A series of subtropical gardens set within a 4 1/2 acre city park feature over 100 species of unusual flowering and shade trees, palms adapted to the coastal climate, and a lovely koi and lily pond.

The 327 acre main campus of this university has been designated an arboretum. Gardens include the Sneezeless Garden (for allergy sufferers), the Peace Garden (with sculptures), a Rose Garden, and a children's garden (the Environments Playground).

Peacocks, waterfalls, tram rides! Not your usual arboretum fare, but then this is a special arboretum. The 127 acre garden, benefitted by the California Arboretum Foundation, is filled with lush gardens. a citrus grove, an avacado orchard, a South American collection, a fig grove, a tropical greenhouse, a rose garden, a garden for all seasons and much more.

This 30 acre reserve for the western azalea produces clouds of fragrant pink and white blooms during the spring. Other plants of the northern California coast are included in the self-guided nature walk.

This museum's grounds include camellia and rose gardens.

This extraordinary 1,400 acre city park in the heart of the city is filled with museums and flowers. Gardens include the Japanese Friendship Garden (see listing below), the Alcazar Garden (a formal garden with boxwood hedges, fountains, and annuals, influenced by the gardens of Alcazar Castle in Spain), the Botanical Building (a lath house displaying 2,100 permanent tropical plants and changing seasonal flowers), the Desert Garden (a 2.5 acre garden with 1,300 plants including succulents and drought-resistant plants), the Old Cactus Garden (mature cacti and succulents and exotic African and Australian Protea plants), the Marston House Garden (a formal English Romantic-style garden), the Palm Canyon (2 acres with 450 palms of 58 species), the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden (an All-America Rose Selection garden with 2,400 rose bushes in 180 varieties), the San Diego Zoo Botanical Collection (see listing below), and the Zoro Garden (a sunken garden with a stone grotto and butterfly garden).

A lovely semi-circular terraced garden, with graduated colors, a pool at the center and a 220 foot redwood pergola at the top, is a highlight of this charming garden with over 3000 plants.

The 11 acre garden surrounds the home of the UC Berkeley President. The College of Environmental Design uses this garden as a teaching garden. With spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, the garden is anchored with perennials, water lilies, ponds.

CALM is a zoo, botanical garden, and natural history museum all in one fascinating site, with over 200 native animals and over 2000 native plants,

This lovely park features 40 acres of gardens including a cactus and succulent garden and an All-America Rose Selections rose garden. The Park is also the site for a proposed World Peace Rose Garden (see listing below).

This luxury inn displays an extensive organic kitchen garden. Guests may help with the harvest, and the Master Gardener provides lectures, seminars and tours.

A Chinese Temple, built in 1863 to serve the Chinese families in the area, includes a Chinese Garden with plants native to China.

A magnificent Victorian greenhouse with 11,000 square feet under glass and 4,500 kinds of plants. Tropical plant collections include begonias, gesneriads, bromeliads, orchids, aroids, carnivors, palms, cycads and ferns. In addition to the permanent installations, seasonal floral displays are featured year-round.

The gardens of this retreat center, offering views of the Middle Yuba River valley, feature a wisteria colonade, pools, spring flowering bulbs, summer perennials and annuals, hanging baskets, autumn foliage color and camellias in the winter. The Mediterranean climate allows a variety of lovely plantings.

This 160 acre public garden, only twenty minutes from Los Angeles, offers a Japanese Tea Garden, two camellia oak forests, a California native plants garden, a fern canyon, a bird observatory and an international rosarium.

The Historic Estate showcases an opulent, 11,000 square foot Colonial Revival mansion with formal gardens.

This enchanting 1 1/2 acre garden features stone lanterns, 2 lion dogs, a pagoda, a hillside of azaleas, a lake with a black pebble beach, a moon bridge, a zig zag bridge, a tea house, a white birch woods, a dry garden, black-stemmed bamboo and koi fish.

The Arboretum, founded in 1927, specializes in pines (70 varieties) as well as other native and exotic conifers. A self-guided tour of the labeled plantings is offered.

The 2.3 acre site showcases a historic home, a carriage house, tea house, and  three gardens. The formal gardens include an heirloom rose garden, a weeping cherry allee and grotto, and a wisteria garden and fountain. The woodland garden, in which the tea house is sited, displays collections of hydrangeas, camellias, and Japanese maples. The demonstration gardens exhibits annual and perennial beds, espaliered fruit trees, raised beds for disabled access, and an iris border.

The Chavez Ravine Arboretum and botanical gardens were first planted in 1893, making Elysian Park Los Angeles' oldest park. The Park has been threatened over the years with encroaching development, but has an active Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park which has been active in preserving and restoring the park. The web site has an inspiring story about the woman who worked so diligently to save the park.

This extensive formal rose garden is a 300 feet by 800 feet sunken quadrangle between the Natural History Museum, the Armory, and the Exposition Building. With about two hundred cultivars in bloom each season on 16,000 bushes, the garden is one of the largest and most significant public display rose gardens in California. A fountain, pergolas, sculpture and a lily pond also grace the premises.

This Olmsted-designed city park features rose gardens including an All-America Rose Selections garden.

This Mendicino County winery offers 5 acres of stunning gardens with 7 theme gardens, all of which are organic, including a habitat border, formal gardens, Mediterranean gardens, flower borders, and a wine education garden. The gardens also incorporate edible fruits, berries, herbs and vegetables.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has preserved this lovely estate with a Georgian Revival mansion. The impressive grounds presents a succession of elegant garden rooms.

This city park displays a lovely All-America Rose Selections rose garden.

This remarkable garden was created when Baldasare Forestiere started to carve out an underground retreat from the valley's heat and finished 40 years later with a complex of 50 underground rooms and 100 grottos, patios and garden courts. A wide variety of fruit and nut trees grow there.

A 30 acre municipal park with rose garden and tea house. The Teahouse Brochure.

The Fullerton Arboretum resides on twenty six acres situated at the northeast corner of the campus at California State University Fullerton. The extraordinary facility is divided into three extensive collections: The Temperate Zone, The Tropical Zone, and the Arid Zone. In addition, there are numerous cultivated plantings of interest and beauty. The web page gives a fascinating glimpse into the many diverse collections.

This special 37 acre exotic garden, created by Polish opera singer Mme. Ganna Walska, features an outdoor theatre, a topiary garden, a horticultural clock, a Neptune fountain, formal parteere and hedged allees as well as collections of aloes, bromeliads, cacti and other succulents, cycads, ferns, and palms. An article from Smithsonian Magazine describes the garden as well as the remarkable woman behind it.

In the process of development, the Gardens will add a variety of new gardens to the now famous Heritage Rose Garden which displays over 3,500 varieties of roses.

This 18 acre public park, surrounding the Doheny Mansion, offers formal gardens, a fountain, and a pool and inner courtyard. The lovely setting is often featured in films (from Nixon to Ghosbusters II) and still photography.

 A former estated modeled after the Fuji-Hakone National Park, Hakone contains four Japanese gardens: the Hill and Pond Garden (for strolling through wisteria and cherry blossoms), the Tea Garden (a quiet and soothing walk to prepare for the tea ceremony), the Zen Garden (raked gravel and stones) and the Kizuna-en (bamboo garden).

An authentic Kyoto style garden showcases antique carvings and structures including the main gate, a teahouse, a five-tiered pagoda, a moon-viewing deck, a family shrine, and bridges. Major symbolic rocks, water basins, and stone carvings were imported and the plantings are native to Japan. Reservations are required.

A private garden open by appointment only, the 1/2 acre hillside garden with 180 degree views of San Francisco Bay features over 3000 varieties of rare plants displayed among concrete granite-like outcroppings and 21 ponds.  Contact: handgarden@earthlink.net

The Hearst Castle, a 137 foot Greek Revival Palace named (in an sweeping understatement) Casa Grande, features 127 acres of extravagant gardens, terraces, pools and guest houses.

This 2 1/2 acre hillside garden is located at a private residence in a gated community and is open to special tours arranged two weeks in advance. The more than 1,500 plant species include native ones such as coastal sage, poppies and bouganvillas.

150 acres of landscaped lawns with vistas, statues, tempiettos, and benches surround the Huntington Art Galleries and Library. Approximately 15,000 kinds of plants from all over the world are landscaped into a series of theme gardens: the Japanese Garden, Desert Garden, the Rose Garden, the Camellia Garden, the Palm Garden, the Subtropical Garden, the Jungle Garden, the Lily Ponds, the Herb Garden, the Australian Garden and the Shakespeare Garden.

A brand new garden featuring a Tea Pavillion, a dry garden, a koi pond and waterfall, exhibit house and activity center. The web site has wonderful pictures of construction progress and plans, as well as a detailed exposition on the philosophy and symbolism of Japanese Gardens.

Patterned after the Korakuen Garden in Okayama, this serene garden features streams, waterfalls, a koi pond (with 600 koi), bridges, fountains, peach trees, and a Japanese Tea House.

Designed by Nagao Sakurai of the Imperial Palace of Tokyo, this serene garden showcases a granite pagoda, a teahouse, lanterns, and bamboo groves, seasonal blooms and rare plants that touch the shore of the large cental koi pond.

This 8.8 acre park preserves the Victorian residence of John Muir, a famous conservationist, and its grapes and fruit and nut trees. A self-guided tours of the house, orchards and a nature trail on Mt. Wanda are available.

A large sunken garden beautifies the site of this Earth Science Museum and Archeological Area and yes, there are dinosaurs - 7 of them.

This brew-pub restaurant features 5 1/2 acres of oriental gardens with bridges and a koi pond.

This Victorian era chateau is surrounded by terraced Italian gardens, orange groves and ponds, a wisteria arbor, and fountains.

The site of an old forest fire has been transformed into 317 acres of rhododendron and second-growth redwood, Douglas fir, and tan oak.

The Garden Center is surrounded by theme gardens, including Japanese, rhododendron, fuchsia, cactus, lily herb, iris, palm, fire escape, city, vegetable, compost and herb gardens and a koi pond.

This garden, a one acre water conservation demonstration garden created through a joint effort of the University of California Cooperative Extension and the Western Municipal Water District, showcases more than 200 species of plants in a natural setting and the irrigation systems that contribute to water efficiency. 50 education stations let visitors in on the secrets to this lovely landscape.

A 1,200 acre interpretive center whose motto is "Like a Zoo, Only Better'. In addition to mountain lions, wolves, javelina, bobcats, golden eagles and much more in a natural setting, there are botanical gardens.

On this garden site, from 1884 until his death in 1926, Luther Burbank conducted his famous plant-breeding experiments. This Santa Rosa public park offers special collections featuring plants developed by Luther Burbank and thousands of exotic plants including a Rose Garden, a Cutting Garden, a Victorian Garden, an Insect Attracting Garden, a Bird/Butterfly Attracting Garden, a Drought Tolerant Garden, a Water Garden, and a Home Orchard and Vegetable Garden, as well as a 1889 Greenhouse and a Museum.

Enjoy a tour around the farm used by famed botanist Luther Burbank or a virtual tour at this school web site.

Towering oaks, woodland shrubs, signature trees, and a memorial garden grace the premises of this community Art Center.

This Frank Lloyd Wright landmark building includes a conservation garden of native plants on the fourth floor (you read that correctly). For those who like their gardens in more traditional places, there is a patio fountain and pond.

This sixteen-acre nature park focuses on plants native to California and other Mediterranean climates. A natural stream, a rose garden, and an herb garden also grace this urban park. A 3.5 acre arboretum and international garden with wisteria arbor is under development.

An All-America Rose Selections garden.

This 1.5 acre All-America Rose Selections garden displays 1,000 rose bushes, tree roses and blooming annuals.

The 47 acre of lush plantings flourish in the mild maritime climate provided by the Gardens' ocean setting. Features include a Perennial Garden, a Woodland Garden, a Tender Rhododendrons Garden, a Heritage Rose Garden, coastal bluffs with flowers, a Heather Garden, a Dahlia Garden, a Vegetable Garden, the Fern Canyon, the North Forest, a Camellia Collection, a Display House, and the Pacifica Iris Collection.

Over 5000 species in 225 families from all over the world thrive in this seven-acre garden.

The grounds of this historic mission display an All-America Rose Selections garden with over 1,500 bushes plus native and early California plant gardens.

Set in 8 acres of picturesque gardens, terraces, fountains, reflecting pools and Mediterranean architecture are the backdrop for more than 500 All-American rose selections and a collection of historic hybrid teas from the 1920's to the 1950's.

This Garden specializes in desert flora, with more than 3,000 species of desert plants from around the world, but also serves as a sanctuary to birds. Nature trails, giant cacti, trees, succulents and flowers all contribute to the magic of this garden.

Named after an attractive butterfly found in the area, the Ranch offers tree-shaded gardens with over 2,200 species from the world over, labeled for visitors who wander the meandering paths. Take time to see the carriage collection, also.

This military base offers a restored rose garden.

Ten master sculptors from New Guinea and a team of American and New Guinean landscape architects collaborated to create this unique and stunning garden located in an oak and cedar grove on the Stanford Campus.

This 16 acre preserve within a city park displays native plants and plants from countries that share Southern California’s dry climate.

The roses bloom amid rare trees and shrubs at this historic site. A butterfly garden adjoins. The Friends of Heirloom Flowers Garden Club help tend it.

The nineteenth of the twenty-one Franciscan Missions in California, this operating historic mission has beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens in addition to interesting relics. The web site has a slide tour so vivid you can almost feel the California sunshine.

This 22 acre public park includes a historical herb garden.

This 12 acre commercial nursery displays 50,000 roses of over 450 varieties.

Overfelt Gardens, a tranquil public park with trees, shrubs, flowering plants and a pond, is also home to the Chinese Cultural Gardens. The Chinese Gardens are enhanced by a 30 foot bronze and marble statue of the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius overlooking a reflecting pond and an ornamental Friendship Gate.

The Chinese courtyard garden aims to bring a deeper understanding of nature into one's heart and home to impart serenity and induce contemplation. The elegant formal design includes a koi pond.

Rose Hills Memorial Park, perhaps the largest cemetery in the world, eschews the usual statuary and tombstones (most markers are flush to the ground), and instead features a Japanese Garden, the famous Pageant of Roses Garden with over 600 varieties of roses, topiary, and decorative chapels.

Twenty-four gardens at this impressive site include the Walled Garden, the Victorian Gazebo, a Bamboo Garden (with one of the largest collections in the world), the Old Fashioned Garden, the Canary Islands Garden, the Old World Desert Garden, the New World Desert Garden, the Pan Tropical/Tropical Rainforest Exhibit, the Pacific Collection, California Natives Garden, the Herb Garden, demonstration gardens, and, for those who have seen every other kind of garden, a fire safety garden.

Located on a 20-acre hillside, this Garden collects and grows seed of rare and unusual plants from Asia -- primarily China and Tibet -- to determine their potential as landscape plants. It presently has 10,000 plants from over 300 genera. The Sacramento Bee web site contains an interesting article about the work of Quarryhill.  Visits to the garden are by appointment only, sorry to say.

The gardens of this beautiful historical 7.5 acre ranch are divided into eleven areas including a native garden and a rose garden and are praised for their understated elegance.

The large Monterey-style adobe ranch home is surrounded by lovely gardens, landscaped by Ralph Cornell, and include historic roses, trees dating from the mid 1800's, an old water tower, exotic plants and an herb garden.

Located at an elevation of 1,350 feet on the outwash plain of the San Gabriel Mountains, the 86-acre Garden is laid out in three areas: Indian Hill Mesa ( the Southern Riparian Woodland, the California Cultivar Garden, the Basketry Trail, the Oak Woodland Trail, and the Home Demonstration Garden), the East Alluvial Gardens (the Desert Garden, the Coastal Dune, the California Channel Islands collections and the California Fan Palm Oasis), and the Plant Communities display. Large Coast Live Oaks, several hundred years old and native to the site, populate the slope between the Mesa and alluvial areas of the Garden.

Description of garden. The grounds of this restored Italianate house feature lawns, beautiful gardens with year-round blooming flowers and spacious brick patios.

The ten acre garden is organized into ten major California climate areas for an educational as well as enjoyable display of plants from all over California. Special collections of wild lilacs, manzanitas, bunchgrasses and aquatics highlight the exhibits.

A Garden Conservancy garden. The garden began as a single succulent planted in a three acre orchard of dying walnut trees and increased from there to an outstanding collection of dry climate plants, including aloes, agaves, yuccas, and echeverias. Garden address is not advertised because the garden is open by appointment only.

San Diego Zoo Botanical Collection is an accredited botanical garden with over 6,000 species of plants. Collections include orchids, cycads, fig trees, palms, and coral trees. Whimsical animal topiaries are featured throughout the Zoo. Naturalistic animal exhibits are heavily planted and resemble the animals' native habitats while other plants, such as bamboo, eucalyptus, acacia, and hibiscus, are grown for animal food.

More than 3,400 varieties of heritage, modern and miniature roses are displayed in concentric rings in this celebration of roses, maintained by dedicated volunteers.

Surrounded by redwood trees and green lawns, this exquisite 5 1/2 acre garden is devoted exclusively to roses. It features over 4,000 rose shrubs with 189 varieties represented. Hybrid teas comprise 75 percent of the plantings, while climbers, miniatures, floribundas, grandifloras, and polyanthas are also displayed in a lovely setting with a reflecting pool and fountains.