Desert Garden Tours Offer Design Ideas
Balboa Park is hosting horticultural tours of the Desert Cactus and Succulent Garden, showcasing drought-tolerant landscaping and creative plant arrangements. The guided events highlight strategies for sustainable gardening in challenging climates, perfect for water-wise garden planning.
The current Desert Garden, established in 1976, is not Balboa Park's first collection of arid plants. The original, now known as the Old Cactus Garden, was created by horticulturist Kate Sessions for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition and contains some of the park's largest cactus and succulent specimens. Kate Sessions, often called the "Mother of Balboa Park," was instrumental in shaping the park's landscape. In exchange for a 30-acre plot of land for her nursery in 1892, she agreed to plant 100 trees in the park and provide 300 more to the city annually. Many of the mature trees seen throughout the park today are a result of her efforts. The 2.5-acre Desert Garden showcases more than 1,300 drought-resistant plants from around the world. Its collection includes unique specimens like the Boojum tree, native to Baja California, and Dragon trees, whose red sap was rumored to be dragon's blood in European legends. Such water-wise landscaping is critical in Southern California, where traditional lawns can consume an estimated 44 gallons of water per square foot annually. To encourage water conservation, the City and County of San Diego offer various rebates for residents who replace turf with drought-tolerant plants, install rain barrels, and upgrade irrigation systems. The Desert Garden is just one of many diverse horticultural attractions in the 1,200-acre park. Other notable areas include the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden with over 1,600 roses, and a historic Palm Canyon with trees dating back to 1912. One of the park's most peculiar histories belongs to the Zoro Garden, a sunken stone grotto that operated as a nudist colony during the 1935-36 exposition. Today, it has been transformed into a butterfly garden, featuring plants that support the entire life cycle of monarch, swallowtail, and other butterflies. Recently, the park completed a major $26 million restoration of the historic 1915 Botanical Building, which reopened in December 2024. A second phase, led by the nonprofit Forever Balboa Park, is now underway to revitalize the surrounding gardens, with new themed plantings and improved accessibility expected to be completed by early 2026.
