*Chinese Garden at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino*

By Judith Deutsch

December 8, 2021

Some of the best places to experience wildlife is in our own Los Angeles County botanic gardens. When I hear the words, “botanic gardens,” the first place to come to mind is The Huntington’s 130 acres in San Marino with 16 themed gardens, 27,000 types of living plants, and 16,000 species, where a coyote crossed my path in the Australian Garden, and the largest owl I have ever seen buzzed me for coming too close to her nest in a majestic tree across from the Museum’s Conservatory.

Next in line, would be the Los Angeles Arboretum, 127 acres of botanic wonders and migrating birds in Arcadia, and the perfect excuse to visit local Chinese restaurants and experience their afternoon dim sum carts!

The six-acre Virginia Robinson Gardens,, in Beverly Hills is a hidden botanic gem that includes a tour of the unpretentious Robinsons mansion. Yes, THAT Robinson family who had a store between Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards. Ms. Robinson was a nature lover who planted native and exotic plants and trees and kept monkeys on her property. Most people today are unaware that there was a Beverly Hills Speedway/Racetrack for automobile and motorcycle racing at Santa Monica and Wilshire, and equestrian trails going down major Beverly Hills streets from the 1920s to the 1960s promoting urban horsemanship. I remember buying my English riding gear at the Mayfair Equestrian Shop on Rodeo Drive as late as the 1970s.

Then we have the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden outdoor classroom, research facility, and public garden on seven acres of the UCLA Campus near Tiverton Drive in Westwood. It provides a safe urban haven for local and migrating birds in its Conifer, Cycad, Desert, Fern, Habitat (Hummingbird sage for the Allen’s hummingbird), Hawaiian Native Plant, Mediterranean Ecosystem, Palm, Subtropical Woodland, and Stream Gardens. It received the National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat certification.

But few Los Angelinos are aware of our newest botanic garden, the former landfill, now South Coast Botanic Garden, on Crenshaw Boulevard in Palos Verdes Estates. A remarkable achievement harboring 150,000 landscaped plants and trees representing 2,000 species organized into the Banyan Grove, Native California plants, a Mediterranean Garden, the Ficus Collection, the Children’s and Discovery Gardens, a Desert Garden, the Display Greenhouse, Rose and Dahlia Gardens, a Garden for the Senses, and Japanese Garden and Koi Pond. There is a seasonal GLOW evening celebration and a seasonal SOAR Butterfly Pavilion. At the entrance, we watched a very harried volunteer protect her cache of packaged people snacks from two, bold, rambunctious squirrels on a sugar high, who had already relieved her of a bag of Skittles and a Milky Way candy bar! We also tremendously enjoyed watching a Red-tailed hawk circle the gardens from above. Other birds of prey in Palos Verdes include the American Kestrel and Peregrine, Barn and Great Horned Owls, and the Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Coopers, and Osprey Hawks. Peacocks rule the peninsula.

Start the year off right, grab your family and friends, and head for the County’s wide open botanic spaces!