26 Apr This Weekend and Next, Tour Pasadena and LA’s Beautiful Private Gardens

Aah! So many horticultural hot dates are coming up. In addition to Art Alive this weekend, we’re excited about Pasadena Open Day on Sunday, April 28, hosted by the Garden Conservancy.

Pick up your tickets to visit some of the most impressive private gardens in the city, which are opening their doors for just a few rare hours. Prepare to see low-growing Camellia sasanqua, ‘Eden Climber’ roses, elfin thyme, bearded iris, African boxwood and a birch grove (just to name a few) at gardens ranging from Victorian to Japanese.

And next Sunday, May 5, the Open Days Program stops in Los Angeles, where houses will be showing off their fuzzy kalanchoes, rare cacti, Mexican sage, California oaks and a 100-plus-year-old gingko to eager garden tourists.

Inspired to rethink your own space? On Friday, May 10 in LA, the Garden Conservancy will host Gift of Paradise: The Splendor and Purpose of Persian Design, with lectures about the iconic garden design of ancient Persia, which has left its mark in contemporary gardens around the world, including in California and Spain.

(Photo credit: Above left, The Alhambra, Cristi Walden; above right, Babur’s Garden, Baburnama, 16th c. British Library. Photo courtesy of Patrick Hunt.)