Growing roses

Water-wise lawn replacement 

(For other online garden tours, see the listing at the bottom of this page.)

The gardens surrounding the historic buildings in Balboa Park in San Diego are more enhancements to the buildings still standing from the 1915 and 1935 Expositions than strictly botanical gardens.

Even the lath house, called the "Botanical Building" and shown above, is primarily a visual showcase, rather than an educational garden.  The real center of focus are the many museums in Balboa Park.

Inside the spectacular Botanical Building you will find thousands of tropical plants. Unlike  glass greenhouses in colder climates, this lath house in the heart of Balboa Park is open to the air, but the laths shade the carefully tended plants inside.

Happily most of the gardens are within easy walking distance of the Botanical Building.  You can enjoy seeing them as you move from museum to museum along El Prado drive.

These Angels' Trumpets (Brugmansia) are at the edge of a large parterre garden called the Alcazar garden. The flowers within the parterre squares change seasonally.

The desert garden and rose garden, reached by walking across an overpass, are, at best, adequate.  We have seen much better examples of both types of gardens elsewhere.

The collection of buildings housing the museums are amazing architecturally.  This one is home to the San Diego Junior Ballet.

Just steps away are the Timken Museum of Art,  the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Man, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego Museum of Natural History and many others.

Outside the Mingei International Museum, just across the street from the Botanical Building, is this whimsical dragon sculpture.

For more information about the Gardens and Museums of Balboa Park, visit this website.

Take these Hot Gardens online preview tours, too:    
Huntington Gardens Desert Garden - near Pasadena 
Tucson Gardens    
Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden  
Descanso Gardens - near Pasadena 
Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden    
Arlington Garden - in Pasadena
Tropical Garden in the Dominican Republic   
Shore Acres Gardens, Coos Bay Oregon 
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont California  
South Coast Botanic Garden - near Los Angeles  
Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens