The San Diego Botanic Garden, formerly Quail Botanical Gardens, is a botanical garden in Encinitas, California, United States. At , the garden includes rare bamboo groves (said to be the largest bamboo collection in the United States), desert gardens, a tropical

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

, California native plants, Mediterranean climate landscapes, and a subtropical fruit garden. The name of the facility was changed in 2009 to better reflect the garden's status as a regional attraction.Press Releases
/ref> Located 30 minutes north of San Diego in Encinitas, California, San Diego Botanic Garden features numerous exhibits, including rare bamboo groves, desert gardens, a tropical rainforest, California native plants, Mediterranean climate landscapes, succulent gardens, an herb garden, firesafe landscaping, a subtropical fruit garden, and native coastal sage natural areas. The Hamilton Children's Garden was opened in June 2011, the largest interactive children's garden on the West Coast. Until 1957 the gardens were the private estate of Ruth Baird Larabee, at which time she donated her house and grounds to the County of San Diego. The Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation was established in 1961. In March 1970, the Quail Botanic Garden opened as a public botanic garden. The name was changed in 2009 to San Diego Botanic Garden. Today the gardens include over 5,000 varieties of plants from all over the world including tropical, subtropical, and

California native plants California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic ...

. Collections include a tropical plant exhibit in the Dickinson Family Education Conservatory (opened in 2020), the climate-based gardens for the New World and Old World Desert, Coastal sage scrub, Sub-Tropical Fruit, a Pinetum, a Palm Canyon, as well as geographically organized gardens for Africa,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Arid Madagascar Garden, Arid South America, the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, Cape South Africa, Central America, the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, New Zealand, the Pan-Tropical

Rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

with a 60-foot waterfall. Plant varieties include fuchsias, hibiscus, bamboos, proteas,

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

s, as well as other drought-resistant plants including Australian shrubs. Herbs, water plants, wildflowers, perennials, brugmansias,

cork oaks ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores ...

, and palms are also featured. Of particular interest is the maturing Cork Oak (''Quercus suber'') forest. Paths wind through a cluster of twisted and majestic Cork Oaks. Cork Oaks groves in other parts of the world are still harvested for their cork (bark) that is used in for corks placed in wine bottles, as well as for purses, jewelry and wallets.

Gallery

Image:Quail botanical gardens.jpg , Path through gardens Image:Quail botanical gardens 2.jpg, Entrance to Hamilton Children's Garden Image:Quail botanical gardens 3.jpg, Signboard for Hamilton Children's Garden Image:Quail botanical gardens 4.jpg, In the Hamilton Children's Garden Image:Quail botanical gardens 5.jpg, In the Hamilton Children's Garden Image:Quail botanical gardens 6.jpg, In the Hamilton Children's Garden Image:Quail botanical gardens 7.jpg, In the Hamilton Children's Garden

References

External links

Official San Diego Botanic Garden website
{{commonscat, position=left Botanical gardens in California Parks in San Diego County, California Encinitas, California

Gallery

See also

References

External links