Guild Will Operate Descanso Gardens : Services: Nonprofit group takes over management from budget-strapped county.

The Descanso Gardens Guild has taken over management of the garden in La Canada from its budget-strapped owner, the county.

“The guild really welcomes this opportunity to manage and have greater control over the destiny of the gardens,” said Gail Boatwright, the nonprofit group’s president.

Peter Wittingham, deputy to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said the county will pay the guild $317,000 a year to operate the gardens. The group, which has helped support the gardens since 1957, will keep all admission fees, special fees and concession revenues.

In return, the guild is responsible for maintenance, personnel, insurance and marketing the gardens. Boatwright estimates the Descanso Gardens will have an annual budget of $1.6 million.

The change was initiated after the county Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens was dissolved Jan. 1, saving the county an estimated $366,000 in the 1992-93 budget, officials said.

Of the three other gardens run by the department, the Virginia Robinson Estate in Beverly Hills, which is supported in part by an endowment, has also been taken over by its support group. The State and County Arboretum in Arcadia and the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula are managed by the County Department of Parks and Recreation, although Wittingham said the arboretum plans to be independently run by the end of the year.

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The guild takeover of Descanso Gardens “does protect us from these continual layoffs that the Department of Arboreta and Gardens has been subject to,” Boatwright said. “We’ve been cut and cut and cut and we’re down to the bone right now.”

Descanso Gardens director Steven Cohan said he plans to expand the staff from 12 to 24, including several horticulturists.

But to do that, attendance will have to increase, Boatwright said. She hopes promoting the gardens will draw 300,000 people this year, up from 172,000 last year.

The Descanso Gardens at 1418 Descanso Drive is best known for its camellias, but it also is home to native California plants, bulb flowers and a Japanese tea garden. Admission to the gardens is $3 for adults, $1.50 for seniors and students, and 75 cents for children 6-12. It is free for children 5 and under.