You Come in Peace
Imagine the perfect place to get away from it all for a few hours: an enclosed garden with plush grass, leafy trees, aromatic blooms in vivid colors and the sweet splash of running water. A place where the noisy, abrasive outside world becomes a distant memory.
Dream on.
Even the loveliest public garden isn’t immune to the roar of cars and planes, the buzz of mowers, the chugging of maintenance trucks and the shouts and cries of visiting children.
Chatty, camera-toting fellow visitors may interrupt your musings, as might the amplified voices of tour guides piloting noisy trams. Lift your eyes to the distant horizon and you may see a drugstore sign, or the satellite dish on a neighbor’s roof.
Even Nature can bedevil plans for peace seeking. Flowers may droop in the heat or not be blooming when you choose to visit. The pitiless summer sun turns some naturally stunning areas, such as rose gardens, into heat sinks.
But it is possible to spend a few refreshing stolen hours in green spaces that you don’t have to tend yourself. The following is a guide to some Los Angeles-Orange County area gardens that offer a measure of tranquillity.
For our purposes, we’ll ignore their many educational aspects--most offer tours and other informative programs--and assume you’re coming purely for r ‘n’ r.
Besides, I confess that my urban eyes and ears are hopeless at identifying flowers and birdcalls. To me, garden tranquillity means simply being alone with my thoughts against a serene natural backdrop--even one I can’t precisely identify.
A few basic tips for the visitor craving peace and quiet outdoors: Try to visit on a weekday, and skip the central or best-known features in favor of areas more distant from the parking lot. Look for bodies of water. If there are crowds, reverse the order of the suggested self-guided tour so you start out with fewer fellow travelers.
Incidentally, peace-seekers are likely to rejoice in the niggling, schoolmarmish rules of public gardens. They often don’t allow boomboxes, pets or youngsters under 18 without adult supervision. Some don’t permit smoking or even photography. And you’re not supposed to pick even the smallest leaf or flower. Not that you would, of course.
South Coast Botanic Garden, 26500 Crenshaw Blvd., Rancho Palos Verdes.
Open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (entrance closes at 4:30 p.m.; parking gates close at 5:15 p.m. without a warning signal). Admission: $5 general; $3 seniors over 62 and students with I.D.; $1 children 5 to 12; free for kids 4 and younger. Rules include: No lounging, picnicking or games on the lawns; no musical instruments; youths under 18 allowed without an accompanying adult only by special permit. (310) 544-6815.
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This is the delightfully shaggy side of the garden world, established in 1961 on an improbable spot: a sanitary landfill. The walkways on the 87-acre site are left as natural as possible to accommodate ground settling from the pressure of underground gases, a byproduct of the decomposing refuse.
But don’t be squeamish; there are no visible (or olfactory) signs of what’s happening down there. Just be sure to wear sturdy shoes to ramble the mostly unpaved roads and paths, where you’re likely to feel blissfully alone among the pines, junipers and eucalyptus trees with their massive roots snaking across the soil.
While South Coast has a modest rose garden, its main virtues lie elsewhere. One is the “garden of the senses,” a secluded area--with a few scattered benches--where
visitors are encouraged to sample spicy and minty aromas. (If they aren’t obvious, rub the leaves gently and sniff your fingers.)
In the nearby color gardens of variegated plantings and blue-gray-green foliage, pleasure can be as simple as watching the delicate red-tinged oval leaves of a maidenhair tree tumble in the breeze. When you take the time to notice them, it’s amazing how small variations in leaf pattern, size and texture energize even a small patch of greenery.
Tired? Sit on a bench on the far side of the small man-made lake--safely beyond the territory claimed by whooping youngsters on school trips--and gaze at the lazy ripples made by ducks and other waterfowl. (The brochure says more than 200 species are sighted annually.) This must be the most restful spot at South Coast.
On your way out, the children’s garden may make you smile, with its fairy-tale population--Mrs. Hubbard and her kids, the three little kittens, Peter Rabbit--animating a warren of little plots. Finally, stop by the shop and consider taking home an inexpensive potted plant as a living memento of your visit.
California Scenario, 611 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. (Behind the parking structure fronting Avenue of the Arts, adjacent to the Comerica Bank building.
Open daily, 8 a.m.-midnight. Free. (Parking is free for the first 15 minutes; $1 for each 30 minutes thereafter, with a maximum of $10.) No posted rules. (714) 435-2100.
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It is possible to fashion a vest-pocket garden that is both inviting and meaningful. Los Angeles-born Isamu Noguchi--whose modernist style embraced aesthetic elements from his father’s native Japan--managed it brilliantly on a 1.6-acre commercial site. Supremely tranquil, it also has a story to tell.
Water elements, plantings and sculpture each symbolize a different facet of the California landscape. Well-positioned benches invite visitors to appreciate the sounds, textures and visual rhythms of the blend of hard and soft natural materials.
Eight years before his death in 1988, Noguchi accepted developer Henry T. Segerstrom’s commission for the Town Center site. The artist had the clout to demand that the parking structure walls be reconfigured and painted white to serve as a unifying stage set for his garden.
Saunter across the terrace to watch a stream of water rush down a 30-foot-tall granite sluice lined with small stones. It flows into a meandering creek that plays hide-and-seek under the flagstones, disappearing under the sloping contours of a squat polished granite pyramid.
True to its name, the other water element, “Energy Fountain,” offers a blinding rush of “white-water” streaming over a cone-shaped surface inset with granite blocks.
Catch a whiff of the honeysuckle on your way to “Forest Walk”: a gentle slope planted with a luxurious thatch of long grass and bordered by a stand of redwoods.
The small wooden bench at the apex is a prime spot for solitude seekers. From your perch, you can hear the fountain and see the mound planted with flowering trees and distinctive varieties of cactus to symbolize the desert.
The sole sculptural element is a satisfying cluster of plump granite boulders. Noguchi changed the title from “The Source of Life” to “The Spirit of the Lima Bean,” to acknowledge the Segerstrom family’s agricultural holdings.
Unlike the other gardens mentioned above, this one also is open at night, when Noguchi’s discreet lighting system adds drama.
Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge.
Open daily, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission: $5 general; $3 seniors over 62 and students with I.D.; $1 children 5-12. Half-price on third Tuesday of each month. Food service (10 a.m.-3 p.m.) and picnic grounds. Rules include: Youths under 18 must be accompanied by an adult; no smoking. (818) 952-4400.
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Come in high summer to see the famous camellias and you’re out of luck. (They bloom in winter, early spring and fall.) But the abundance of shady areas makes Descanso especially inviting in the stifling heat of late summer.
The 160-acre garden feels like a camp, with oak forest, streams, lake and bird sanctuary. Even the homely brown-painted benches carry out the rustic, old-California flavor of Descanso (Spanish for “place of rest”), as Los Angeles Daily News publisher E. Manchester Buddy named the undeveloped site he bought in 1937.
Peace-seekers will want to move quickly out of earshot of the tram and its guide. Near the Hospitality House, on a pleasant swatch of lawn, there’s a shady bench with a view of a prim flower bed, a grove of trees and, with luck, a butterfly or two.
Shimmering dark green in the sun-dappled shade, with a busy convoy of ducks, the lake is another good bet for calm repose. If you’re willing to be more mobile, walk the unpaved paths winding through the trees and pause to glimpse koi flashing in the streams.
When you reach the rose garden, planted by Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, known as the father of scientific rose breeding, you know you’re in Paradise. Color, variety, fragrance--the vast and stunning array is almost too much to take in at once. Numerous arbor-like seats offer sunny rest spots.
Sherman Library and Gardens, 2647 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach.
Open daily 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (library closed weekends). Admission: $3 general; $1 ages 12 to 16; free for younger children. Cafe open 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Rules include: Children younger than 16 must be accompanied by a “responsible adult”; no picnicking, lounging, games or pets. (714) 673-2261.
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How tranquil can a block-long garden off a busy street be? Not very. But if you’re in the neighborhood, it has the appeal of convenience.
The Specimen Shade Garden, enclosed in a wooden bower, offers shelter from the sun and peaceful water sounds that don’t quite succeed in drowning the traffic noise.
Numerous fountains tend to be of the small-busy-foamy variety rather than the wild gushers and primeval drippers that--to my mind--make the most evocative use of the variable energies of running water.
Try the Tropical Conservatory for the triple balm of humidity, vegetation and intense “green” smells (and the gentle hum of the cooling unit). Fanciful sights include a hairy tangle of bromeliads and the red-and-green projections--resembling exotic-bird beaks--of the lobster-claw plant.
The Arboretum of Los Angeles County, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia.
Open 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekends. Admission: $5 general; $1 children 5 to 12; $3 students with I.D. and seniors. Cafe. Rules include: No one younger than 18 without an adult; no radios or musical instruments; no tree-climbing; no pets; no feeding of birds. (626) 821-3222.
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The desperate-sounding cries of wild peafowl strutting on the grounds lend the otherwise low-key arboretum an exotic flavor. Unfortunately, males molt their iridescent feathers in summer, giving them a somewhat naked look. (The females aren’t into glamour.)
Sitting on a tree stump at the edge of placid, spring-fed Baldwin Lake, I heard a chorus of peafowl cries blend weirdly with the shrill of a distant siren. A circular road encloses the lake and its neighbors: a tropical forest, redwood grove and sweetly trellised Victorian rose garden, worth a rest stop.
Wander the long loop extending past the rose from the Circle Road enclosing Baldwin Lake, and you’ll eventually dead-end at Tallac knoll. (Could someone please explain why virtually all public garden maps have a “not to scale” disclaimer? It’s disconcerting to be trudging along in the heat with no sense of relative distances.)
Two benches under an elderly mesa oak look inviting, but don’t tarry: The tram stops here. Continue to the Aquatic Garden, a network of (man-made) interconnecting pools afloat with waterlilies. There’s a winding, stepped path leading to the top of Meyberg waterfall, a gentle curtain of spray.
Too bad this isn’t the season for magnolias, which in early spring populate this portion of the 127-acre botanical center with a flurry of whites, pinks and purples.
On your way back to Circle Road, you may want to pause for an olfactory treat at the herb garden. A portion of this area, intended for children, directs you to “wild and crazy plants” that look particularly odd or move strangely. Slowing down to explore is part of the garden rest cure.
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino (second entrance on Orlando Road at Allen Avenue).
Open 10:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, until Labor Day. (Thereafter: Same hours on weekends; noon-4:40 p.m. Tuesday-Friday.) Admission: $8.50 general; $7 seniors 65 and over; $5 students; free for kids younger than 12. Free for everyone the first Thursday of each month. Restaurant. Rules include: no picnics or pets. (626) 405-2100
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Sure, it costs as much as a feature film to get in, but there’s a great deal to experience here--we’re not even venturing into the art galleries on this visit--and you can stay all day. (Invest in the 50-cent guide to the 130-acre botanical gardens, and you’ll have a much better idea of where you are and what you’re looking at.)
If you’re in luck, tranquillity may be found in the Desert Garden, a rich world of textural details. Watch a tiny lizard scuttle out of your way and you begin to feel you’re slowing down to a gentler tempo.
One of the most serene spots is the Zen Garden, part of the Japanese garden complex. You pass between two comically fierce stone lion-dogs to a cool, dark grove of bamboo and other plants. Birds trill. Spirits lift.
The afternoon I visited the atmospheric, weathered-wood bonsai court, a squirrel paused calmly on the entrance. Inside, pots of miniature trees--ginkgo, cedar, juniper, pine--line the perimeter, leading to a courtyard, site of the Zen Garden.
On one side, a rectangular plot of sand punctuated with clusters of rocks is raked into alternating straight and wavy lines, symbolizing the flow of water. The other side is filled in with bushes trimmed into curving shapes. Even if you don’t know a thing about Zen Buddhism, the calm order and pleasing designs are infinitely restful.
Another private experience at the Huntington is the north vista, a lawn lined with 17th century sculptures of mythological figures--outfitted with flying drapery and distant gazes--that culminate in a large, elaborate fountain with a half-hidden, unusually private bench. Poke around the unpaved paths behind the bushes nearby and you’ll find a few more lone benches for the crowd-shy.
