BOTANICAL DIVERSITY WORLD-CLASS GARDENS IN DRIVING DISTANCE.Byline: - Eric Wolfe In our sunny climate, gardeners can grow just about anything. The challenge lies in choosing the flowers, trees, shrubs and landscaping style for your yard. Fortunately, Valley gardeners may find inspiration from a handful of impressive botanical gardens A botanical garden is a place where plants, especially ferns, conifers and flowering plants, are grown and displayed for the purposes of research, conservation, and education. that feature everything from classic rose gardens to exotic tropical oases to Zen hideaways. The Arboretum arboretum: see botanical garden. arboretum Place where trees, shrubs, and sometimes herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes. An arboretum may be a collection in its own right or a part of a botanical garden. of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. The Arboretum gardens include begonia begonia (bĭgōn`yə), any plant of the large genus Begonia and common name for the family Begoniaceae, mostly succulent perennial herbs of the American tropics cultivated elsewhere as bedding or pot plants and easily propagated by and tropical greenhouses, the Sunset demonstration garden, a rose garden, and separate world-regions gardens with native plants of Australia, South America, Africa, North America, Asia, the tropics tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 23 1-2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 23 1-2°S. and the Mediterranean region. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. The Arboretum has a historical section that includes the often-filmed Queen Anne Cottage, the Santa Ana Depot, the Hugo Reid Adobe and the Coach Barn. Closed Christmas Day. Admission $5, $3 for seniors 62 and older and students, $1 for children 5-12, free for kids under 5. Tram tour $2. (626) 821-3222. www.arboretum.org. Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, Thousand Oaks: Exit the Ventura Freeway (101) at Lynn Road, go north 0.7 miles to Gainsborough Road, turn right and continue 0.5 miles to the garden sign on the right. Follow the access road to the parking area, the follow the footpath to the entrance on right, opposite the basketball courts. The 35-acre site includes a salvia salvia: see sage. salvia Any of about 700 species of herbaceous and woody plants that make up the genus Salvia, in the mint family. Some members (e.g., sage) are important as sources of flavouring. collection, California native plant collection, oak tree arboretum, bird habitat area, rare fruit orchard and the tranquillity, desert, herb and butterfly gardens. Hours: dawn to dusk daily. Closed July 4. Free admission. Tour of the California Rare Fruit Orchard is at 2 p.m. the first Sunday of the month from March to October. (805) 494-7630. Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge. The Gardens include the 60,000-bush camellia camellia (kəmēl`yə) [for G. J. Kamel, a Moravian Jesuit missionary], any plant of the genus Camellia in the tea family, evergreen shrubs or small trees native to Asia but now cultivated extensively in warm climates and in garden, the five-acre rose garden and the 22-room Boddy mansion. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Closed Christmas Day. Admission $5, $3 for seniors and students, $1 for children 5-12. (818) 949-4200. www.descansogardens.org. Gardens of the World, 2001 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Gardens featured: a rose garden; a California garden set in an authentic mission courtyard; English, French and Italian gardens; and a Japanese garden with a pagoda pagoda (pəgō`də), name given in the East to a variety of buildings of tower form that are usually part of a temple or monastery group and serve as shrines. and koi pond; all on 4.5 acres, with more than 1,000 varieties of plants and trees from around the world. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Hours may be extended during daylight-saving time. Free admission. (805) 557-1135. www.hoganfoundation.org. Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Japanese, Zen, Australian, subtropical sub·trop·i·cal adj. Of, relating to, or being the geographic areas adjacent to the Tropics. subtropical Adjective of the region lying between the tropics and temperate lands , jungle, Shakespeare, herb, camellia, desert and rose gardens are featured. Hours: noon to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Closed on most holidays including Christmas and New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. . Admission $10, $8.50 seniors 65 and older, $7 for students 12-18, free for children 12 and under. Free on the first Thursday of every month. (626) 405-2100. www.huntington.org. Japanese Gardens, 6100 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys. Three traditional gardens on 6.5 acres: Zen meditation, tea house and a waterways garden. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays; noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday; closed Friday. Guided tours at 9:30, 10 and 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and by reservation Monday through Thursday. Admission $3, $2 for seniors and children under 10. For information, call between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. (818) 756-8166. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Descanso Gardens Andy Holzman |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion