This Must-See Garden Event Is the Best Way to Get Native Plant Inspo for Your Yard
One of California’s oldest native plant nurseries continues to inspire gardeners with its legendary annual tour of gardens.
Alex Walton/Courtesy of Theodore Payne Foundation
Every spring, native plant fans descend on L.A. for one of the most impressive displays of spectacular native gardens in the West. On April 13 and 14, a mix of 37 homes, schools, and public spaces around Los Angeles will open their landscapes to the public for the 2024 Native Plant Garden Tour. Hosted by the Theodore Payne Foundation—California’s pioneering native plant nursery—the tour showcases stunning displays of biodiversity, inspiring visitors to develop their own native landscape, with benefits as plentiful as the flora. California native landscapes use 80% less water than conventional gardens, provide food and shelter for pollinators and other wildlife, and require very little maintenance once plants have matured.
“See a biodiversity refuge amidst the ruins of industrial L.A. at the iconic Casa Apocalyptica native plant garden, a working farm and native plant garden at Sotomayer Arts and Sciences Magnet School, and a restored Indigenous village site dating back thousands of years in Santa Monica,” says Evan Meyer, executive director at TPF.
Alejandra Fernandez
The garden tour is the easiest way to learn about native plants—and this year, it’s also the coolest. The 2024 tour features a skateboard with artwork by L.A. artist Alejandra Fernandez and pro boarder Lizzie Armanto. The pair collaborated on the deck design with plants and animals native to L.A.
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Armanto has her own native garden surrounding a pink skate ramp in her backyard. She says throughout the year, different birds and butterflies pass through her landscape, attracted to the various blooms that change with the seasons. She hopes the skateboard deck and Native Plant Garden Tour will make others just as excited about native landscapes as she is.
“When people see firsthand how plants thrive and contribute uniquely in different seasons—like how plants go through dormancy and bloom—[that] sends a fun yet meaningful message of how their role in nature requires their effort and patience,” Armanto says.
Spend the day at the Native Plant Garden Tour, and you’ll leave with fresh ideas for your own native garden. You can purchase the skateboard to support TPF at BirdhouseSkateboards.com. And get tickets for the tour here.
