As dusk settles over the South Coast...

As dusk settles over the South Coast Botanic Garden on Monday, visitors can watch the butterflies drift through the rose garden and honeybees buzz around the sage and lavender to the sounds of the Palos Verdes Symphonic Band.

Pack the picnic hamper with fried chicken and pasta salad or, if you’re more ambitious, with a country pate and cold asparagus marinated in rosemary vinaigrette. The occasion is the annual Labor Day picnic and concert, held in a meadow at the garden.

The event, which begins at 4 p.m., is free. Usually about 1,000 people of all ages attend, bringing picnic suppers and stretching out on the lawn for preconcert feasts of their own making. Music begins about 5 p.m.

Parking is free, in the garden lot at 26300 Crenshaw Blvd. on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The 30-year-old symphonic band has about 50 members, all of them volunteers, said band President Jerome Wittels. As in years past, the musical program for the Labor Day concert will be mostly pops. That means ragtime, Dixieland, some polkas and a Sousa march or two, according to the band’s music director, Dick Schwalbe.

Any other time of the year, admission to the garden is $5 for adults, $3.50 for seniors and students and $1 for youngsters five to 12. There are tram tours Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. and 1 and 2 p.m.

On the first Sunday and the third Wednesday of each month, free bird walks are offered at 8 a.m. The garden is owned and operated by Los Angeles County.