San Diego's Balboa Park - A Place to Smell the Roses
Rated among the top 10 parks in the United States in the Tripadvisor Travelers Choice Awards, Balboa Park features 16 unique gardens, including the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden (featuring over 2,400 rose bushes), and the Botanical Building with its adjacent Koi and Lily Pond. The Botanical Building houses more than 2,100 plants, including a fascinating collection of cycads, ferns, orchids and palms. (Note: The Botanical Building is currently closed as it undergoes a major renovation.)
Balboa Park is also home to 18 museums as well as such landmarks as the Old Globe Theatre and the world-famous San Diego Zoo.
Both the Zoo in Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido boast wonderful botanical collections. And both parks employ a team of horticulturists, arborists and gardeners, who care for more than a million plants on a combined 1,900 acres. One of only six zoos recognized for their plant collections by the American Association of Museums (AAM), the Zoo holds distinctions in acacias, aloes, bamboos, coral trees, cycads, figs, gingers, orchids, and palms. The Safari Park's accredited collections are the Baja Garden, Old World Succulent Garden, Conifer Forest, figs, palms, and the Native Scapes Garden.
A don't-miss for plant lovers, the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas encompasses four miles of garden trails, including a wide collection of native and endangered plants, a whimsical children's garden, and the nation's largest collection of bamboo species. The garden also offers a full lineup of engaging events, including workshops, plant sales and bird-watching tours.
