INN VIEWS\Gardens lure many to California b&b inns.

Byline: Bobbi Zane Special to the Daily News

Gardens are among the most popular amenities with most California bed and breakfast inngoers, according to recent studies. In fact, according to some studies, gardens rank higher with inngoers than views and fireplaces in the room.

With that in mind, here are some suggestions about where to find the most colorful gardens at bed-and-breakfast inns this spring.

March and April are the most beautiful times to visit the desert . . . not only for the lovely warm weather, but also for the chance to experience the profusion of flowers in cultivated gardens as well as wild flowers. Likewise, spring can be a most colorful time along the coast, where several inns have capitalized on the mild year-round climate to install brilliant gardens.

Three desert inns have lovely gardens on display. Villa Royale in Palm Springs, [phone], boasts such a profusion of mature crimson bougainvillea, fragrant oranges, and rose bushes that many consider it the archetypical desert garden. The inn also has secluded courtyards, two swimming pools, and an acclaimed restaurant.

Another bed-and-breakfast inn with lovely mature gardens is the venerable Ingleside Inn [phone], which has been protecting the privacy of celebrities behind its high adobe walls since the 1930s. With a collection of fragrant roses and orange trees, purple orchid trees and 50-year-old cats claws dripping from the veranda, the inn is a cool oasis even in summer. Despite the fact that it's just a block or so away from busy Palm Canyon Drive, the Ingleside is secluded and quiet.

A bit farther east just a short walk from El Paseo in Palm Desert, Tres Palmas, [phone], has a less mature, but nonetheless interesting, garden featuring a variety of palm trees, an ever-blooming rose garden, and fragrant citrus. Tres Palmas is smaller and more homelike than Villa Royale or the Ingleside; guests have access to a sparkling pool and can visit with the innkeepers' pet desert tortoises.

In addition to those in the desert, two seaside inns in Southern California boast lovely gardens. The Bed and Breakfast at La Jolla, [phone], was designed in 1913 by cubist architect Irving Gill who wrote, "We should build our houses simple . . . and leave the ornamentation to nature." Thus the garden here, designed by famed horticulturalist Kate Sessions, features a simple Japanese theme, a canopy of crimson bougainvillea and seasonal flowers.

In contrast the gardens and the setting at the Seal Beach Inn and Gardens [phone] are frilly as a French marketplace. Flower boxes overflowing with geraniums hang from windowsills of guest rooms. Boxes and planters containing roses, impatiens, marigolds and other blooms line walkways and decorate private courtyards. Completing the scene are classic blue awnings, ornate white iron balustrades and a couple of 1920s streetlights.