California Must-Visit South Coast Botanic Garden: Spend a Relaxing Afternoon Here
On this trip, I happened to rent a house on the hills in Torrance. With nowhere to go on the weekend, I searched nearby and found this botanical garden. Overall, it’s definitely worth a visit~ especially since the air here is incredibly refreshing~
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About the Botanical Garden:
The South Coast Botanic Garden, known as the "Jewel of the Peninsula," is located on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula, 10 miles south of Los Angeles International Airport in California. This 87-acre garden is easily accessible, attracting many visitors from the South Bay communities. It features over 2,500 different plant species from distant places like Australia, the Mediterranean, and South Africa. The garden is situated in District 23 of the Sunset Zone, one of the most popular planting areas in the world. About 100 trees and shrubs are rare mature specimens seldom seen elsewhere. The rich plant diversity provides food and shelter for abundant wildlife and birds, with over 200 bird species observed annually. Popular attractions include the Dorothy and John Bohannon Rose Garden, the Living Wall, the Dorothy and Allen Lacy Staghorn Fern Collection, the Sensory Garden, the Desert Garden, the Begonia Garden, and the Japanese Garden. Additionally, there is Dottie’s Garden Kiosk and a picnic area near the Living Wall. The Meadow, Prairie, and Francis Young Hall are available for events.
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Address: 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274
Daily Opening Hours:
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (last admission at 4:30 PM)
Foundation Office Hours Monday to Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Saturday to Sunday: by appointment
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Membership: Garden members enter free (membership costs 🔪15, allowing unlimited visits anytime during the year)
Seniors (62 and older) / Student ID: 🔪11
Children (5-12 years old): 🔪5
Free on the third Tuesday of every month; PS: Visitors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Parking: Free
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Friendly Tips:
① Walking through the garden takes about 1 to 1.5 hours, so wear comfortable shoes~
② You can bring food and drinks, but there are some small animals inside, so please don’t feed them randomly~
③ Most of the garden is plants, so no smoking inside;
④ Most areas have no shade, so please take sun protection measures
⑤ During the rainy season, there can be mudslides, and many areas are dense rainforests, so watch your step and avoid going alone into small caves~
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▷ Garden Highlights
The South Coast Botanic Garden covers 87 acres and offers a variety of blooming trees, shrubs, and flowers year-round. Frequent visits ensure you won’t miss anything! The garden has now transitioned from spring blooms to early summer, and every corner is colorful.
▷ Fig Grove
A highlight of the Ficus collection is the Morton Bay fig grove, where these fig trees cover the area with a mass of tangled roots. In spring, colorful Clivia brighten the shaded understory of this grove.
▷ California Native Plants
Planting California native plants in the garden has many benefits: they use less water; provide habitat and food for birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife; and display colorful flowers from spring to summer, with berries and seeds in fall and winter. Several garden areas feature California natives, mainly the greenhouse complex, Mediterranean Garden, and the landscaping around El Rincon Garden at the corner of Tram Road and Service Yard Road, marked by a rustic pergola.
▷ Desert Garden
The Desert Garden includes cacti, euphorbias, aloes, and other succulents. This garden is an excellent display of specimens from the U.S., Africa, Mexico, and South America.
▷ Display Greenhouse
The Display Greenhouse is open to the public daily from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Designed with a color palette ranging from warm to cool tones, inside you’ll find tropical plants such as adeniums, anthuriums, begonias, pineapples, carnivorous plants, cordylines, crotons, orchids, hoyas, and passionflowers.
▷ Poriah Garden
This garden is established and maintained by the South Coast Chapter of the American Poriah Society, featuring many different species, varieties, and newly introduced cultivars. The overhead shade cloth filters strong sunlight, allowing purple and other shade-loving plants to thrive.
▷ Sensory Garden
This garden encourages you to enjoy plants and flowers through smell, touch, sound, and sight. Plants are arranged on raised beds for easy touching and smelling. Individual plant tags indicate the sensory experience each plant offers.
▷ Japanese Garden / Koi Pond Garden
The garden maintains bonsai displays by the South Coast Bonsai Society. Enjoy the calming sound of water and absorb the soft palette of evergreen shrubs around the koi pond. The stone lanterns were carefully crafted 200 years ago from Okazaki Stone in Okazaki Province, said to be the capital of Japanese stone craftsmanship.
▷ Mediterranean Garden
The Mediterranean climate is unique, characterized by mild, cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, found in only five places worldwide: coastal California, the Mediterranean Basin, southwestern Australia, the southwestern tip of South Africa, and coastal Chile.