Whenever I head for West County—that swath of Sonoma County that stretches from Sebastopol, west of Highway 101, toward the Pacific—I prepare the trunk of my car for additions to my garden. Along with redwood forests, apple orchards and cow pastures, these hills are adrift with nurseries reflecting the area’s quirky, “Birkenstocky” spirit (an early clue is Sebastopol’s city-limit sign: “Nuclear Free Zone, Sister City of Yamaguch-Machi”) through individual horticultural passion...

“Floral Forays in Sonoma’s West County”
San Francisco Chronicle