Garden to make its debut

A classical Chinese garden linking Southern California’s botanical treasures to China’s rich literary, poetic and artistic traditions will be previewed this weekend after a decade of work. A landmark partnership between the region’s fast-growing Chinese American community and the garden’s developers at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino helped bring about the Liu Fang Yuan, or Garden of Flowing Fragrance.

The Huntington first proposed building a Chinese garden more than two decades ago, in part because many of its famous botanic collections -- camellias and azaleas, for example -- originated in China, according to library officials. A $10-million bequest in 2001 from the estate of the late Peter Paanakker, a Los Angeles businessman, helped launch the garden. The Huntington has since then reached out to the Chinese community in California and overseas, along with others, to meet its $18.3-million fundraising goal for the garden’s first phase.

The garden, at 1151 Oxford Road, will open to major donors today and members Sunday. It will open to the general public on Feb. 23.