Visit Public Gardens on Summer Vacation

We have now officially entered the summer season, which is an excellent time for gardening and traveling. One way to combine those activities is to visit a public garden.

The Internet harbors many “Top Ten” lists so my own travels began with a search for “best U.S. public gardens.” If you conduct your own search using these or similar words you will encounter a trove of possible destinations, including six lists that I explored. Here are some impressions.

First, there are many places that qualify as public gardens. National Public Gardens Day happened on May 11th, when 150 botanical gardens and arboreta within the United States offered free admission. These included most of the principal sites, but there are many more to discover.

Then, the Internet’s lists of Top Ten gardens are all strikingly different. While a few gardens appear in more than one list, it’s evident that there are diverse ideas of which gardens deserve to be called “best.” The direct experiences of the list-writers undoubtedly influence their selections. One exception is the USA Today’s list, which is based upon the votes of garden visitors.

The most popular gardens on these lists are Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA; New York Public Garden, New York City, NY; and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, FL.

The most popular gardens in the western part of the nation (which might be more convenient for Monterey Bay residents to visit) include The Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, WA; Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, WA; Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, OR; International Rose Test Garden, Portland, OR; Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Mendocino, CA; San Francisco Botanical Garden, San Francisco, CA; Lotusland, Montecito, CA; Huntington Botanic Gardens, San Marino, CA; and Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, AZ.

To be accurate, the western U.S. includes these rather less accessible gardens of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, which includes McBryde Garden, Allerton Garden, Limahuli Garden and Preserve (all on Kaua’I Island, HI) and Kahanu Garden (Maui Island, HI).

Noteworthy public gardens that are closest to the Monterey Bay area (in addition to the SF Botanical Garden) include the Arboretum and Botanic Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz; Hakone Estate and Gardens, Saratoga, CA; University of California Botanical Gardens, Berkeley, CA; and Bancroft Garden & Nursery, Walnut Creek, CA.

For more information on any of these gardens, use their name to search the Internet.

The many available gardens could not all be mentioned here, and any omissions are not intended as downgrades. The reality is that each public garden offers a unique combination of plants and a setting that might appeal differently for the individual visitor, so a realistic strategy for the adventuresome gardener is to visit as many public gardens as may be convenient and practical and discover which is most satisfying. This could be a rewarding exploration that you might begin during this year’s summer season.

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