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.
Demonstration Garden
Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
A 2/3-acre demonstration garden in Polliwog Park featuring mostly local California native plants and wildlife habitat.
Photos
Gallery
Click any image to enlarge
Overview
The place
The Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden is a 2/3-acre demonstration garden on the west side of Polliwog Park. It is maintained by a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization.
The garden is intended as a guide for creating an Earth-friendly native garden at home while conserving water, reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, and supporting birds and butterflies.
What to see
The garden is arranged as overlapping habitats loosely based on Southern California wildlands. The official garden site identifies dune, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, riparian woodland and wetland, and coastal prairie habitats.
The legacy gallery documents plant-identification signs, winding brick and flagstone paths, mulch and climate signage, a water fountain, a turtle habitat, a pollinator house, and labeled native plants including brittlebush, scarlet monkeyflower, milkweed, bladderpod, Santa Cruz Island buckwheat, toyon, lemonade berry, ceanothus, and red fairyduster.
Native plants
The garden emphasizes drought-tolerant plants, mostly local California natives. Its habitat-based layout demonstrates how plant communities differ in sun, soil, slope, and water requirements.
Garden design
The garden uses overlapping habitat zones rather than a single formal planting style. Each habitat is intended to support specific birds, insects, and other wildlife while demonstrating different light, soil, slope, and water conditions.
Wildlife
The garden is a certified nature habitat and is designated as a pollinator habitat by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. The official site emphasizes food, water, shelter, and nesting space for birds, butterflies, insects, and other wildlife.
Home garden takeaways
The garden is intended as a practical model for residents who want to reduce water use, ocean pollution, energy use, and species decline while creating habitat at home.
Before you go
The garden is inside Polliwog Park on the west side of Peck Avenue. It is open daily from sunrise to sunset and admission is free.
Street parking is available on Peck Avenue, with an additional lot at the north end of Peck Avenue. The garden picnic table is available first-come, first-served for up to two hours.
Photos
See the photo gallery.
Location
Where to find Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden
1236 N. Peck Avenue, Manhattan Beach, Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles