Sunset planter logo (wooden letters filled with succulents)

We had a terrific time Saturday at Sunset Celebration Weekend.  Located on the grounds of Sunset Gardens in Menlo Park, the festival featured wine and food, travel, home design and the incredible garden’s they’re known for.

One of my first, and still beloved, gardening books is a Sunset Publishing classic:  The Sunset Western Garden Book. I used to pour over that book for hours.  The original came out in 1954. I bought my first copy in the mid-eighties, and later received an updated version as a gift. I still refer to it as the standard for gardening in this corner of the world.

At the festival, we sampled Torani soda and iced coffee, avocado and key lime cupcakes and MorningStar Farms vegetarian samplers, all free. Food truck offerings included several vegetarian options as well. Yeah me!

Top: Mike grew up drinking Torani Italian sodas Top Center: Avocado cupcakes with key lime butter-cream frosting Bottom: MorningStar crew serving tasty vegetarian morsels

The crowded test gardens made it challenging to get good shots, so I’ve promised myself a trip back.  Everything looked healthy and well-maintained. Here are a few highlights:

Outdoor Dining Room designed by McKenna Landscape

Reuse of old materials highlighted this design. Stacked, reclaimed wood covers the entrance.   Reclaimed wood appears throughout the dining area in the planter boxes, the benches and the table. Sycamore trees form a natural ‘wall’ on two sides of the garden. The rest of the plantings are drought tolerant succulents.

A clever berry garden grew next to the dining area, the perfect way to eat summer dessert al fresco. A pair of curved trellises covered in berries, with strawberries at their feet in a semi-circle bed. Blueberry shrubs flanked either side.

Mike in front of the vegetable garden

The tidiest vegetable garden you’ve ever seen bordered the berries, then made way for compost bins, a mason bee house and finally a chicken coop.

Bee house

Happy, productive bees

Flowering gardens and herbs made up the rest of the garden, with lovely benches and seating areas throughout.

Herb and perennial garden

I could have lingered there all day.  In addition to the gardens, the presentations and the demos, we saw two tiny houses, part of the minimalist movement afoot.  We rested our tired  feet for a bit while learning the best way to mix the ingredients for a cake.  Hmmmm…isn’t that what bakeries are for?

I’m already looking forward to attending again next year.

Do you have an annual favorite you like to attend?