Botanical Garden Attractions in Los Angeles and Southern California
See Attractions for more fun things to see
and do.
- Descanso Gardens.
A natural "bowl" in the San Rafael hills provides a secluded setting for
Descanso Gardens. The first inhabitants of the area were the Los Angeles
basin's Gabrielino Indians. They relied on the native oaks for the
mainstay of their diet, pounding acorns into meal for mush and bread.
In 1769, the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola arrived in San Diego and
traveled northward along the route now known as El Camino Real ("The
King's Highway"). He claimed the area which includes Descanso Gardens
for the King of Spain. Governor Fages in turn deeded the site as part of
a vast rancho--over 36,000 acres--to Corporal José Maria Verdugo in
1784, probably as a reward for loyal service.
Verdugo died in 1831, and his estate was divided between his son Julio
and his daughter Catalina. The property remained in the Verdugo family
until 1869.
Its sale marked the beginning of a long series of transactions that
involved buying, selling, and subdividing thousands of acres of land.
However the 160 acres that form Descanso Gardens today, had never been
developed when E. Manchester Boddy, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily
News, purchased them in 1937.
Boddy cleared the land and built an elegant two-story mansion of 22
rooms, designed by architect J. E. Dolena of Beverly Hills. This mansion
overlooks 25 acres of live oak forest and a camellia-lined driveway. The
Boddy House, used today as an art gallery, is open to visitors from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Boddy named his estate "Rancho del Descanso,"
which means "rest" or "repose" in Spanish. He also purchased an
additional 440 acres north of the original property, whose mountain
streams provide fresh spring water for the Gardens today."
- Earl Burns Miller Japanese
Garden, California State University, Long Beach. "Dedicated in
April 1981, the garden was built through the generosity of Mrs. Loraine
Miller Collins. The contribution was made in memory of her late husband,
Earl Burns Miller, for whom the 1.3 acre plot is named. Following three
years of planning, in cooperation with California State University Long
Beach, Mrs. Collins selected Long Beach landscape architect Edward R.
Lovell to design the garden. In preparation for the project, Mr. Lovell
visited similar gardens in Japan and in the United States
The resulting garden reflects the university's continuing interest in
international education, and the university community is delighted to have
you share in this educational, cultural, and aesthetic resource..."
-
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical
Gardens. "The Huntington is a research and
educational center set amidst 150 acres of
breathtaking gardens. Three art galleries and a
library showcase magnificent collections of paintings,
sculptures, rare books, manuscripts, and decorative
arts. The botanical collection features over 14,000
different species of plants.
A private, nonprofit institution, The Huntington was
founded in 1919 by railroad and real estate developer
Henry Edwards Huntington and opened to the public in
1928.
Highlights of the collection include the Ellesmere
manuscript of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c.1410),
a Gutenberg Bible (c.1455), Thomas Gainsborough's
masterpiece The Blue Boy (c. 1770), Sir Thomas
Lawrence's Pinkie (1794), Edward Hopper's The Long
Leg, Rogier van der Weyden's Madonna and Child (15th
century), the spectacular 12-acre desert garden, the
serenely beautiful Japanese garden, the camellia
gardens, and much more. English tea in the Rose Garden
Tea Room is a popular highlight to a day spent
enjoying the cultural treasures of The Huntington."
Santa Ana
- Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.
"Featuring more than 500 plants and illustrated with 450 color photos,
California Native Plants for the Garden is a comprehensive resource that
will appeal to every gardener who has an interest in California’s unique
flora. Authored by three of the state’s most experienced native plant
horticulturalists, this beautiful reference book describes the best
California species for gardens and provides detailed advice on their
cultivation, from landscape design and installation to watering,
pruning, and pest control. Regardless of where you live or your level of
horticultural expertise, California Native Plants for the Garden will
help you succeed in growing California’s remarkable plants."
West Los Angeles
- Mildred E. Mathias
Botanical Garden. "Located on the beautiful campus of the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), this garden maintains one
of the most important living botanical collections in the United States,
with plant specimens from all over the world. Our seven-acre
garden is frost-free and therefore can exhibit many different species of
tropical and subtropical plants. Approximately 5000 species in 225
families are growing here outdoors. Feel free to roam this Website
to enjoy and learn about this special garden spot in Westwood."
- Spotlight: Mildred Mathias Botanical Garden. "In the heart of
UCLA's busy campus, students, staff and visitors find an oasis of peace
and tranquility in the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden.
A "living museum," as the garden's director, Professor of Organismic
Biology, Ecology and Evolution Arthur C. Gibson, aptly describes it, the
seven-acre garden serves as a home to some 5,000 species of tropical and
subtropical plants from around the world, as well as frogs, turtles,
goldfish, streams and even a waterfall.
On any given day, visitors stroll the garden's sloping pathways, enjoy
picnic lunches, or sit on stone benches to read or meditate.
Schoolchildren march through on tours, breaking away from their guides
to look for frogs. Visitors sometimes celebrate birthdays in the garden.
Some have proposed marriage there, and couples have exchanged wedding
vows under the leafy canopy.
Among the natural wonders to be seen in the garden is the tallest dawn
redwood in North America that grows near the center of the garden beside
a stream. The Metasequoia was once thought to be a fossil until it was
found growing in central China in 1944. The garden's tree sprouted from
seeds from China planted in 1948.
Two Eucalyptus grandis trees, natives of the Australian rain forest,
were planted in the garden 40 years ago and now are among the tallest
specimens in the United States.
Visitors will also find special collections of such plant groups as
Malesian rhododendrons, the lily alliance, bromeliads, cycads, ferns,
Mediterranean-type climate shrubs such as chaparral and native plants of
the Hawaiian Islands."
Comment: When I worked at UCLA, one of my favorite pleasures
was taking my brown bag lunch to the botanical garden. My favorite
tree was the Dawn Redwood. I met Dr. Mathias and volunteered to
work on a couple of her high desert conservation projects. She was
a wonderful person to work with. Her passion for conservation was
contagious. M. Lent.
