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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

San Diego Botanic Garden

The San Diego Botanic garden, located in San Diego, California, covers 37 acres and features 27 themed gardens of plants from around the world.  It holds the nation's largest bamboo collection.  Visitors can wander through bamboo groves, desert gardens, a tropical garden with waterfalls, and a Mexican garden, with a lovely Mexican-tiled fountain and plant sculptures of a mariachi band and a flamenco dancer.




Within the garden are two children's gardens:  The Seeds of Wonder Children's Garden for toddlers and preschoolers, and the Hamilton Children's Garden.  The latter was formed in 2009, and is the largest interactive children's garden on the west coast.


The Seeds of Wonder garden has a lot of fun stuff for little ones, like buckets of soapy water with wands for blowing bubbles, a sand pit with buried plastic dinosaurs, and a wooden house with a kitchen and utensils.

The Hamilton Children's  Garden is much bigger, with less shade, but there's plenty to do.  Toni's Tree House with rope bridges, tunnels, and a spiral staircase is the hit feature with kids.  There's also an Incredible Edible garden that teaches kids about the plants we eat, and a music garden where kids can make music with rocks, sticks, and water.

The gardens are open from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM daily.  Admission is $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for children.  Parking is $2.00.  If you want a good deal, visit on the first Tuesday of the month when admission is free.

10 comments:

  1. this garden sounds amazing--i love the idea of digging for the little dinosaurs and the edible garden!

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    1. Kids really enjoy finding those plastic dinos. The bubbles are a lot of fun, too - even for adults!

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  2. San Diego itself is such an oasis of beauty. And now this garden, too......wow!

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    1. Yes, I'm looking forward to visiting this garden again when I make my California trip in a few weeks.

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  3. I think I've been there! Long time ago.

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    1. It's a nice place. I'll be visiting it again, soon.

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  4. This sounds like a lot of fun for both kids and adults. I don't know if I'll ever get to go there, but I think I'll do a search on it to learn more.

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    1. San Diego, in general, is a great place to visit. I hope you get out there one day.

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  5. Wow- sounds like fun! I really like the incredible edible garden!

    I myself would like to be able to identify plants growing in the wild that are good to eat. I grew up living in a forest type environment so I am formiliar with some plants that can be eaten. Nature is wonderful!

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    1. I think there are books that can help you identify edible plants in the wild. I know a lot of them in the area where I live, but it would be nice to have a resource for other habitats. I'll have to look into that as well.

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