The West’s Botanical Splendor

Jennie Butchart was clearly a woman of extraordinary vision. After her husband, Robert, had exhausted the limestone deposits near their home outside Victoria, Jennie built a garden, having tons of topsoil carted in from nearby farmland. More than a century later, the Sunken Garden remains a pyrotechnic tour de force, Technicolor eye candy for visitors from around the world.

800 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay, BC; butchartgardens.com.

On the southern shore of Union Bay, the 230-acre Washington Park Arboretum is a tree hugger’s paradise, featuring important collections of magnolias, camellias, conifers, and oaks. In the spring, Azalea Way explodes with the blooms of 21 species of azaleas and more than 200 hybrids. In September and October, the Japanese maples steal the show (WPA has the nation’s largest collection).

2300 Arboretum Dr. East, Seattle; depts.washington.edu/wpa.

Love the Hawaiian trade winds dancing through the palms? Then it’s time to escape Waikiki for a side trip to the Lyon Arboretum, which has one of the largest collections of palms anywhere. The 194-acre tropical rain forest garden is laced with 7 miles of hiking trails and 5,000 plant species. The Young Garden here was named a top spot to picnic by Honolulu Magazine.

3860 Manoa Rd., Honolulu; closed Sundays and holidays. manoa.hawaii.edu/lyonarboretum.

Red Butte is about substance—it sits on 100 acres on the eastern edge of the University of Utah campus and started as a research garden. But it’s also about style. In spring, the garden bursts into color with 100,000 daffodils, 450,000 blooming bulbs all told. It also hosts a series of celebrated summer concerts that have included Santana, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, and David Byrne in recent years.

300 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City; redbuttegarden.org.

Why is this garden so beloved? Start with the price: It’s always free. Blend in the hours: It’s always open. Then check out the 17 gardens spread over nearly 100 acres: the Shields Oak Grove (more than 80 species of oak); the Acacia Grove, with 50 species from four continents; and the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden and Gazebo, based on medieval moon-viewing gardens of India and Japan.

1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA; arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

This museum was designed to tell the story of a single region, the Sonoran Desert. So you’ll see cacti, agaves, and other succulents, 1,200 different kinds of plants all told. There are also 230 species of desert critters, such as Gila monsters, javelinas, collared lizards, and desert tortoises. Finally, there’s a newish aquarium spotlighting life in the Colorado River and Gulf of California.

2021 N. Kinney Rd., Tucson; desertmuseum.org.

There’s nothing else like The Huntington: world-class art (Mary Cassatt’s Breakfast in Bed and Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy), rare books and manuscripts (a Gutenberg Bible on vellum and Shakespeare’s first folio), and a dozen gardens covering 120 acres with 15,000 plants. The 10-acre Desert Garden features one of the world’s largest collections of cacti and succulents.

151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA, closed Tuesdays; huntington.org.

This pet-friendly attraction has more than 20 specialty gardens and the Gordon House, a Usonian home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Conifer Garden has one of the nation’s largest collections of dwarf and miniature conifers. In the Oak Grove, take time to contemplate the 400-year-old Signature Oak, which is 100-feet-high and has massive limbs that rest on the ground.

879 W. Main St., Silverton, OR; oregongarden.org.

Usually, the only things that flourish on old prison grounds are ghosts and myths. But the Idaho Botanical Garden has brought new life to what was the state penitentiary for more than a century. Head to the Meditation Garden, which is filled with trees planted by inmates in the 1960s and which can be 20 degrees cooler than other parts of the garden in midsummer.

2355 Old Penitentiary Road, Boise; idahobotanicalgarden.org.

With over 1.4 million guests in 2014, the Denver Botanic Gardens was the most visited public garden in North America. Why the crowds? Well, the tropical conservatory, Mordecai Children’s Garden, and alpine rock garden are all standouts. The Science Pyramid, which opened in September of 2014, deploys high-tech bells and whistles to allow visitors to follow staff horticulturalists in the field.

1007 York St., Denver; botanicgardens.org.

Winner of the 2015 Sunset Travel Award for Best Public Garden, NTBG has three gardens in Kauai (as well as one in Maui and one in Florida), and all are working to save rare and endangered tropical plants. McBryde Garden has the world’s largest collection of living Hawaiian plants. Nearby Allerton Garden showcases landscape design. On the north coast, Limahuli sits amid ancient taro fields.

Southshore Visitors Center, 4425 Lawai Rd., Poipu, Kauai; ntbg.org.

Sure, check out the other attractions in Golden Gate Park—the de Young, Cal Academy, Japanese Tea Garden, bison pens—but put the world-renowned garden at the top of your to-do list. There are 55 acres and 8,000 different plants to explore. We recommend a visit early in the year when the stunning Magnolia Garden is in its full white and pink splendor.

9^th Ave. and Lincoln Way, San Francisco; sfbotanicalgarden.org.

Head right to the garden’s signature Western Meadow. Admire the carpet of wildflowers and then lift your eyes to take in the magnificent oaks and the Santa Ynez Mountains beyond. Stroll across Mission Dam, which was built in 1807 and provided water to Mission Santa Barbara for more than 100 years. Don’t miss the Home Demonstration Garden with its wonderful display of drought-resistant plants.

1212 Mission Canyon Rd., Santa Barbara, CA; sbbg.org.

There are 200 peafowl, all descended from a flock brought here in the 1880s, roaming the grounds, and the peacock proves a perfect symbol for this dazzling showstopper. The Rose Garden, replete with picturesque pergolas and arbors, is planted with heritage varieties and selections from English rose breeder David Austin. Book online for a tour of the 1885 Queen Anne Cottage on Baldwin Lake (Fridays and Saturdays only).

301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA; arboretum.org.

Set amid the red sandstone buttes of Papago Park, this 140-acre garden includes more than 4,200 plant species and is strong on cactus, aloes, agaves, and desert wildflowers. Spring, when the cacti are in bloom and before the brutal heat of summer, is a great time to visit. From June to August, the garden offers flashlight tours that show off plants that flower at night.

1201 N. Galvin Prkwy., Phoenix; dbg.org.