I am up at Melissa's this week to see her new location of Every Bloomin' Thing that she opened in Chester, right down the road from Lake Almanor. I have been trying to get away and make it up here to see it since she opened her second location in May, but one thing about owning a nursery, you don't get away to much during the height of the gardening season. Well now the temps are in the high 90's in Fallon, so things are starting to slow down at the store, so that means it's "traveling time" for me. This week it was to Lake Almanor. A summer retreat for many from the Northern California area it seems like Lake Tahoe in a time warp. Everything moves at a much slower pace, and the lake is breathtakingly beautiful. She was very lucky to open the new nursery with the assistance of a couple who have lived in the area for years, Cher and Russ Greenlaw. Cher is also a landscape designer and we spent one of the days here touring some of her projects. These are BIG projects, some taking years to complete. We started at one of Cher's favorites designs, Pam Peri's summer home. Many of you may have read about them in the 2010 Summer issue of Edible Reno Tahoe. The Peri's are known around our part of Northern Nevada as the "Onion Kings" and they use this home as a summer retreat. This project has been a three year work in progress and is amazing. From the plantings at the front gates to the long slope down to the lake, your eye travels quickly trying to take it all in.

Cher and Mel at the Peri's

complete with Fairy Garden

Another of the many homes that Cher has done the landscape designs for in the area, this one shows her beautiful use of heathers and thyme for a very low maintance front area.

on to some paving projects that she has going, gave me some ideas for my own backyard

now if I just had this view to go with it.......

this is a massive project, and ALL the boulders came from the property as it was being excavated for the construction of the home

But my favorite stop of the day, Cher's own garden. With over 40 diffeerant types of Japanese maples, a soothing and lovely pond, perinnial beds and wildlife ~ I think it is her most beautiful design we saw.

dogwood, still in bloom even this late into the summer....breathtaking

40 year old Japanese maple that she has just now planted into the ground. She has cared for it all these years in a large container. The next photo shows screws were it was fixed after a branch broke many many years ago.

the final stop, her wine cellar..........a beautiful day!