Garden Design Ideas at Strybing Arboretum

Planning a Trip to Golden Gate Park and you Love Plants- Read on

© Rod Whitlow

Jan 28, 2009

Whether you are in the early stages of designing your garden, looking for a unique tree or shrub, or just love gardening and plants in general, you should take a trip to a botanic garden. This living museum is a testament to the wonders of the natural world and represents the vision and foresight of landscape designers and horticulturist from times past.

Many people travel to San Francisco and usually place Golden Gate Park on their travel itinerary, while seeing the Japanese Tea Garden, the Aquarium, and the De Jung Museum without even realizing that the 55 acre Strybing Arboretum rates as one of the top botanic gardens in the world and is a must see.

The garden has a long history. San Francisco Park Superintendent John McLaren submitted the initial design in the 1890s. In 1900 city voters shot down the ballot measure to formally develop the arboretum, so without the needed funds the site which was mainly sand dunes, set idle for nearly thirty years.

Then in 1926, Helen Strybing, in loving memory of her late husband Charles, made a donation, which was generous enough to finally start the development of the garden.

With additional funding from local government and private donations, the arboretum finally opened in May of 1940, as an 8-acre garden, hosting some 2,000 specimens.

Today the garden fills every square foot of the 55 acres and is inhabited by over 75,000 different species of plant life. You can spend the day meandering the pathways hidden inside towering groves of trees, and photographing rare and unusual plants from around the globe.

Upon entry thru the main gate you’ll pass the library, which houses over 26,000 garden volumes. This is one of the largest horticulture book collections to be found and is open to the public. The great meadow just inside the main gate is framed with a miniature plant trough garden and an enormous Monterey Cypress. Undoubtedly it’s one of the most photographed trees in the city.

With the exception of the main entrance and individual specialty gardens, Strybing Arboretum plant collections are grouped based on geographical origin. The garden is laid out as follows.

Main Gate Gardens

1. Entry Garden Library Courtyard
2. Library Terrace Garden
3. Rock Garden
4. Demonstration Garden

Meadows

1. Great Meadow

Mediterranean Gardens:

1. California Garden
2. Redwood Trail
3. Nature Trail
4. South Africa Garden
5. Australia Garden
6. Chile & South America Garden

Temperate Gardens

1. East Asia
2. Moon-Viewing Garden

Cloud Forest Gardens:

1. New Zealand Garden
2. Meso-American Cloud Forest
3. Southeast Asian Garden

Specialty Gardens

1. Garden of Fragrance
2. Rhododendron Garden
3. Ancient Plant Garden
4. Garden of Perennials
5. Succulent Garden
6. Children’s Garden
7. Camellia Garden

Entrance to the garden is free of charge and is open 365 days per year.

Hours are 8:00am to 4:30pm during the weekdays / weekends and holidays 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Free-guided garden tours are offered daily at 1:30pm.

Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture30am is open from 10:00am to 4:00pm, except for major holidays.

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