7 Beautiful Gardens To Experience In San Diego

Some backyard garden groupies are plant fans who delight in identifying a new plant or inspiration in the combine of designs, shades, and textures. Many others seek peace and solitude in the backyard or time to chill out and mirror. Some of us wander the backyard garden path to revel in the magnificence, to learn about a new landscape and the plants that probably aid shape its tradition and cuisine. 

Whatever you look for from an outdoor oasis, you are likely to locate it in the gardens of San Diego, California. With its sunny weather and cooling maritime breezes, the metropolis is a plant lover’s playground. From bouquets to fruits, palms to prickly cactus, a vast selection of vegetation thrive in the gardens of San Diego. 

Some gardens generously hosted me, but all viewpoints are my possess.

Right here are 7 special gardens you will not want to miss out on.

1. San Diego Botanic Yard, Encinitas

This sprawling 37-acre backyard garden has so a lot lush vegetation and lots of winding paths that I obtained misplaced twice making an attempt to find the Bamboo Yard. For some motive, I continuously located myself in the Australian Backyard in its place. I take pleasure in obtaining lost, but you could possibly want to print out a map (PDF) to deliver with you if you really don’t want to be glued to the map on your cellular phone (paper maps are not readily available on-internet site). 4 miles of curving paths (some filth, some paved) connect 29 themed gardens from about the earth. 

Wander by means of the primeval-looking Palm Canyon, the verdant Tropical and Temperate Rainforest, and the African Backyard garden. Assess the Aged Planet Desert Backyard to the New Globe Desert Backyard. Enjoy the turtles at the pond in the Bamboo Backyard garden or uncover citrus ripening on the trees in the subtropical fruit back garden. You can also find out much more about the vegetation that thrive in California Gardenscapes, or look through the gift shop. Wherever you roam, the sheer variety of crops is interesting.

The back garden begun as the personalized challenge of Ruth and Charles Larabee in the early 1940s. Above 7 decades, they planted more than 200 types of plants in a lower-drinking water landscape. Ruth Larabee donated the property to the town in 1957.

Positioned in Encinitas, the back garden is 27 miles north of downtown San Diego. Some sections of the Botanic Yard have hills, but many locations are ADA available. Wheelchairs are obtainable at the gate. Timed admission tickets are offered online, and as soon as you’ve entered, you can stay right until closing. Only provider canines are permitted in the yard.

Pro Suggestion: The backyard is crammed with birds and butterflies. Really don’t neglect your digicam and binoculars!

2. Balboa Park Botanical Building

If you have found pics of Balboa Park, then you are going to possibly figure out the iconic Botanical Making. Its soaring domes, lath building, and reflecting pool date to 1915, when the Botanical Making was created for the Panama-California Exposition. Then, as it stands now, it has a beautiful selection of unusual crops.

Seasonal displays and extra than 2,100 kinds of palms, cycads, ferns, and orchids attract much more than 500,000 readers each 12 months. It is a jungle in there, albeit a very well-retained, sophisticated just one with paved paths for strolling and benches for soaking up the leafy environment. View for blooming orchids in among all the environmentally friendly locations. Admission is no cost.

At the time of this producing, the Botanical Creating is going through a significant restoration to counter termite problems, rust, and other challenges. The making will incorporate ADA obtain, restrooms, academic area, and other improvements when the get the job done is done.

Professional Tip: For the duration of Entire world War II, troopers realized to swim in the reflecting pond.

3. Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Backyard And The Desert Backyard garden, Balboa Park

The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Backyard and the adjacent Desert Back garden could not be extra diverse. 1 provides coloration and fragrance, with a fountain in the center the other, prickly textures in a range of designs. But they’re each an great place for finding magnificence and an escape from the crowds in Balboa Park. 

The 3-acre rose backyard capabilities 1,600 person rose bushes, symbolizing 130 varieties. New types are additional each individual calendar year. Glance for the kiosk it delivers a planting map for every flowerbed, so you can discover the identify of that rose you’d like for your residence garden. The roses bloom from March to December. For the most blooms, go to in April and May well (skip the backyard in February when the roses are pruned).

Beside the rose back garden is the Desert Yard. More than 1,300 cacti and succulents from around the environment build this fascinating dry landscape. Trails (some paved, some not) wander via the 2.5-acre backyard. What the plants absence in scents they make up for in an astounding variety of textures, leaf colours, and shapes. The best time to see blooms is in January by March.

To achieve these two gardens, comply with the paved paths east of the San Diego Purely natural History Museum. An arched footbridge crosses Park Boulevard and splits on the other facet. Still left will take you to the Desert Garden proper goes to the rose backyard.

4. Dave’s Rock Backyard garden, Encinitas

With more than 7,000 painted rocks, Dave’s Rock Garden is brimming with inspiration and whimsy. The modest whole lot at the corner of Next and B Streets in Encinitas is a riot of colourful stones with commemorative names and dates, terms of wisdom, or thorough, handpainted photographs. Glimpse carefully and you will uncover animated people from popular motion pictures, cartoon people from the comedian webpages, and creative portraits of birds and other animals. 

But there’s additional to this ruthlessly tidy backyard garden than just rocks. Tucked in among the the stones are different succulents, cacti, bouquets, and an assortment of hardy plants. Chunks of logs are scattered all over the garden for rustic seating. It is a wonderful place to stroll and meditate. The park is free of charge to visit. 

Professional Suggestion: When you are done browsing the garden, head for the beach! Moonlight State Beach is just two blocks absent. A huge whole lot at the prime of the hill and up Third Road offers parking.

5. Japanese Friendship Yard, Balboa Park

Pretty much concealed in Balboa Park is a position the place waterfalls tumble, vividly orange and white koi fish swim lazily, and cherry trees bloom along winding paths. Vivid liquid notes of birdsong fill the air as the persistent hum of website traffic fades into the qualifications. The 12-acre Japanese Friendship Backyard is a accurate San Diego gem that celebrates purely natural attractiveness and evokes serenity. 

The back garden, opened to the public in 1991, is named San-Kei-En immediately after a garden of the identical identify in Yokohama, Japan. The San Diego garden expresses the ties and friendship in between the two cities. The garden’s structure blends regular concepts of Japanese gardening with the community landscape and weather. 

Curved pathways direct by way of the Upper and Decrease Gardens, little by little revealing a further scene in the backyard. Streams, koi ponds, bridges, and a grove of decorative cherry trees invite people to linger. One particular of the most peaceful spots in the backyard garden is in a sheltered clearing beside a waterfall, exactly where the 12-foot bronze statue of Kannon Bosatsu, a goddess of compassion and mercy, stands. 

The backyard is wheelchair friendly, however a gradual sloping gravel path connects the upper and lessen portions. Admission fee is demanded.

Professional Tip: If you appear carefully, you are going to see the koi pond in the Higher Yard is shaped like a mother turtle — and the tiny island in the center is a baby turtle on her back.

6. Alcazar Yard, Balboa Park

Alcazar Garden is a floral oasis in Balboa Park. Tucked neatly in between the Mingei Intercontinental Museum and the Museum of Us, the backyard garden appears to be eradicated from the environment. It’s a pretty spot to love a cup of coffee or a bite to eat. Formal boxwood hedges frame tiled fountains and a lively display screen of more than 7,000 yearly flowers. The picturesque California Tower rises earlier mentioned the backyard for postcard-excellent views. 

Impressed by the Spanish and North African architecture he’d viewed in the course of his travels, landscape designer Richard Requa made the Alcazar Garden for the 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition. Admission is totally free.

7. Lucy Evans Lauren Memorial Back garden, Position Loma

San Diego philanthropist George Lauren created this quiet community back garden to honor his late wife, Lucy Lauren. Established on a household road in the Point Loma community, the park is very well off the overwhelmed path. You could find you have the gazebo and grassy pathways all to oneself. 

The backyard garden is a treasure trove of flowering plants this kind of as birds of paradise, roses, and hibiscus. Little flowerbeds, showcasing a combine of colours and textures, split up the lawn. Hummingbirds dart from shrub to tree, and the gazebo gives a great place of shade and a position for a picnic. 

The back garden is located on the corner of Golden Park Avenue and Lucinda Avenue in the Issue Loma area. Stairs direct from the sidewalk to the backyard, which is created on a slight slope. Admission is cost-free.

Professional Tip: Stroll down Lucinda Road towards San Diego Bay for expansive, Instagram-worthy sights.