Beautiful Gardens

The Chinese Garden

Hello,

My family and I have discovered another new place, recently.

Remember, we moved to Silver Lake (in Los Angeles) a couple of months ago and ever since then, we keep finding really neat spots. 

I shared some other new places in this older post (HERE).

About a month a go, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, my husband, our son James and I went to The Huntington 
for the first time. 
The Huntington is located near Pasadena in the city of San Marino, 12 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

That place is amazing!

The Huntington is known to be one of the world's great cultural, research and educational centers.

It is a private, nonprofit institution, founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities and real estate holdings in Southern California.

Huntington was also a man of vision - with a special interest in books, art and gardens. 

During his lifetime, he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a splendid art collection and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe. 

These three distinct facets of The Huntington are linked by a devotion to research, education and beauty.

Hungry or parched?

 There are three places you may choose from.
Enjoy the beautiful surroundings at:

• The Rose Garden Tea Room (Reservations required)
• The Chinese Garden Tea House
• The Café  

We did not try those places, but it is nice to know that the options are there.

I sure look forward to checking out The Rose Garden Tea Room next time and to trying their candied ginger or blueberry-rosemary scones, which are served with butter, wild berry jam, orange marmalade ad clotted cream. 

Yummy!

They also serve tea breads, tea sandwiches, salads, sweets, various snacks and beverages, fresh seasonal fruits and of course a selection of hot teas.

"A cup of Rose Tea, anyone?"

The Chinese Tea House features offerings such as aromatic garden shrimp rolls, Cantonese short rib soup with rice noodles, savory barbecue chicken with satay sauce, chicken chow mein and other entrées. 

Specialty teas and cold beverages are also served there.

The Café offers sandwiches; grilled items such as hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken sandwiches; soups and salads; pastries; fish tacos and quesadillas... 

The Botanical gardens are divine!

The property includes approximately 120 acres of specialized botanical gardens. 

14 gardens, to be exact. 

There is the Children's Garden, the Chinese Garden, the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, the Shakespeare Garden, just to name a few. 

We only saw a portion of it all.


The Children's Garden is so much fun!

The Children's Garden
James doing his favorite thing, 
playing with water. 

The Children's Garden is celebrating 10 years of 

introducing youngsters to the wonders of the natural world 

through interactive sculptural elements based on the themes of 

earth, air, fire and water. 

Children get to splash in water, make music with pebbles, 

dance under rainbows, disappear into a swirl of fog and hold the 

magic of magnetic forces in their hands. 

The conservatory

The Rain Forest in The Conservatory

Living plants fill 16,000 square-foot greenhouse that comprises 3

different habitats (a lowland tropical rain forest, a cloud forest and 

a carnivorous plant bog) and a plant lab.

The Desert Garden

Source

The Desert Garden

The 10-acres Desert Garden features more than 5,000 species of succulents and desert plants in 60 landscaped beds.

This garden has an amazing collection of cacti.

We also saw the Chinese garden.
(photo at the very top)
It is gorgeous!

We did not have time to see the Library nor the Art Collections.

They close at 4:30 pm, by the way.

Next time!

They have second Thursday free lectures (by authors and garden experts from around the world) and plant sales.

There is also an annual Spring plant sale and a Fall plant sale.

They have exhibitions on a regular basis, as well.

The Shop

The Huntington store is lovely and has a stunning collection of gifts and books.

I could easily spend a couple of hours in there.

The Fee

The admission fee is $20 (week days) or $23 (weekends).

Free for children (under 5) or 

$8 for children (5 to 11).

We opted for the annual membership ($120), which has wonderful benefits, 

including full membership privileges for up to two named adult cardholders, 

unlimited free admissions during public hours,

also unlimited for your children or (your grandchildren) 18 and under (accompanied by a card holder),

10% discount at The Huntington bookstore and more, 

free admission to Huntington Festivals

and many more benefits...

You may visit their useful and interesting website (HERE).

We definitely look forward to coming back and to discovering the other gardens,

the Library

and the Art Collections.

Next time we will make it an all day affair.

We loved

The Huntington.

It is a place of education and beauty,

A place to sit and relax on a bench, under a shaded tree and enjoy the serenity and peacefulness,

A place to walk through heavenly gardens and restore your soul, Because nature is wonderfully healing and soothing.

Thanks for stopping by,

Alexandra