(Christina House / Los Angeles Times; photo illustration by Jade Cuevas / Los Angeles Times)
The 16 most beautiful and inviting public gardens in Southern California
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Southern California is blessed with brilliant weather year-round, so it’s no surprise we have an abundance of curated and mostly public botanical gardens, catering to just about every interest and plant this Golden State can support.
While these are beautiful and inviting spaces, don’t mistake them for parks. Think of them more as living museums. With this in mind, most public gardens don’t permit dogs or other pets (including emotional support animals) in order to protect wildlife in the gardens and minimize damage to the plants. Service animals trained under Americans With Disabilities Act specifications are the exception.
From a lighthouse in Crescent City, to trees changing colors in the Sierra, to funky art installations near the Salton Sea, these are the best things to do in the Golden State in the fall.
And often these gardens don’t permit outside food inside to minimize litter and problems with wildlife. Check before you decide to bring a picnic because you might have to eat it in the parking lot.
If you’re a frequent visitor to a particular garden, consider becoming a member, which usually gives you perks such as free entry and reduced fees for classes and special events. Think of it as a win-win. We urbanites and suburbanites need public gardens to feed our souls, and these not-to-be-missed gardens need our financial support to maintain and build their spaces. If we’ve missed your favorite, email jeanette.marantos@latimes.com, and let us know.
Showing Places
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Arlington Garden
Pasadena Garden
Once upon a time, Arlington Garden was the site of a grand 50-room mansion known as Durand House, which was demolished after 1964 so the California Department of Transportation could extend the 710 Freeway. When community opposition halted that project, the 3-acre lot of compacted dirt stood vacant until 2005. That’s when the garden’s founders, Betty and Charles McKenney, worked with Pasadena officials to create a public, water-wise Mediterranean-style garden. Its designers used organic and regenerative growing techniques such as leaving leaf litter on the ground to help build up the depleted soil. They also packed in nearly as many garden “spaces” as there were rooms in the old mansion, with lots of quiet shady spots for reading, trails and a labyrinth to stroll, a citrus grove, an oak grove, a vegetable patch, a pond, a cactus garden, a pine forest and a French-feeling allée lined with silvery olive trees and furniture you can move about for personalized seating. And, of course, the garden is laced with lots of habitat-creating native plants, as is obvious from the birdsong and pollinators flitting throughout.
This is a garden where you can bring a book or a picnic, let children safely run free or find a sheltered corner for coffee and intense conversation. During a visit late on a fall Friday afternoon, one young woman sat in a corner of the allée with her sketch pad; a slender walker gaped at the white barrel-shaped blooms oozing with bees on a tall San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi); and a toddler wheeled and shrieked with excitement at finding a pumpkin in the vegetable patch. Use this garden as you would a pair of comfortable shoes — as often as you can, with gratitude and love.
Admission: Free
Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Food: You can’t purchase food at the garden, but there are areas for eating prepared foods; just make sure to clean up afterward. The garden’s famous marmalade, made from oranges picked from its trees, is available for purchase at several locations in Pasadena but not normally in the garden.
Other: There is no publicly accessible restroom, but there is a water bottle refill station in the back of the garden, on the garden shed. Dogs are permitted if leashed.
This is a garden where you can bring a book or a picnic, let children safely run free or find a sheltered corner for coffee and intense conversation. During a visit late on a fall Friday afternoon, one young woman sat in a corner of the allée with her sketch pad; a slender walker gaped at the white barrel-shaped blooms oozing with bees on a tall San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi); and a toddler wheeled and shrieked with excitement at finding a pumpkin in the vegetable patch. Use this garden as you would a pair of comfortable shoes — as often as you can, with gratitude and love.
Admission: Free
Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Food: You can’t purchase food at the garden, but there are areas for eating prepared foods; just make sure to clean up afterward. The garden’s famous marmalade, made from oranges picked from its trees, is available for purchase at several locations in Pasadena but not normally in the garden.
Other: There is no publicly accessible restroom, but there is a water bottle refill station in the back of the garden, on the garden shed. Dogs are permitted if leashed.
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(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
California Botanic Garden
Claremont Garden
California Botanic Garden considers itself an 86-acre living museum of the state’s largest collection of native plants. The easy-to-roam area is divided into multiple regions such as a fan palm oasis and clumps of serrated agaves, a wildflower meadow, redwood groves, waves of Matilija poppies (whose fried egg-looking blooms are the size of a hand) and a dizzying collection of manzanita and wildflower blooms in the spring. Be sure to visit the massive majestic oak, the largest and oldest (250-plus years) in the garden’s oak woodlands. There are many sturdy benches that invite reflection, but note that food is only permitted in the parking area.
This is a lovely garden to wander and see how native plants look when they’re mature. The garden’s website lists what’s currently in bloom. You can purchase many of the plants you admire at the garden’s Grow Native Nursery, open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.
The California Botanic Garden is a great place to visit for landscape planning, or just appreciating these plants’ heady range of fragrances. With many, a slight stroke of a branch can fill the air with scent; just be gentle when you walk by.
Admission: $15 ($11 seniors 65+ and students with ID, $5 ages 3-12, and free entry for members and children under 3.)
Hours: The garden opens at 8 a.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, but closing hours change seasonally to 5 p.m. November through February, 6 p.m. in March and October, 7 p.m. in April, May and September and 8 p.m. June through August. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing time. The garden is closed on Mondays plus Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Food is not permitted in the gardens.
Other: Parking is free. No pets permitted except trained service dogs.
This is a lovely garden to wander and see how native plants look when they’re mature. The garden’s website lists what’s currently in bloom. You can purchase many of the plants you admire at the garden’s Grow Native Nursery, open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.
The California Botanic Garden is a great place to visit for landscape planning, or just appreciating these plants’ heady range of fragrances. With many, a slight stroke of a branch can fill the air with scent; just be gentle when you walk by.
Admission: $15 ($11 seniors 65+ and students with ID, $5 ages 3-12, and free entry for members and children under 3.)
Hours: The garden opens at 8 a.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, but closing hours change seasonally to 5 p.m. November through February, 6 p.m. in March and October, 7 p.m. in April, May and September and 8 p.m. June through August. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing time. The garden is closed on Mondays plus Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Food is not permitted in the gardens.
Other: Parking is free. No pets permitted except trained service dogs.
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Conejo Valley Botanic Garden
Thousand Oaks Garden
East Ventura County gets hot in the summer, but if you’re lucky enough to live near Conejo Valley Botanic Garden in Thousand Oaks, you’ve got a cool, shady — and free! — place to visit every day, filled with ever-changing flowers, shrubs and trees to keep the walk interesting. The garden is on a hill, so the paths are like wide, gentle switchbacks with lovely views at the top. There are some modestly steep climbs in places. Be sure to wear sturdy walking shoes and bring your own water. There are restrooms in the parking area, next to the adjacent Conejo Community Park.
This is a good place to bring children, with a stream running through, bridges here and there, and plenty of plant diversity, from a rare-fruit orchard and oak grove to gardens dedicated to butterflies, a bird habitat, desert cactuses and succulents, herbs, Australian plants, colorful native salvia and a “Trail of Trees” (more than 50 varieties of trees planted in 2005 to restore a slope covered with invasive mustard weed). The Rare Fruit Orchard at the top of the hill includes 99 trees planted by the California Rare Fruit Growers, featuring 34 varieties from 19 countries as a demonstration of Southern California’s versatile growing environment.
There’s also a special garden for children open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays only. Another impressive fact: This nonprofit botanic garden was started by three local volunteers in 1973 — Ray Garcia, Fred Wilson and Jackson Granholm — after a housing developer donated the hilly, unbuildable 33 acres to the Conejo Recreation and Park District, according to botanic garden president Beverly Brune. Today, the gardens comprise 41 acres and are completely managed by volunteers and funded by money raised by grants and fundraisers such as the garden nursery, which sells plants propagated from the garden from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays in the Kids’ Adventure Garden.
Admission: Free
Hours: Open daily, sunrise to sunset, except July 4 and when trail conditions are wet. The Kids’ Adventure Garden is open only on Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The garden nursery sells plants on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Food: Food is not permitted in the gardens.
Other: Dogs are permitted if leashed. Restrooms are located in the parking lot, next to Conejo Community Park.
This is a good place to bring children, with a stream running through, bridges here and there, and plenty of plant diversity, from a rare-fruit orchard and oak grove to gardens dedicated to butterflies, a bird habitat, desert cactuses and succulents, herbs, Australian plants, colorful native salvia and a “Trail of Trees” (more than 50 varieties of trees planted in 2005 to restore a slope covered with invasive mustard weed). The Rare Fruit Orchard at the top of the hill includes 99 trees planted by the California Rare Fruit Growers, featuring 34 varieties from 19 countries as a demonstration of Southern California’s versatile growing environment.
There’s also a special garden for children open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays only. Another impressive fact: This nonprofit botanic garden was started by three local volunteers in 1973 — Ray Garcia, Fred Wilson and Jackson Granholm — after a housing developer donated the hilly, unbuildable 33 acres to the Conejo Recreation and Park District, according to botanic garden president Beverly Brune. Today, the gardens comprise 41 acres and are completely managed by volunteers and funded by money raised by grants and fundraisers such as the garden nursery, which sells plants propagated from the garden from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays in the Kids’ Adventure Garden.
Admission: Free
Hours: Open daily, sunrise to sunset, except July 4 and when trail conditions are wet. The Kids’ Adventure Garden is open only on Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The garden nursery sells plants on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Food: Food is not permitted in the gardens.
Other: Dogs are permitted if leashed. Restrooms are located in the parking lot, next to Conejo Community Park.
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(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Descanso Gardens
La Cañada Flintridge Garden
Think of Descanso Gardens as part chameleon, part sanctuary. Walking through its towering oak woodlands and ancient forest is kind of a religious experience — silent, awe-inspiring and very intimate. But then there are the flower gardens, starting with 5 acres of roses — more than 1,600 varieties — and a Japanese Garden with a teahouse and delicate blooms from cherry and plum trees and other plantings native to Asia. There’s also the California Garden designed by native plant advocate Theodore Payne, thousands of blooming tulips in the spring and one of the country’s largest collections of camellias.
Descanso’s Sturt Haaga Gallery has rotating exhibits throughout the year, and the gardens often host original compositions and performances, sometimes with music piped through the trees. The garden, which is owned by L.A. County, also hosts popular seasonal events such as the Halloween-season Carved, featuring hundreds of pumpkins intricately carved by artists, and the annual holiday light show Enchanted. Visit often to check out the changing gardens because there’s always something blooming at Descanso. This is a garden you can visit according to your mood. Whether you’re feeling reflective or joyous, it will always be uplifting.
Admission: $15, $11 for seniors 65+ and students with ID, $5 for children ages 5-12, members and children under 5 enter free. Nonmembers must purchase their tickets in advance. Descanso’s ride-on train runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Tickets are $5. Riders must be at least 30 inches tall and able to sit on their own.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily except Dec. 25. Members can enter at 8 a.m.
Food: The Farmhouse at Descanso offers sit-down meals; Jones Coffee Roasters serves coffee and pastries and the Market offers grab-and-go food and drink.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The garden grounds are accessible by paved pathways, but “certain paths may be narrow, rough, uneven or steep,” according to the website. A few wheelchairs are available for loan on a first-come, first-served basis, and a cart shuttle is available on request at the guest services office for transport to the hilltop gardens, Boddy House and Sturt Haaga Gallery.
Descanso’s Sturt Haaga Gallery has rotating exhibits throughout the year, and the gardens often host original compositions and performances, sometimes with music piped through the trees. The garden, which is owned by L.A. County, also hosts popular seasonal events such as the Halloween-season Carved, featuring hundreds of pumpkins intricately carved by artists, and the annual holiday light show Enchanted. Visit often to check out the changing gardens because there’s always something blooming at Descanso. This is a garden you can visit according to your mood. Whether you’re feeling reflective or joyous, it will always be uplifting.
Admission: $15, $11 for seniors 65+ and students with ID, $5 for children ages 5-12, members and children under 5 enter free. Nonmembers must purchase their tickets in advance. Descanso’s ride-on train runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Tickets are $5. Riders must be at least 30 inches tall and able to sit on their own.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily except Dec. 25. Members can enter at 8 a.m.
Food: The Farmhouse at Descanso offers sit-down meals; Jones Coffee Roasters serves coffee and pastries and the Market offers grab-and-go food and drink.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The garden grounds are accessible by paved pathways, but “certain paths may be narrow, rough, uneven or steep,” according to the website. A few wheelchairs are available for loan on a first-come, first-served basis, and a cart shuttle is available on request at the guest services office for transport to the hilltop gardens, Boddy House and Sturt Haaga Gallery.
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(Los Angeles Times)
Arboretum and Botanical Garden at Cal State Fullerton
Fullerton Garden
What a surprise to find such a lush 26-acre garden on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, bounded by the Titan Stadium and the always busy Yorba Linda Boulevard and 57 Freeway. With all the traffic noise and the sound of cracking bats during practice at the stadium, it’s hard to believe there can be anything tranquil inside the garden gates. However, once inside, past the waterfall and banana trees heavy with fruit, it’s easy to forget all that other stuff and just get swept away by this garden’s “living collection,” created in the 1970s on an old Valencia orange grove with diseased trees that couldn’t be saved.
Wide lawns near the entrance lead to two ponds full of sunning turtles, connected by a shallow, fast-moving stream that burbles through the west side of the gardens. It might be hot outside, but the temperature drops significantly inside the bamboo forest, redwood grove and a collection of huge and wonderfully twisted fig trees.
Don’t miss the spectacular rock fig with its pale green trunks rising ghost-like from the heavily leaf-littered ground. At the east side of the garden is the Thorn Forest, with truly bizarre plants such as the silk floss tree, with its spike-studded branches and trunk and delicate lily-like blooms. Then suddenly, after all the forests, you are smack in the desert, studded with barrel cactuses, towering agave blooms and a bit of shade from massive Chilean mesquite trees. The rare-fruit orchard and citrus groves remind us we live in Southern California, and if you’re lucky, you can purchase some of the bounty at the gate, such as bags of fresh fuyu persimmons, sapotes, star fruit and pomegranates.
Admission: $5 suggested donation. Members enter free.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; closed on most university-recognized holidays.
Food: No food is available for purchase at the arboretum, except for fruit that’s sometimes sold at the gate. Food and picnics are not permitted inside the garden, but there are benches and tables outside the front entrance where people can eat.
Other: Restrooms are located near the entrance. No pets are permitted except trained service dogs.
Wide lawns near the entrance lead to two ponds full of sunning turtles, connected by a shallow, fast-moving stream that burbles through the west side of the gardens. It might be hot outside, but the temperature drops significantly inside the bamboo forest, redwood grove and a collection of huge and wonderfully twisted fig trees.
Don’t miss the spectacular rock fig with its pale green trunks rising ghost-like from the heavily leaf-littered ground. At the east side of the garden is the Thorn Forest, with truly bizarre plants such as the silk floss tree, with its spike-studded branches and trunk and delicate lily-like blooms. Then suddenly, after all the forests, you are smack in the desert, studded with barrel cactuses, towering agave blooms and a bit of shade from massive Chilean mesquite trees. The rare-fruit orchard and citrus groves remind us we live in Southern California, and if you’re lucky, you can purchase some of the bounty at the gate, such as bags of fresh fuyu persimmons, sapotes, star fruit and pomegranates.
Admission: $5 suggested donation. Members enter free.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; closed on most university-recognized holidays.
Food: No food is available for purchase at the arboretum, except for fruit that’s sometimes sold at the gate. Food and picnics are not permitted inside the garden, but there are benches and tables outside the front entrance where people can eat.
Other: Restrooms are located near the entrance. No pets are permitted except trained service dogs.
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(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Getty Center Gardens
Brentwood Garden
The Getty Center is one of L.A.’s most renowned art museums, but the four surrounding gardens are worth a visit all by themselves. Most spectacular is the large Central Garden, a kind of living artwork designed by California artist Robert Irwin. The garden incorporates colorful plant-studded paths that slowly wind downhill, sometimes following and sometimes crossing a fast-moving stream that ends in a waterfall tumbling into a pool at the bottom of the hill, home to Irwin’s intricate maze of floating azaleas.
Brilliant bougainvillea cascade out of tall iron trellises like colorful giant umbrellas, and the foliage and plantings change with the seasons to live up to Irwin’s statement about the garden: “Always changing, never twice the same,” carved into one of the stepping stones.
The gardens also include a variety of cactuses, succulents and sculptures, all framed by the Getty’s austere, otherworldly architecture.
Admission: Free, but parking is $25 per vehicle or $15 after 3 p.m. and $10 after 6 p.m. (Starting June 2, parking will be free after 6 p.m. on Saturdays.) Free garden tours are conducted a few times a day, based on docent availability. Check at the information desk at the main entry hall for times that day.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sundays-Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Mondays and Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Available for purchase at a cafe, restaurant and two coffee carts.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The garden paths are all wheelchair-accessible.
Brilliant bougainvillea cascade out of tall iron trellises like colorful giant umbrellas, and the foliage and plantings change with the seasons to live up to Irwin’s statement about the garden: “Always changing, never twice the same,” carved into one of the stepping stones.
The gardens also include a variety of cactuses, succulents and sculptures, all framed by the Getty’s austere, otherworldly architecture.
Admission: Free, but parking is $25 per vehicle or $15 after 3 p.m. and $10 after 6 p.m. (Starting June 2, parking will be free after 6 p.m. on Saturdays.) Free garden tours are conducted a few times a day, based on docent availability. Check at the information desk at the main entry hall for times that day.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sundays-Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed Mondays and Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Available for purchase at a cafe, restaurant and two coffee carts.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The garden paths are all wheelchair-accessible.
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(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The Huntington
San Marino Garden
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is the grand dame of Southern California botanic gardens — as large and formidable as its former name, which mercifully was shortened earlier this year to just the Huntington. This 207-acre institution is a place for extensive research in its libraries or art-gazing in the museum, where visitors can see “A Portrait of a Young Gentleman” by L.A. native Kehinde Wiley (the artist who painted President Obama’s famous portrait) in the same room as its inspiration, Thomas Gainsborough’s iconic 18th century painting, “The Blue Boy.”
But the main event here is the Huntington’s 130-acre gardens, a sprawling collection of extraordinary roses, exquisite Chinese and Japanese gardens, and areas dedicated to Australian plants, Shakespearean plants, herbs, desert plants, jungle and subtropical plants (you can almost hear Tarzan bellowing somewhere in those towering, vine-dripping trees) and, of course, a whimsical garden to enchant children.
If you want a free-day ticket (the first Thursday of every month), you’ll need to be strategic, ready to jump on a reservation at 9 a.m. the Thursday before. Due to the huge demand, people are assigned a random number after they enter the online waiting room for free tickets. If your number is selected, you can receive up to five tickets per household (babies also need tickets on free days).
Admission: Tickets are $29 ($24 for seniors 65+, military with ID and students 12-18 or full-time with ID; $13 for ages 4-11 and free for children under 4 and members). People with SNAP EBT cards can enter for $3 under the Museums for All program. Note that members are not permitted on free days. Free garden tours are available (except on free days) at 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m. subject to docent availability.
Hours: Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays, reservations are required Friday-Sunday and during “peak season” times. Bottom line: It’s safest to make reservations no matter what day you plan to visit. Note the new Japanese Heritage Shōya House is only open from noon to 4 p.m. Closed July 4, Thanksgiving and Dec. 24-25.
Food: The food options are varied and very good. The Jade Court Cafe in the Chinese Garden offers a range of yummy cuisine, plus beer and wine. There’s also the renovated and popular Rose Garden Tea Room as well as the 1919 Cafe near the entrance and the Red Car coffee shop for grab-and-go coffees, ice cream cones and sandwiches — along with indoor and outdoor seating.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. Most gardens are wheelchair-accessible, and wheelchairs are available for loan on a first-come, first-served basis. A visitor shuttle travels in a counterclockwise loop through the gardens between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., making eight stops around the grounds at locations listed on the visitor map.
But the main event here is the Huntington’s 130-acre gardens, a sprawling collection of extraordinary roses, exquisite Chinese and Japanese gardens, and areas dedicated to Australian plants, Shakespearean plants, herbs, desert plants, jungle and subtropical plants (you can almost hear Tarzan bellowing somewhere in those towering, vine-dripping trees) and, of course, a whimsical garden to enchant children.
If you want a free-day ticket (the first Thursday of every month), you’ll need to be strategic, ready to jump on a reservation at 9 a.m. the Thursday before. Due to the huge demand, people are assigned a random number after they enter the online waiting room for free tickets. If your number is selected, you can receive up to five tickets per household (babies also need tickets on free days).
Admission: Tickets are $29 ($24 for seniors 65+, military with ID and students 12-18 or full-time with ID; $13 for ages 4-11 and free for children under 4 and members). People with SNAP EBT cards can enter for $3 under the Museums for All program. Note that members are not permitted on free days. Free garden tours are available (except on free days) at 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m. subject to docent availability.
Hours: Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays, reservations are required Friday-Sunday and during “peak season” times. Bottom line: It’s safest to make reservations no matter what day you plan to visit. Note the new Japanese Heritage Shōya House is only open from noon to 4 p.m. Closed July 4, Thanksgiving and Dec. 24-25.
Food: The food options are varied and very good. The Jade Court Cafe in the Chinese Garden offers a range of yummy cuisine, plus beer and wine. There’s also the renovated and popular Rose Garden Tea Room as well as the 1919 Cafe near the entrance and the Red Car coffee shop for grab-and-go coffees, ice cream cones and sandwiches — along with indoor and outdoor seating.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. Most gardens are wheelchair-accessible, and wheelchairs are available for loan on a first-come, first-served basis. A visitor shuttle travels in a counterclockwise loop through the gardens between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., making eight stops around the grounds at locations listed on the visitor map.
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(Mary McNamara / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Arcadia Garden
There’s something refreshingly down-to-earth (no pun intended) about the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Maybe it stems from the land’s early history as a Tongva settlement named Aleupkigna — the place of many waters — where the Indigenous people lived for some 3,000 years until they were moved into Mission San Gabriel. Or maybe this 127-acre botanic garden gets its proletariat feel from the Mexican land grant that turned the land into Rancho Santa Anita, an agricultural outpost for the mission where cattle, grains, vineyards and fruit trees were nurtured with the waters we now call Baldwin Lake.
Regardless, there’s nothing stuffy about the arboretum, and plenty of beautiful places to wander, such as the aquatic gardens that include the Meyberg Waterfall, the Meadowbrook Garden (filled with deciduous trees whose colorful blooms and leaves change every season against a tapestry of evergreens) and the tropical greenhouse with thousands of orchids.
Of course, there are the standard botanic garden plantings grouped by geography — South American, Mediterranean, South African, Australian and Asiatic-North American. But the arboretum also has extraordinary demonstration gardens such as the Crescent Farm, a onetime compacted lawn transformed into a lush, drought-resistant garden of California native plants and low-water fruits, vegetables, ground covers and shrubs by using lasagna mulching and hugelkultur beds to rebuild the soil.
Peacocks nonchalantly roam throughout — they’re descendants of the three birds imported by Rancho Santa Anita’s last owner, Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin. There are historic buildings as well, such as the relocated Santa Anita Depot and the Queen Anne Cottage built by Baldwin. Little-known fact: This garden is also a great place for botanic research, thanks to its extensive library that you can search online and staff like Frank McDonough, a full-time botanical information consultant whose job is to answer the public’s questions about plants. (Call McDonough at [626] 821-3236.)
The garden offers a range of regular classes such as forest bathing, guided bird walks and goat yoga and provides space for many plant-related conventions and clubs. It also offers $8 tram tours Wednesdays through Sundays and a charming, well-stocked gift shop. It’s truly a garden for the masses, especially if they have a taste for wonder.
Admission: $15, $11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free. Free days are the third Tuesday of the month for people who are able to reserve a ticket on the first of each month.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Members can enter as early as 7:30 a.m.
Food: The Peacock Café is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. Most of the arboretum’s wide paths are wheelchair-accessible.
Regardless, there’s nothing stuffy about the arboretum, and plenty of beautiful places to wander, such as the aquatic gardens that include the Meyberg Waterfall, the Meadowbrook Garden (filled with deciduous trees whose colorful blooms and leaves change every season against a tapestry of evergreens) and the tropical greenhouse with thousands of orchids.
Of course, there are the standard botanic garden plantings grouped by geography — South American, Mediterranean, South African, Australian and Asiatic-North American. But the arboretum also has extraordinary demonstration gardens such as the Crescent Farm, a onetime compacted lawn transformed into a lush, drought-resistant garden of California native plants and low-water fruits, vegetables, ground covers and shrubs by using lasagna mulching and hugelkultur beds to rebuild the soil.
Peacocks nonchalantly roam throughout — they’re descendants of the three birds imported by Rancho Santa Anita’s last owner, Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin. There are historic buildings as well, such as the relocated Santa Anita Depot and the Queen Anne Cottage built by Baldwin. Little-known fact: This garden is also a great place for botanic research, thanks to its extensive library that you can search online and staff like Frank McDonough, a full-time botanical information consultant whose job is to answer the public’s questions about plants. (Call McDonough at [626] 821-3236.)
The garden offers a range of regular classes such as forest bathing, guided bird walks and goat yoga and provides space for many plant-related conventions and clubs. It also offers $8 tram tours Wednesdays through Sundays and a charming, well-stocked gift shop. It’s truly a garden for the masses, especially if they have a taste for wonder.
Admission: $15, $11 seniors 62+ and students with ID, $5 ages 5-12, members and children 4 and younger enter free. Free days are the third Tuesday of the month for people who are able to reserve a ticket on the first of each month.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Members can enter as early as 7:30 a.m.
Food: The Peacock Café is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. Most of the arboretum’s wide paths are wheelchair-accessible.
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Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Santa Barbara Garden
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a gorgeous day-trip destination, but if you can manage a weekday visit, all the better because it’s a popular garden that’s always crowded on weekends. You’ll want good walking shoes and a steady gait to explore this garden; some of the prettiest paths are up and down stairs or across a rocky creek. This 78-acre garden meshes more than 1,000 varieties of California native plants with the history of Santa Barbara’s Mission Dam and Aqueduct, built in 1806-1807 by Indigenous Chumash laborers to provide water to the Santa Barbara Mission. The dam no longer functions, but portions of this remarkable structure can be seen along the Canyon and Easton-Aqueduct trails on Mission Creek.
Be sure to descend to the floor of the redwood grove, just to be inspired by its quiet grandeur. Then follow Mission Creek south to explore the aqueduct. Check out the maze in the children’s garden, and cross the creek to climb up to the manzanita garden, which features 60 varieties of the red-barked plants, ranging from sculptural ground covers to midsize shrubs and small trees — all of which have delicate bell-shaped blooms in the spring. This garden is a good way to see how California native plants can be incorporated into residential spaces. There’s also a water-wise home garden with useful suggestions about how to landscape using drought-tolerant native plants and a nursery where you can purchase at least some of the plants you admired. For die-hard horticultural researchers, the garden’s Blaksley Library, established in 1927, includes more than 15,000 books, journals and digital media about California’s plants and landscape history, as well as an extensive photo collection.
Admission: $20, $16 seniors 60+ and military, $14 students with ID, $12 children ages 3-12, free entry to members and children under 3. Reservations are required for non-members and strongly recommended for members due to the capacity limits, and include parking for one car.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Members can enter at 9 a.m.
Food: There is a gift store but food not available for purchase; carry-in food is permitted.
Other: Only some parts of the garden are wheelchair accessible, mostly in the upper levels. Dogs are permitted if leashed. Restrooms are located near the entrance.
Be sure to descend to the floor of the redwood grove, just to be inspired by its quiet grandeur. Then follow Mission Creek south to explore the aqueduct. Check out the maze in the children’s garden, and cross the creek to climb up to the manzanita garden, which features 60 varieties of the red-barked plants, ranging from sculptural ground covers to midsize shrubs and small trees — all of which have delicate bell-shaped blooms in the spring. This garden is a good way to see how California native plants can be incorporated into residential spaces. There’s also a water-wise home garden with useful suggestions about how to landscape using drought-tolerant native plants and a nursery where you can purchase at least some of the plants you admired. For die-hard horticultural researchers, the garden’s Blaksley Library, established in 1927, includes more than 15,000 books, journals and digital media about California’s plants and landscape history, as well as an extensive photo collection.
Admission: $20, $16 seniors 60+ and military, $14 students with ID, $12 children ages 3-12, free entry to members and children under 3. Reservations are required for non-members and strongly recommended for members due to the capacity limits, and include parking for one car.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Members can enter at 9 a.m.
Food: There is a gift store but food not available for purchase; carry-in food is permitted.
Other: Only some parts of the garden are wheelchair accessible, mostly in the upper levels. Dogs are permitted if leashed. Restrooms are located near the entrance.
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Sherman Library & Gardens
Corona del Mar Garden
Sherman Library & Gardens is only 2.2 acres — one of the region’s smallest botanic gardens — but it packs a punch with its many intimate, intensively planted gardens, ranging from 130 varieties of begonias and a tropical conservatory with orchids, carnivorous plants and a koi pond to an almost quilt-like succulent and cactus garden, a perennial garden and a magnificently massive and gnarly pepper tree. The gardens were founded by businessman Arnold D. Haskell in 1966, named after his mentor, Moses H. Sherman, the streetcar and real estate developer who brought Angelenos the Hollywoodland sign. Haskell loved plants and acquired an entire block in Corona del Mar to create a central garden, conservatory, library (his former office), gift shop and cafe.
Sherman Gardens often weaves classes and art among its plants, hosting sculpture installations, seasonal light displays and performances by a contemporary dance troupe. The library specializes in the history of the Pacific Southwest, including Southern California, Arizona and northern Mexico, with 15,000 books and a collection of California Impressionist art. It’s easy to spend a few hours in this small garden. Maybe that’s because its intimacy and easy access invite you to linger and savor what you see.
Admission: $5; members and children 3 and younger enter free.
Hours: Open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: The garden’s restaurant, 608 Dahlia, is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The level paths are wheelchair-accessible and the designated entry for wheelchair users is off Pacific Coast Highway next to the gift store.
Sherman Gardens often weaves classes and art among its plants, hosting sculpture installations, seasonal light displays and performances by a contemporary dance troupe. The library specializes in the history of the Pacific Southwest, including Southern California, Arizona and northern Mexico, with 15,000 books and a collection of California Impressionist art. It’s easy to spend a few hours in this small garden. Maybe that’s because its intimacy and easy access invite you to linger and savor what you see.
Admission: $5; members and children 3 and younger enter free.
Hours: Open 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Jan. 1, July 4, Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: The garden’s restaurant, 608 Dahlia, is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs. The level paths are wheelchair-accessible and the designated entry for wheelchair users is off Pacific Coast Highway next to the gift store.
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South Coast Botanic Garden
Rolling Hills Estates Garden
South Coast Botanic Garden celebrated its 64th anniversary this year, marking its transformation from a county landfill covering an old diatomaceous earth mine to 87 acres of lush, diverse collections of extraordinary plants. The plantings include an almost spiritual banyan grove, with its tangle of huge Moreton Bay fig tree roots and massive canopy, along with gardens dedicated to a variety of botanic wonders such as roses, California native plants, dahlias, agaves, ginkgoes, eucalyptus and grass (yes, grass). The children’s garden has a nursery rhyme theme with a large dollhouse, a charming bridge and plants matched to the stories. You can also tour the water-wise demonstration garden to see examples of low-water plants for landscapes and visit the compost demonstration site to learn how to make your own at home.
All in all, the garden has more than 2,500 species of plants and five miles of trails, but if that feels overwhelming, the garden’s website offers a downloadable map for easy planning, along with suggestions for what to see based on how much time you have to visit. The garden also has popular seasonal events that require an additional fee such as Soar, its butterfly pavilion and garden.
If you only have 45 minutes, you can still see a lot at this garden with brisk walking, but if you’ve got the time it’s an easy, fragrant place to while away an entire afternoon. Just remember to bring something to eat and drink on weekdays!
Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Dec. 25.
Admission: Reserved tickets required for nonmembers; members must reserve tickets on Saturdays and Sundays, free days and holidays. Tickets are $15, $11 seniors 62+ and students, $5 children ages 5-12, free for members and children 4 and younger. Free admission with reservations on the third Tuesday of each month.
Food: Dottie’s at the Koi Pond sells food, beer, wine and specialty cocktails on Saturdays and Sundays only from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Carry-in food is permitted if pre-prepared.
Other: Leashed dogs are permitted only during designated dog walking hours, typically scheduled the last Sunday of every month, otherwise pets are not permitted on site.
All in all, the garden has more than 2,500 species of plants and five miles of trails, but if that feels overwhelming, the garden’s website offers a downloadable map for easy planning, along with suggestions for what to see based on how much time you have to visit. The garden also has popular seasonal events that require an additional fee such as Soar, its butterfly pavilion and garden.
If you only have 45 minutes, you can still see a lot at this garden with brisk walking, but if you’ve got the time it’s an easy, fragrant place to while away an entire afternoon. Just remember to bring something to eat and drink on weekdays!
Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Dec. 25.
Admission: Reserved tickets required for nonmembers; members must reserve tickets on Saturdays and Sundays, free days and holidays. Tickets are $15, $11 seniors 62+ and students, $5 children ages 5-12, free for members and children 4 and younger. Free admission with reservations on the third Tuesday of each month.
Food: Dottie’s at the Koi Pond sells food, beer, wine and specialty cocktails on Saturdays and Sundays only from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Carry-in food is permitted if pre-prepared.
Other: Leashed dogs are permitted only during designated dog walking hours, typically scheduled the last Sunday of every month, otherwise pets are not permitted on site.
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Storrier Stearns Japanese Gardens
Pasadena Garden
This tiny jewel of a garden was once part of a palatial Pasadena estate designed by Japanese landscaper Kinzuchi Fujii for his wealthy patrons, Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns. Fujii transformed two flat tennis courts into a 3/4 acre mounded garden featuring a grand “12-tatami-mat tea house” (a dozen 3-foot-by-6-foot mats, signifying a house of great importance) along with two waterfalls, two ponds, four bridges and numerous plantings shaded by sprawling sycamores and oaks. It’s a restful place to wander by day, but it’s even more magical at night, with just enough lighting to help you find your way along the paths.
This privately-owned nonprofit garden has limited hours. But if you’re looking for a special evening out on Friday or Saturday, grab your favorite takeout and even a bottle of wine and watch the day melt into night, with strings of lights reflecting off the pond. The teahouse is lighted but no longer open to visitors except during special events. “People were coming and doing yoga in there,” said site manager Heidi Ferraro, “so now it’s only open for tea ceremonies.”
Admission: Tickets are $15 on Fridays and Saturdays and $12 on Sundays for people 13 and older. People 12 and younger enter free.
Hours: Open 4 to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, unless the garden is rented for a special event, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Note that hours vary based on the season and site rentals, so be sure to check the website before you go. Shorter hours happen in the winter after daylight saving time.
Food: No food is sold at the garden, but you can bring your own food and drink. Be sure to bring your own cups, bottle openers, cutlery and plates and take it all out with you when you leave.
Other: Most of the garden is wheelchair-accessible. Pets are not permitted.
This privately-owned nonprofit garden has limited hours. But if you’re looking for a special evening out on Friday or Saturday, grab your favorite takeout and even a bottle of wine and watch the day melt into night, with strings of lights reflecting off the pond. The teahouse is lighted but no longer open to visitors except during special events. “People were coming and doing yoga in there,” said site manager Heidi Ferraro, “so now it’s only open for tea ceremonies.”
Admission: Tickets are $15 on Fridays and Saturdays and $12 on Sundays for people 13 and older. People 12 and younger enter free.
Hours: Open 4 to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, unless the garden is rented for a special event, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Note that hours vary based on the season and site rentals, so be sure to check the website before you go. Shorter hours happen in the winter after daylight saving time.
Food: No food is sold at the garden, but you can bring your own food and drink. Be sure to bring your own cups, bottle openers, cutlery and plates and take it all out with you when you leave.
Other: Most of the garden is wheelchair-accessible. Pets are not permitted.
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(Madeleine Hordinski / Los Angeles Times)
Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve
Ojai Garden
Just getting to Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve is an adventure — the entrance isn’t on Google Maps, to discourage drop-in visitors, and the emailed directions you receive once you purchase your tickets are confusing enough to be slightly thrilling. Visitors to this private garden are limited to about 25 a day, and tickets must be purchased at least a day in advance, but this remarkable garden north of Ojai is well worth the effort to get there, with 15 acres of beautiful and slightly bizarro plants from South Africa, Australia and California.
Wear good walking shoes. The paths can be uneven in spots, but there aren’t any serious climbs here — just a good wander through towering bottle trees and succulents and a riot of colorful blooms, especially in the spring. Water and restrooms are available toward the back of the gardens near the event center, but the managers suggest bringing your own pack-in-and-pack-out picnic along with extra water — especially in the heat. There are several worthy places to buy food in nearby Ojai. Order ahead and pick it up on your way to the gardens. This trip will take some planning, but once you get there you’ll feel like you have the place all to yourself. That kind of intimacy in a beautiful SoCal garden is a rare treat.
Admission: $20, children 12 and younger enter free. Tickets must be purchased online at least 24 hours in advance; no same-day tickets are available.
Hours: Vary by season so check the website. Currently timed-entry tickets are available Tuesdays through Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Food: No food is sold on-site, but water and restrooms are available. Carry-in food is permitted.
Other: Dogs are permitted if leashed. Most garden paths are gravel or mulch, so wheelchair access can be limited in places. Call ahead for more information about accessibility.
Wear good walking shoes. The paths can be uneven in spots, but there aren’t any serious climbs here — just a good wander through towering bottle trees and succulents and a riot of colorful blooms, especially in the spring. Water and restrooms are available toward the back of the gardens near the event center, but the managers suggest bringing your own pack-in-and-pack-out picnic along with extra water — especially in the heat. There are several worthy places to buy food in nearby Ojai. Order ahead and pick it up on your way to the gardens. This trip will take some planning, but once you get there you’ll feel like you have the place all to yourself. That kind of intimacy in a beautiful SoCal garden is a rare treat.
Admission: $20, children 12 and younger enter free. Tickets must be purchased online at least 24 hours in advance; no same-day tickets are available.
Hours: Vary by season so check the website. Currently timed-entry tickets are available Tuesdays through Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Food: No food is sold on-site, but water and restrooms are available. Carry-in food is permitted.
Other: Dogs are permitted if leashed. Most garden paths are gravel or mulch, so wheelchair access can be limited in places. Call ahead for more information about accessibility.
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UC Riverside Botanic Gardens
Riverside Garden
If you’re looking for a garden experience and a workout, UC Riverside’s Botanic Gardens is a wonderful option. The garden appears small at the entrance, but the trees get denser and taller as you walk to the interior and follow the paths up the hill. Here the 40-acre garden unfolds with four miles of trails through gardens devoted to butterfly habitat, herbs, irises, lilacs and more than 300 species of roses. An online map shows a network of trails, some paved and suitable for wheelchairs and others that are rutted, steep and challenging to negotiate. You’ll find an orchard devoted to subtropical fruit, from citrus and avocados to guavas and sapotes, and a new garden dedicated to plants important to the Indigenous people of inland Southern California.
The garden also has collections from a variety of geographical areas, including Australia and South Africa, as well as the eastern United States, with its temperate deciduous forests and North American deserts. And, of course, it also covers regions of California, from Baja and the California chaparral to North Coast redwood forests, oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub — native to the hills where the gardens are located — and a lovely shady area known as Alder Canyon full of native California riparian trees.
You could see plenty of wildlife too, including migrating birds, rattlesnakes, coyotes, bobcats and even the occasional mountain lion according to the staff, so walk with care.
Admission: No charge but suggested $5 donation, which can be offered via QR code or with cash at the gate. Parking is $2 an hour at the garden’s small parking lot, maximum of three hours, or $3.50 an hour, maximum two hours, in Lot 10 a bit farther away. And farther on, free parking options are available on weekends in Lot 13.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday plus the first and third Sundays of every month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (last entry half-hour before closing). The garden is closed on major holidays or when the campus is closed for academic and administrative holidays. The campus calendar is here.
Food: Food is not available for purchase in the garden, but it’s permissible to bring prepared foods into the garden.
Other: Pets are not permitted. Water and restrooms are available near the entrance. The garden has a gentle paved switchback trail available from the lower garden up to the rose garden and pond areas for wheelchair users and stroller pushers.
The garden also has collections from a variety of geographical areas, including Australia and South Africa, as well as the eastern United States, with its temperate deciduous forests and North American deserts. And, of course, it also covers regions of California, from Baja and the California chaparral to North Coast redwood forests, oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub — native to the hills where the gardens are located — and a lovely shady area known as Alder Canyon full of native California riparian trees.
You could see plenty of wildlife too, including migrating birds, rattlesnakes, coyotes, bobcats and even the occasional mountain lion according to the staff, so walk with care.
Admission: No charge but suggested $5 donation, which can be offered via QR code or with cash at the gate. Parking is $2 an hour at the garden’s small parking lot, maximum of three hours, or $3.50 an hour, maximum two hours, in Lot 10 a bit farther away. And farther on, free parking options are available on weekends in Lot 13.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday plus the first and third Sundays of every month from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (last entry half-hour before closing). The garden is closed on major holidays or when the campus is closed for academic and administrative holidays. The campus calendar is here.
Food: Food is not available for purchase in the garden, but it’s permissible to bring prepared foods into the garden.
Other: Pets are not permitted. Water and restrooms are available near the entrance. The garden has a gentle paved switchback trail available from the lower garden up to the rose garden and pond areas for wheelchair users and stroller pushers.
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(Jeanette Marantos / Los Angeles Times)
Ventura Botanical Garden
Ventura Garden
Ventura Botanical Gardens is one of Southern California’s newest botanic gardens. The first 2,000 plantings began in 2015 after a nonprofit community group partnered with the city to create the public garden, initially on 40 acres of rocky sloping ground, but most of the work was burned to ash during the Thomas fire in late 2017, which had one upside: It cleared away years of brush and debris on the property revealing old terraces built a couple hundred years earlier by Native people put to work building and farming for the nearby Mission San Buenaventura.
New plantings began in 2018, and today the garden is 107 acres with more than 120,000 plants in place, including a young olive grove on one hill, rare Chilean wine palms that survived the fire despite the charring on their thick trunks and, in the South African Fynbos and Karoo gardens, proteas with blooms like fireworks, Dr. Seuss-like succulents and fragrant mounds of scented geraniums.
The gardens are devoted to the world’s five Mediterranean climate zones — central Chile, the Cape region of South Africa, Southwest Australia, California (including Baja) and, of course, the Mediterranean basin. The walks are uphill (unless you’re returning to the entrance), but the incline is so gradual and the view so inspiring that you hardly notice the climb.
This garden is really filling out as the plants mature and spread, but these lovely terraced gardens are as much about the heart-soaring vistas of Ventura’s curving coastline and ever-changing sky as they are about the plants along the trails.
Admission: $7, free to members and ages 18 and under. Admission is free on Fridays and select holidays. Free, docent-led garden tours are available by advance request.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Mondays and on rainy days.
Food: Food is not sold on-site but can be consumed there.
Other: Leashed dogs are permitted on Wednesdays and Fridays. The gardens also have a small gift store and nursery at the entrance, along with bathrooms. Although the parking and main entrance areas are paved, the garden is hilly and the trails are mostly smooth dirt. Check at the entrance for wheelchair-accessible routes.
New plantings began in 2018, and today the garden is 107 acres with more than 120,000 plants in place, including a young olive grove on one hill, rare Chilean wine palms that survived the fire despite the charring on their thick trunks and, in the South African Fynbos and Karoo gardens, proteas with blooms like fireworks, Dr. Seuss-like succulents and fragrant mounds of scented geraniums.
The gardens are devoted to the world’s five Mediterranean climate zones — central Chile, the Cape region of South Africa, Southwest Australia, California (including Baja) and, of course, the Mediterranean basin. The walks are uphill (unless you’re returning to the entrance), but the incline is so gradual and the view so inspiring that you hardly notice the climb.
This garden is really filling out as the plants mature and spread, but these lovely terraced gardens are as much about the heart-soaring vistas of Ventura’s curving coastline and ever-changing sky as they are about the plants along the trails.
Admission: $7, free to members and ages 18 and under. Admission is free on Fridays and select holidays. Free, docent-led garden tours are available by advance request.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Mondays and on rainy days.
Food: Food is not sold on-site but can be consumed there.
Other: Leashed dogs are permitted on Wednesdays and Fridays. The gardens also have a small gift store and nursery at the entrance, along with bathrooms. Although the parking and main entrance areas are paved, the garden is hilly and the trails are mostly smooth dirt. Check at the entrance for wheelchair-accessible routes.
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Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden
Avalon Garden
William M. Wrigley Jr., the man who made his fortune with Juicy Fruit, Spearmint and Doublemint gum, loved Catalina Island so much that he bought most of it in 1919. He developed the area around Avalon with public utilities, a hotel and casino, new steamships and a tile and pottery plant. He also loved riding horses in Avalon Canyon, and after he died in 1932 his wife, Ada, built a tower and mausoleum in the canyon as his final resting place.
Wrigley’s remains were later moved to Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, but the memorial tower and 38-acre botanic garden are still there, with succulents, desert plants of the Americas and a large swath devoted to native plants endemic to the island — meaning they are only found natively on Catalina — along with plants endemic to the other Channel Islands. The garden is also the primary gateway to one of the Catalina Island Conservancy’s most popular hikes, the Garden to Sky trail.
Admission: $13.56; $11.39 seniors 55+ and students with ID, $8.14 ages 5-12, free to ages 4 and younger, Conservancy members and military members and family and veterans (with ID).
Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Carry-in food permitted on-site; water only available at the entrance.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs.
Wrigley’s remains were later moved to Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, but the memorial tower and 38-acre botanic garden are still there, with succulents, desert plants of the Americas and a large swath devoted to native plants endemic to the island — meaning they are only found natively on Catalina — along with plants endemic to the other Channel Islands. The garden is also the primary gateway to one of the Catalina Island Conservancy’s most popular hikes, the Garden to Sky trail.
Admission: $13.56; $11.39 seniors 55+ and students with ID, $8.14 ages 5-12, free to ages 4 and younger, Conservancy members and military members and family and veterans (with ID).
Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving day and Dec. 25.
Food: Carry-in food permitted on-site; water only available at the entrance.
Other: No pets permitted except trained service dogs.
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