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The South Bay Botanic Garden grows demonstration fruit trees to inform the public about fruit tree varieties suited for their gardens. Our collection is used for instruction pruning classes and to show the public different ways to grow fruit trees in small urban gardens. Visitors can observe fruit trees pruned into espaliered forms that allow people to grow trees in very narrow areas.
Keep an eye out for new plantings provided by the San Diego Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers. This group plans on adding more exotic fruiting trees, shrubs, and vines and showcase them to show different ways to support, train, and prune these fruiting plants.
A pond, stream, or waterfall added to a garden provides so many great sensory features. The sound of running water, the view of cascading streams tumbling over rocks, and feeling of being out in nature. Garden water features also bring in wildlife including birds, fish, and dragonflies just to name a few.
Water features need not use up a large amount of water. Ponds can be kept small, or can have fewer waterfalls to lessen evaporation. Or, a gentle stream can disappear into a water-less pond to avoid to much evaporation from the surface.
The South Bay Botanic Garden sports an attractive pond with an overhanging deck. This pond has both a gentle waterfall and a meandering stream. Fish help to keep the pond clean and lessen the amount of maintenance needed. Or, you can visit the Tropical House and see a bigger waterfall, stream, and a disappearing pond.
Come visit and get some great ideas for your yard.
What is a formal garden? It is usually a garden with tightly clipped hedges, straight paths, and a garden with symmetry. Framed by a boxwood hedge, our formal garden showcases rose bushes suited for the Southern California landscape.
Roses are a bit of an enigma. One the one hand, they are tough plants that can be difficult to kill. However, on the other hand, they do require regular maintenance to look their best. This include annual pruning, flower removal called dead-heading, consistent feeding, and a watch for insect and disease problems. However, with just a small amount of weekly care, your roses will reward you with ample blooms and some great scents.
Established in 2008, the South Bay Botanic Garden's Cacti and Succulent Garden sports over 100 different varieties of these fantastic and adaptive plants. Succulent plants are usually associated with the desert but can actually be found in very diverse climates all over the world. Yes, they definitely have the ability to thrive without much water, but some cactus and succulents prefer full sun, while others do better with some shade.
The use of cacti and succulents is becoming more and more prevalent in the Southern California landscape. Many water-loving landscapes are now being replaced with these water-saving plants. And, while some people think of a cactus garden as just a few upright prickly pear cactus and a few rocks, those designers in the know realize that these drought-tolerant landscape can be fill with a vast variety of colors, textures, forms, and even great flowers!
So, drop on by and pick up a guide to our cacti and succulent garden. The guide is located just to the left of our collection. It will help you pick the right group of succulents for your garden!
The Tropical House at the South Bay Botanic Garden features numerours plants suited to warm humid climates or for use as house plants in your home. These plants are known for lush, dark green or variegated leaves and many also flower with either showy or fragrant blooms. We think you also enjoy the waterfall, stream, and the disappearing pond! We keep this greenhouse a bit on the hot side and frequently use overhead mist to provide humidity.
As you may know, many tropical plants are subjected to mealybugs. In our house, we collect from outdoor plants a predator bug called the mealybuy destroyer. When released in a confined area such as our tropical house, they attack and eat the bad mealybugs. If a severe outbreak is noticed, a simple alcohol rub on the leaves tends to dry up those destructive pests.
Tropical plants are well suited to outdoor locations in the San Diego area. They prefer some daytime shade, protection from drying winds, and must not be subjected to frost. Plant them under trees, near buildings that provide some warmth in winter, and keep the soil mulched. If you are still not sure if tropical plants can survive in San Diego, simply visit the San Diego Zoo and take a look at their great collection.
Coming in Spring 2010, Monocot Meadow will showcase the vast world of the single seedling leaf. What is a single seedling leaf, you ask? Well, a plant that germinates from seed with one seeding leaf is termed a monocot. These plants include ornamental grasses, lilies, palms, and the flowering bulb plants such as tulips and daffodils. Plants that germinate with two seedling leaves are called dicot plants and include most of our flowering trees, shrubs, and ground covers.
In Monocot Meadow, we wish to showcase the ornamental grasses. This group of plants are a great replacement for traditional lawns as they rarely need any mowing, they survive on much less water and fertilizer, and they can provide a great variety of colors, textures, and forms.
The garden was designed by Landscape Architecture students at Southwestern College and is being installed by both students and volunteers from the South Bay Botanic Garden membership. We think you will enjoy the walk through the mounds of grasses here at Monocot Meadow.
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