UC Botanical Garden visit

Entrance to the California section of the UC Botanic Garden

My wife and I recently visited the UC Botanical garden in the Berkeley hills above campus. Located in close proximity to the Regional Parks Botanical garden, the UC garden features one of the best California native plant displays in the Bay Area. The manzanita (Arctostaphylos) and California lilac (Ceanothus) collections are particularly impressive, as is the seven acre redwood grove located across the street from the garden entrance.  Other personal highlights in the UC garden include fine coastal and Channel Islands sections and a large beautiful Oak Knoll. Our garden in San Mateo, which features many coastal plants and a dedicated Channels Islands section,  was heavily influenced by the plant collections seen at the Regional Parks and UC gardens.

New growth on the giant coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea), one of the most distinctive Channel Islands' plants 

On this sunny February day, we were treated to fine displays of flowering manzanita, California lilac, currants and gooseberries (Ribes), and silk tassels (Garrya elliptica) among others. Here are a few of my favorite photographs:

A sprawling ceanothus underneath the oak knoll

A beautiful mature Central Coast manzanita in the chaparral section of the gardens

A winding hillside path flanked by manzanita, ceanothus and hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea)

Unlike the Regional Parks garden, the UC botanical charges admission ($7) and parking fees (~$3) and contains collections from all over the world including South America, Asia and South Africa. There is a also an interesting herb garden/medicinal plant area and a fine (if small) plant shop with some nice, reasonably priced natives. I got my rare San Bruno mountain manzanita (A. imbricata) here. Despite the fees and hassle of navigating through the chaos of Berkeley to get there, I highly recommend a visit to the UC botanical garden.

Up close and personal with a flowering coastal silk tassel (Garrya elliptic)