Quail Botanical
Gardens
Encinitas, California
January 2008
Coastal
California has an amazing climate for gardening. The Los Angeles
and San Francisco regions are rich in gardens so it's surprising
how few public gardens there are in the San Diego area. Not that
there aren't a lot of spectacular plantings around. The plantings
in Balboa Park are beautiful, but it would stretch the definition
of public garden to include them. Fortunately the one public garden
around San Diego is a really nice one. From the beautiful entrance
through the well-designed trail system to the Children's Garden,
Quail Botanical Gardens has something of interest to
everyone.
The garden concentrates on plants
from the world's Mediterranean climate regions. There are amazing
cork oaks, from Europe and North Africa. I don't know how old these
trees are, but their contorted forms and pocked bark give the
impression of being very ancient. Looking at the bark you can
really see that it is cork! There are also incredible specimens of
the dragon tree from the Canary Islands. It's really something to
see a plant you're familiar with as a houseplant, grown to such
incredible size and beauty.
South Africa is also well
represented. The gardens have a great diversity of plants, many of
which flower in the winter so make this a great garden to visit
when most of the country is covered in snow. The collection of
aloes is especially rich, ranging in form from ground huggers to
trees.
The garden is also famous for its
collection of bamboo. It's great to be able to walk through bamboo
forests. The plantings are large enough to give a real sense of
what the Asian bamboo forests must feel
like.
The garden also features displays of
American desert plants, Australian plants and subtropical food
plants. New displays are a very nice Children's Garden and what
they call an "Undersea Garden" featuring succulent and other plants
arranged to resemble a coral reef.
The garden is well laid out and easy
to navigate. All the trails are well-maintained though handicapped
access would be difficult on some. Overall the signage is very
good. Most of the plants have a label identifying what they are and
where they are from. There are also a number of larger interpretive
signs that are very good. Sadly a number of these signs are showing
their age and are in need of repair or replacement. That said, I'd
still recommend Quail to anyone. You won't be
disappointed.
Click here to view more photos of Quail Botanical
Gardens.
To
visit the official website of Quail Botanical Garden, click
here.