Giornale Meritage Newsletter

Nature’s Spring Show: Flowering Trees and Iris Gardens

One of the most breathtaking highlights in the Napa Valley is the show nature puts on every spring.  During this colorful season, the most integral features of the valley’s beauty include its flowering trees—located on street corners as well as spread across verdant fields.

Some, reaching over 35 feet in height, like the Eastern redbud, are completely riveting.  The redbud’s small, sweet-pea shaped, pink to purple flowers are virtual spring harbingers as they sway in the cool April breezes. The locust (Robinia ambigua) is also a member of the pea family. Each spring this robust tree, climbing 35 to 50 feet with a wide, all-embracing canopy, puts on a radiant display of brilliant lavender to bright pink flowers; their eight-to ten-inch clusters are tucked within the tree’s bronze-red foliage.

This is also the time when the red horsechestnuts (Aesculus carnea) also come into bloom. A designated Napa street tree, the red horsechestnut is one you definitely can’t miss with its striking, dark green, coarse-textured foliage and graceful, round crown. By the time the tree is five to seven years old it already provides dense, cooling shade. In mid-April, long, bright red flowers cover the very tops of the tree in clusters five to eight inches in length. Truly lovely!

For fans of the Iris flower, more than 438 award-winning varieties can be seen at Napa Valley Iris Gardens in the east Napa hills. This small, family run operation opens on Friday, April 17th for its 18th season presenting a gorgeous Iris garden to visitors. The Gardens are located 14 miles northeast of Napa near the southern end of Lake Berryessa, just north of the intersection of highways 121 and 128.  Napa Valley Iris Gardens is closed Monday through Thursday; admission is free. For more information, call (707) 255-788 or visit www.napairis.com.