California Historic Route 66 Association

Claremont, California

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

General Information: 909 25 8767
Education Department: 909 626 1917
FAX: 909 626 7670

 

California is a land of superlatives. Along our northwestern coast we have the world's tallest tree, the Coast Redwood. On the Sierra Nevada we have the world's most massive living entity, Big Tree or Giant Sequoia. High in the White Mountains of eastern California live the world's oldest trees, the Bristlecone Pines. In the Mojave Desert we have one of the world's oldest living organisms, the Creosote Shrub rings. Our state's heritage of native plants is without rival in North America: we have over 6,000 kinds of plants which naturally occur within the political boundaries of California.

 

Located at an elevation of 1,350 feet on the outwash plain of the San Gabriel Mountains, the 86-acre Garden is laid out in three distinct areas. Indian Hill Mesa is a large flat-topped hill of dense clay soils and twenty-five foot drops to the east and steep slopes at its northern and southern boundaries. The East Alluvial Gardens are found at the base of the eastern edge of the Mesa on rocky, alluvial soils. The Plant Communities - the northern fifty-five acres of the Garden-- are located on an area of rocky, sandy-gravelly alluvial soils. Large Coast Live Oaks, several hundred years old and native to this site, occur on the slope that forms the contour boundary between the Mesa and the alluvial areas of the Garden.

 

Indian Hill Mesa is heavily planted with mature cultivars and wild species of California native plants. The most prominent are the California Wild Lilacs with vivid displays of blue, violet, and white flowers; and the Manzanitas with smooth red bard, intricate branching, and nodding clusters of white-to-pink small urn shaped flowers. The Mesa is also home to the Southern Riparian Woodland, the California Cultivar Garden, the Basketry Trail, the Oak Woodland Trail, and the Home Demonstration Garden.

 

The East Alluvial Gardens include the Desert Garden, Coastal Dune and California Channel Islands collections, all popular destinations for visitors. The California Fan Palm Oasis, featuring an attractive grouping of California's only native palm, Washingtonia filifera, is particularly pleasant. Here, as in nature, these massive plants have been allowed to keep their skirts of dried brown fronds.

 

The Plant Communities display, in naturalistic plant associations, some of the most impressive specimens in the entire collection. The largest cultivated examples of Big Berry Manzanita are found here, as are numerous plantings of the rare and endangered Crucifixion Thorn. The ten-foot rosettes of Parry Nolina project their hundreds of cream-colored flowers into the sky in early spring. Also of particular note are the large serene grove of Four-needled Pinyon, the spring blooming of the California Flannel Bushes, the unusual Catalina Crossosoma and the always beautiful Madrone Tree.

 

Visitors enjoy coming to the Garden throughout the year. In winter, rains break summer dormnacy in native plants and trigger flowering and new vegetative growth. The large collection of Manzanitas flower from late November throughj early March, and are followed by a peak blooming season of California Wild Lilacs in March and April. Ge sure to see the incredibly profuse early flowering of the Coast Ceanothus. Throughout the spring, wildflowers, perennials, and shrubs bloom in waves of riotous color. This is followed by the summer and fall fruiting and seed ripening that provides a more subtle color and texture to the Garden. There is also a great diversity and abundance of birds in the Garden. A bird check list is available at the Gift Shop. The local Audubon Society conducts a bird wald at the Garden on the first Sunday of each month.

How & Why the Garden Began

California, with over 6000 kinds of native plants, has the richest flora of any state in the continental United States. Susanna Bixby Bryant, a visionary member of one of California's pioneering families, recognized the need to conserve this incredible plant diversity. In 1927, she founded Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden on her rancho in Orange County. Reloccated to Claremont in 1951, RSABG is the largest botanical garden dedicated exclusively to our state's native plants.

Dedicated to Conservation

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is dedicated to the collection, cultivation, study and display of native California plants. As a private, non-profit, research and educational institution, with extensive library, herbarium, and laboratory facilities, the Garden is responsible for the RSABG Graduate Program in Botany for The Claremont Graduate School. Active research in systematic and evolutionary botany, as well as the Garden's horticulture and community education programs, focus on native California plants and their conservation. Through these programs, the mission of the Garden is to make significant contributions to the appreciation, enjoyment, conservation, understanding, thoughtful utilization and stewardship of our natural heritage.

For your Safety & Enjoyment Please:

• stay on the garden paths
• deposit litter in trash containers
• no pets, bicycles or recreational equipment
• no picknicking
  Ask at Gift Shop for local restaurant information.
• do not collect plant material
• do not introduce any animals or plants into the Garden
• take only photographs and memories

Make RSABG Your Garden

The Garden needs your support. Visitors are urged to support our work in conservation, research, horticulture and education by joining The Friends. Call to find out how! The Volunteers are an active service group who contribute their time and talents to the Garden. Call to learn more about volunteering!

Garden Events & Programs

Visitors are cordially invited to attend the Garden's many events for the community, including: the Annual Fall Plant Sale (first weekend in November), Spring Wildflower Show, guided tours and school outreach programs, teacher workshops, classes, horticultural and scientific symposia, musical events and the Holiday Open House. Limited areas of the Garden may be reserved for weddings, meetings and special events. Commercial use of the Garden is permitted by prior arrangement, only.

Research Collections

Access to the herbarium and library may be arranged by special appointment, weekdays only.

Garden & Gift Shop Hours

The Garden is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The California Garden Shop is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to r:30 p.m. and on weedinds, October through May, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check for summer hours at entrance to shop.

Admission

No admission fee is charged. Donations to RSABG are encourqaged to help support the Garden's mission.

Directions

From I-10, take the Indian Hill Boulevard exit north (approximately 1.5 miles) to Foothill Boulevard. Turn right on Foothill Boulevard and go east 3 blocks to College Avenue. Turn Left on College Avenue and proceed north to the RSABG parking lot.

 

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