulips. Azaleas, peonies, hydrangeas, wisteria and annuals bloomed together in beds, around benches, over trellises, along gravel paths and stone stairs, with a view overlooking the Yuba River far below and the mountains beyond.
After spending some time wandering among the flowers, we withdrew for a delicious vegetarian buffet lunch in the sunny and beautifully designed dining room at Ananda’s Expanding Light Yoga & Meditation Retreat. I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed myself more and I hope you enjoy the evidence in the pictures that follow.
For information regarding visiting ‘Springtime at Ananda’, click on this link.
To read more of PortMoresby’s ‘Gold Country, California’ series, click here.
To read more of PortMoresby’s contributions, click here.
Yes, this is truly a beautiful place. Here is a photo I took when we were there. It is called Peace Flame.
Thanks for this lovely piece, PortMoresby. And for the gift of the Peace Flame, Dgems!
Dgems, thanks so much for the addition. Just so everyone knows, Dgems was part of our group and we were taking pictures at the same time. I hadn’t noticed the ‘Peace Flame’ tulip and she pointed it out to me, I believe shortly after she took this picture. It was a very good day!