I like pretty things. Flowers and gardens are pretty things and Descanso Gardens has an abundance of it!

This place is beginning to be one of my favorite gardens other than the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens but that’s another post. I came here because I heard that they were doing the Japanese Cherry Blossom festival. I couldn’t go on the day of but went during the week.

The Gardens is about 160 acres. Every inch is cultivated and it’s perfectly sectioned off by the Japanese Garden, Rose Garden, Ancient Forest, CA Natives, etc. Each one is special and has its own types of flowers or trees or plants.

I recommend making a day or at least a morning out the Gardens. Bring comfy shoes as there’s a lot of walking. On some parts, there’s a bunch of shade but in others like the rose garden and CA Natives, there’s not a whole lot of shade.

The whole garden is a circle but there’s “trails” all over the place. I just recommend going around first and then make your way through the gardens where you see fit. All the good gardens are on the edges anyways. Anything in the middle is a merge of all of these gardens. The problem is that the edges have hills but it’s not that bad.

Once you get in, you can either go right or left. If you go left, you will see the Japanese garden. To the right is the promenade with the tulips. I went towards the Japanese Garden first.

I have to say that the Japanese Garden is pretty small. But you will get awesome pictures right now with the Cherry Blossom currently in bloom. There’s not a lot of leeway with these flowers. The flowers usually fall a week or two after it blooms to make room for its leaves.

Check out their website for months for when the flowers bloom as different flowers/plants bloom in different seasons.

Once you’re ready to move on you can go to the Ancient Forest. The trees are tall and it feels like you are in a forest probably not like Yosemite or Sequoia, but close enough.

If you keep going, there’s a hill that goes to the Boddy House and make your way to the CA Natives, the lake, then Rose Garden. You might want to bring an umbrella just because you’ll be in the sun the whole time or at least put some sun block! Also, these are all the parts where there’s a lot of hills.

The roses are not in bloom in he rose garden, but they will be. What’s funny is that I smelled a floral scent. Unless it was a lady’s perfume I caught a whiff off

After this, check out the promenade with the tulips. It’s really amazing! Doesn’t feel like you’re in Holland though but in each separate garden there’s different colored tulips and it looks like a rainbow.

If you continue walking along them you end up at the Oaks Forest which reminded me of Central Park. if you keep going, you end up at Main Lawn. Then you pretty much walked the whole Descanso Gardens!

Admission is $9 for adult, $6 for Students and Seniors (65+), and $4 for Children 5-12. There is free parking. Also, I believe that every third Tuesday of the Month admission is free.