Out and About: Botanic Gardens to Visit this Earth Day!

Monday is Earth Day and what better way to celebrate our planet than with a stroll through LA’s nature scene? With a bounty of botanical gardens to visit, spend some time exploring our city’s best gardens. Not just on Earth Day but every day, any day of the year!

Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens

Location: San Marino

You’ll find cultural glories inside the library’s impressive book collection—the bequest of entrepreneur Henry E. Huntington—but the Huntington’s true highlights are outdoors in its vast jigsaw of botanical gardens, arguably the most glorious in the entire Los Angeles region. The acres and acres of public gardens are divided into a variety of themes, including a prickly desert garden, a serene Japanese garden and bamboo forest, as well as an ever-expanding assembly of Chinese pagodas, pavilions and bridges.

Descanso Gardens

Location: La Cañada Flintridge
This delightful tribute to the horticultural magic of Southern California includes more than 600 varieties of camellia (these are best seen between the middle of February and early May, when there are around 34,000 of the plants in bloom) and some five acres of roses. There are also lilac, orchid, fern and California native plant areas, as well as a tea house—flanked by seasonal cherry blossoms—donated by the Japanese-American community.

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden

Location: Arcadia
These gorgeous grounds in Arcadia have been designed as an educational facility (the plants are mostly arranged by region, and tours are available), but many people simply come here for a little peace and quiet. You could wander these gardens for hours, taking in tropical forests and waterfalls, trees and fish. Plus, be on the lookout for wild peacocks.

Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens

Location: Griffith Park
The L.A. Zoo’s greatest asset is its location in the isolated hills of Griffith Park. It’s a pretty popular place, but the zoo’s size—80 acres, plus a huge parking lot—means that, like the park itself, it rarely feels busy. There’s not a separate botanical garden here, but you will find over 800 different plant species, from native succulents to prehistoric cycads, labeled and catalogued throughout the zoo’s continentally-themed habitats.

South Coast Botanic Garden

Location: Rancho Palos Verdes/Rolling Hills Estates
This South Bay botanical garden covers 87 acres on the northeast side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. You’ll find a mix of Southern California flora, from fuchsia to the tangled roots of Moreton Bay Fig trees, alongside more specialized areas like small Japanese and desert gardens. It may not be as grandiose as some other gardens, but it’s well worth the reasonable price of admission.

James Irvine Japanese Garden

Location: Downtown
This small, tranquil garden is one of Little Tokyo’s best-kept secrets as the urban oasis isn’t accessible from the street. According to the adjoining community center, gardens carry great importance in Japanese culture. Caring for the grounds is a form of art and spending time among the flora encourages harmony with nature. So walk the outer path for a complete view of the garden’s foliage, babbling stream and cascading waterfall.

The Japanese Garden

Location: Van Nuys
This appropriately titled Japanese garden sits just across from the Sepulveda Basin on the border of Van Nuys. The stony bridges and footpaths wind along a central pond, flanked by by rock work, manicured trees and tea houses. Of course, this wouldn’t be the Valley without a bit of an industrial edge—the garden is irrigated by the adjacent Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant.
Courtesy of : TimeOut LA