Whether you're a history buff, an avid gardener or simply planning a family vacation to take in some nature or educational destinations for the kids, if you're planning a trip to Northern California's "Wine Country", Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm (National Register of Historic Places) - located in the Sonoma County town of Sebastopol - is well worth including in your itinerary.
Unlike Luther Burbank's Home and Gardens (National Historical Site) located in nearby Santa Rosa which has been extensively re-landscaped and re-planted over the years since Burbank's death in 1926, at the three-acre remnant of the originally more than 20-acre Burbank Farm, many of Burbank's tree, shrub and perennial experiments are still standing in the tightly-planted rows exactly where he placed them over a century ago.
Indeed, at Burbank's Sebastopol Farm, one immediately perceives a very real sense of the presence of "the master", carefully tending his precious plants day after day, who simply left one day and never returned
Directional signs on all the main thoroughfares into town make Burbank's Farm easy to find and there is plenty of nearby parking thanks to the recently completed on-site lot donated by the Engineering Contractors Assoc. of Northern California.
Any day is a good day to see the Farm since the site is open 24/7, 365 days a year (sorry, no overnight camping) with strategically-placed, self-guided tour maps directing you to all of the features and special plants on the property; however, both spring and autumn are particularly colorful times to plan your visit. For a small donation, docent-led tours can also be arranged through the Western Sonoma County Historical Society in Sebastopol for larger groups.
Some of the interesting features you will find at Burbank's Gold Ridge Farm include:
* The restored Victorian "Caretaker Cottage" - built the year after the original cottage on the site was destroyed by the 06 Earthquake.
* Chinese Quince (pseudocydonia) which bears huge, golden-yellow, egg-shaped fruit
* 100+ year-old Burbank Hybrid Chestnut trees
* Strange, thorny, geometrically-shaped "Trifoliate orange" trees
* Burbank's "thornless blackberry"
* Burbank's hybrid roses "Burbank" and "Blushing Beauty"
* An espaliered apple tree "fence" created by the California Rare Fruit Growers Association.
* Over a dozen different varieties of Burbank's popular Shasta daisies in the "Cottage Garden".
to name a very few
Picnic benches are available for family outings and there are plant sales to the public each Wednesday from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. The Farm hosts two open-house events each year (in the spring and fall), two Western Sonoma County Historical Society annual events - the "High Tea" in May and the very popular "Barbara Bull Memorial Cemetery Walk" in October - and the annual "Earth Elders" Earth Day celebration.
Burbank's Farm is located at 7781 Bodega Avenue in Sebastopol CA. It is owned by the City of Sebastopol and is administrated and maintained entirely by volunteers under the direction of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society that also directs the West County Museum just a few blocks away in the old train depot building (National Register of Historic Places) on Main Street. The WSCHS and Gold Ridge Farm website can be found online at http://www.wschsgrf.org.