Pasadena
Arlington Garden
Arlington Garden is a 3-acre free, public park in Pasadena that can provide inspiration for a garden of any size.
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Native Plant Gardens
Public landscapes where California native plants can be observed in designed garden settings.
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Places to visit
Explore Native Plant Gardens
San Diego
Balboa Park Native Plant Demonstration Garden
A compact native plant demonstration garden in Balboa Park’s Morley Field, with a hillside path, bioswales, San Diego-area native plants, and a protected natural area nearby.
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Altadena
Bob Lucas Branch Library Demonstration Garden
The Bob Lucas branch library in Altadena relandscaped in 2020 to feature a bioswale, hugelkultur, and native plants.
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Pasadena
Community Demonstration Garden at Sheldon Reservoir
Began in August 2019, this demonstration garden is a community project on a parkway bordering the Sheldon Reservoir. It features a large Hügelkultur, native plants, a Mediterranean plant section and a fire-wise planting demonstration.
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Torrance
Madrona Marsh Nature Center
A native plant demonstration garden encircles the visitor center of the Madrona Marsh preserve. Madrona Marsh is 43 acres of marshland left undeveloped after land intended for oil drilling was never used for that purpose. It is now an important bird preserve and habitat associated with the rare Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
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Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
A 2/3 acre botanical garden inside Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach. A demonstration garden exhibiting drought-tolerant plants, mostly local California natives, and a certified nature habitat. Free admission. Construction started in 1994, formed a nonprofit organization in 1997, opened on Earth Day, 2001.
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Monrovia
Monrovia Native Plant Demonstration Garden
Located just before Monrovia’s Old Town from the south, Grow Monrovia’s Demonstration Garden features a hugelkultur, bioswale, and native plants. It demonstrates how common commercial parkways can utilize native plants to achieve an inviting space.
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Monterey Park
Monterey Park Demonstration Garden
This demonstration garden was created by the City of Monterey Park to demonstrate multiple different styles of landscaping that are drought tolerant. It has signs to explain each section of the park. It also features two bioswales. It was inaugurated June 2, 2017.
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Arcadia
Peck Road Water Conservation Park
Built over old quarry land and along the San Gabriel River watershed, this is an active community park that features demonstrations of native plants and bioswales.
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San Diego
San Diego’s Old Town Native Demonstration Garden
A park presented by the Kumeyaay, demonstrating the native plants that once dominated the region, and paying tribute to the indigenous population that occupied it.
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