Page 41 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

The Asian splendor of Hakone Garden,
opened in Saratoga in 1915, showed the way.
Hailed as the oldest Japanese and Asian
estate garden in the Americas, Hakone is a
loving replica of a traditional Samurai or
Shogun estate garden. Spreading over 18
hilly acres, serene Hakone Garden is
known for koi ponds, waterfalls and
strolling and meditative walks.
A decade later, in 1925, Casa del Herrero
(House of the Blacksmith) opened its deco-
rative Spanish Colonial Revival mansion, a
style still hugely popular in host city Santa
Barbara. Today, the estate is also celebrated
for its Moorish garden with its water foun-
tain and hedged outdoors “rooms.”
Both Los Angeles and San Francisco host
distinguished public botanical gardens. San
Francisco debuted the erstwhile Strybing
Arboretum in 1940 on 55 acres in Golden Gate
Park. Now called San Francisco Botanical
Garden, it is renowned for its rhododendron
glen, magnolia collection, redwood grove and
native California plants. The Los Angeles
County Arboretum and Botanic Garden was
opened in 1956 in aptly named Arcadia, with
a lovely waterfall, Queen Anne cottage and
garden of perennials.
By mid-century, great gardens were
blooming around the state. The Mendo-
cino Coast Botanical Gardens (1961) shows
off an inspired profusion of blooms on
JAPANESE TEA GARDEN in Golden
Gate Park, San Francisco, left.
winding Highway 1 at Fort Bragg. In fairly
quick succession, more major public gar-
dens followed.
Among them: 654-acre Filoli, nestled in
the hills of Woodside south of San Fran-
cisco. Debuting in 1975, Filoli is known for
lovely paths and ponds, a charming rose
garden, 250-year-old live oak trees and
16th-century English Renaissance Garden.
In 1985, Palo Alto opened its 2.5-acre Eliza-
beth F. Gamble Garden. In 1993, the former
estate of Polish opera singer and socialite
Ganna Walska opened near Santa Barbara
as Lotusland, featuring fruit orchards, a
succulent garden and a butterfly garden.
Each garden has its own charms and par-
ticularities, but every one shares California’s
passionate embrace of the new, the innova-
tive and the environmentally attuned.
» FIND YOUR STYLE & DESIGN
ARCHITECTURE
California Missions Resource Center
missionscalifornia.com
Main Quad, Stanford University
stanford.edu/dept/visitorinfo/tours
Casa de Balboa
balboapark.org
San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
missionplayhouse.org
Walking Tours of San Francisco
sfcityguides.org
The Gamble House
gamblehouse.org
Maybeck Houses Tour of Berkeley
(Berkeley Architectural
Heritage Association)
berkeleyheritage.com
Golden Gate Bridge
goldengatebridge.org
Walt Disney Concert Hall
laphil.com
de Young Museum
deyoung.famsf.org
GARDENS
Hakone Garden
hakone.com
Casa del Herrero,
House of the Blacksmith
casadelherrero.com
San Francisco Botanical Garden
(formerly Strybing Arboretum)
sfbotanicalgarden.org
Los Angeles County Arboretum
& Botanic Garden
arboretum.org
Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
gardenbythesea.org
Filoli
filoli.org
Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden
gamblegarden.org
Ganna Walska Lotusland
lotusland.org
2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A 39