Descanso Gardens Springing Into Bloom With Annual Flower Fest

Today marks the beginning of a monthlong celebration devoted entirely to beauty: The Festival of Spring Flowers at Descanso Gardens.

The festival begins with the Pasadena Garden Club’s two-day flower show and continues through April 22 when the San Fernando Valley Rose Society holds its annual rose show and sale.

According to George Lewis, Descanso Gardens superintendent-horticulturist, the festival is one of the world’s greatest flower shows. Visitors will see a panorama of annuals, perennials and flowering trees and shrubs.

Visualize hundreds of thousands of flowers in a tranquil, spacious setting. There are miles of paths throughout the 165-acre grounds.

Lewis says the festival is designed to be “free and flowing.” Most flower shows last only a few days; while the flowers may be at their peaks at the beginning of the show, they deteriorate toward the end. By using growing flowers, Descanso Gardens assures visitors of spectacular blooms the entire month.

For an introduction and overall view of the gardens, Lewis suggests that visitors take the 45-minute guided tram tour.

One of Descanso’s most prominent attractions is the Camellia Forest. Here is one of the largest plantings of camellias in the world--thousands of shrubs featuring more than 600 varieties. Some of the shrubs are almost 50 years old and more than 20 feet tall. Showing large blooms in white, pink, rose, scarlet and variegated pink and white and red and white, the shrubs are nestled among California live oak trees.

A special feature of the 25-acre Camellia Forest is the display of a type of camellia called “reticulatea,” which has huge, wavy blooms measuring up to nine inches in diameter. The reticulate varieties were discovered in China during World War II. Ten varieties were brought to Descanso from the Kunming Temple of China in 1948.

Bulbs--more than 30,000 tulips, 10,000 daffodils, 2,000 glads and thousands of others--have been specially placed for the festival.

Descanso offers the largest flowering collection of tulips on the West Coast with more than 15 varieties planted in the Tulip Walk and along other bedding areas.

Other special features of the Festival of Spring Flowers include a landscape designer-created Display Garden, an Old English Garden, an Award-Winning Iris Garden and beds of annuals and other plants.

In the Display Garden, designers have created displays to suit different landscaping needs.

The Old English Garden is across from the Tram Station and features plants found in an old English countryside garden--hollyhock, day lilies, snapdragons, foxglove, buddeleja, penstemon and others.

The Iris Garden displays gold cup and silver medal winners.

Throughout the gardens, Lewis has extensively incorporated a concept he calls “two-story bloom,” planting bulbs among beds of low-growing annuals.

The regular attractions at Descanso Gardens also warrant a visit during the festival.

* Two rose gardens--Modern Roses and Roses of Yesterday--are found on the grounds. Only the Modern Roses garden will have bloom during the festival. It features an array of hybrid tea roses.

* Bird fanciers will appreciate the Bird Observation Station. The ponds are a regular stopping point for wild waterfowl and other birds.

* Azalea varieties in the gardens will begin their bloom, as will many native plants.

* Descanso Gardens has the largest collection of native live oak trees in Southern California, as well as redwoods, pines, cedars, firs and flowering fruit trees that should be at their peak during the festival.

Descanso Gardens is at 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge. Open daily except Christmas Day. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission: adults $3; seniors and students $1.50; children 5-12 75 cents, and children under 5 free. Tram tour of the gardens: $1.50. For information, call (818) 790-5414.