[photo credit: Descanso Gardens]
The botanical garden and accredited museum, owned by Los Angeles County and operated by the Descanso Gardens Foundation, sits in a natural bowl formed by the San Rafael Hills at 1418 Descanso Drive. It is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, according to the gardens’ website. General admission is $18 for adults, $14 for seniors 65 and older and students with current ID, and $8 for children ages 3 to 12. Children 2 and under enter free. Parking is free.
The gardens trace their origins to the late 1930s, when newspaper publisher E. Manchester Boddy bought 165 acres of undeveloped land for a ranch and home, according to the Descanso Gardens website’s history page. His growing camellia collection expanded through the purchase of plants from Japanese American nursery owners forced to sell before wartime incarceration became the foundation of what is now one of the country’s signature camellia collections.
In 1953, Los Angeles County purchased the property to keep it in the public trust, converting Boddy’s private estate into a public garden. The gardens earned museum accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2004 and now welcome close to 1 million visitors a year, according to the institution’s history page. The support group originally known as the Descanso Gardens Guild, founded by neighbors in 1957, has since been renamed the Descanso Gardens Foundation and manages the gardens under contract with the county.
For Pasadena and Altadena residents, Descanso is among the closest major botanical gardens, reachable in about 10 minutes via the 210 Freeway. The gardens’ collections include a rose garden, a Japanese garden that opened in 1966, an oak forest, the camellia collection, a California native plants garden, a lilac garden, the Oak Woodland that opened in November 2014, and the Ancient Forest, a collection of cycads and other plants of ancient lineage that opened in 2015, according to the gardens’ website.
This summer, three exhibitions are on view. “Natura Naturata: Nature’s Action” runs through May 31 at the Boddy House, according to the gardens’ exhibitions page. “Journal of Therolinguistics,” an exhibition at the Boddy House exploring the concept of nonhuman languages in nature through works by seven international artists, is on view through July 5. And “Sound of Water: Feminine Expressions of Fluidity,” which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Japanese Garden and is curated by Japanese art historian Meher McArthur, opens June 20 at the Sturt Haaga Gallery and runs through January 3, 2027, according to the Descanso Gardens 2026 exhibitions page. That exhibition is funded in part by the Perenchio Foundation, the Pasadena Art Alliance, and an endowment from Heather Sturt Haaga and Paul G. Haaga Jr.
The Descanso Railroad, a draw for families, features both model trains and a ride-on electric passenger train. The model trains, designed by Applied Imagination, travel through intricate landscapes and depots made of natural materials; the newest installation, “World Pollinators,” is now on display, according to the gardens’ train page. Model trains run from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily. The ride-on passenger train operates from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekends. Tickets are $5 each, purchased at Guest Services. Riders must be at least 30 inches tall. The approximately six-minute ride covers a quarter-mile track along the gardens’ Promenade section.
The train has been a fixture at Descanso since the late 1980s, when train enthusiast Lewis Soibelman began bringing his 1/8th-scale trains to the gardens. It became a permanent attraction in 1996, according to the Descanso Railroad page.
Descanso is also participating in the Blue Star Museums program this summer, offering free admission for active-duty military personnel including National Guard and Reserve members and their families through Labor Day, September 7. The national program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, began May 16, according to the gardens’ Instagram account and the NEA.
The gardens also host Cultivate, a summer event series that brings visitors together through live music, performance and interactive experiences in nature, according to the Descanso Gardens performance calendar page. Each Cultivate event explores a different theme. Onsite dining options include Farmhouse at Descanso Gardens, a farm-to-table restaurant, and Jones Coffee at Descanso, according to the gardens’ dining page. Members receive early garden entry at 8 a.m. daily.
Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011. The gardens are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and are closed only on December 25. Information: 818-949-4200 or descansogardens.org. Advance ticket purchase is encouraged for nonmembers.
The “Sound of Water” exhibition opens June 20, marking six decades since the Japanese Garden designed by Eijiro Nunokawa, created by Frank Kuwahara, with a teahouse designed by San Marino architect Whitney Smith was built with all-volunteer labor and funding provided by the Japanese American community, according to the gardens’ history page.
