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Botanic Garden
updated: Sep 18, 2010, 8:30 AM

By the Dedicated Staff

If you're interested in horticulture, or are just looking for a nice walk, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a great place to spend an afternoon.

The Garden's roots lie in its donation to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum by Anna Dorinda Blaksley Bliss in 1927. Cultivated by architects and nurtured by members, the Garden has grown to become a local landmark.

The living museum was hit hard by the Jesusita fire in the spring of 2009. The flames destroyed one third of the plants, several buildings and a bridge. Don't let this dissuade you from visiting though. These days, the foliage is thick, and you wouldn't notice the damage at all unless you had visited the grounds before the fire.

Nestled at the foot of the Santa Ynez Mountains, the Garden is one of Santa Barbara's staple attractions to take visiting family or guests. It's pretty, relaxing and filled with local history and greenery. And with the scenery changing with the seasons, locals can make return trips without getting bored.

Location, directions, hours and other info found here

Here are our top five reasons to take to the (foot)hills and explore the Botanic Garden:

Take a tour. Going on a guided tour is the best way to make sure you don't miss anything at the Garden. They are a great way to take advantage of the trained eye of a Garden expert. You'll learn about the Native American elements of the area, including an aqueduct and a log building in the middle of the grounds. Different sections of the museum are dedicated to plants native to various regions of California, so it's almost like going on a sightseeing tour of the state. You can't go wrong, since the tours are included in the price of admission.

Go for a walk and enjoy the scenery. The different exhibits provide a range of stimuli with varying sunlight levels, smells and scenery. There are a variety of trails in the foothills and across the road from the Garden. They aren't too strenuous -- one of the other visitors on the paths the day I went had limited mobility and was going the trails with a cane. You can also bring your dog along; it's one of the few museums that welcome canines.

Buy some local herbage. The nursery at the Garden sells plants year round. Visitors can be sure to find some native flora that will thrive in their home garden. Since the plants are specially suited to the Central Coast climate, they require less watering. If you like buying local and organic, this is it -- garden style.

Appreciate the creek. With the Pacific as our neighbor, we locals are used to beautiful water. But discovering the trickle of Mission Creek underneath the shade of the redwoods is a completely different experience than listening to the waves at the beach. Hopping across the stone crossing with the small waterfall as backdrop made me feel like I was in a story. You won't find any fish larger than fry, but there are plenty of water striders walking across the surface of the water to amaze the kids. And if you look closely, you might even see some tadpoles, frogs or turtles.

Admire the ordinary. The fact that the grounds have only California greenery is what makes it special. Sure, you probably see a lot of these plants on a daily basis. But the Botanic Garden takes the native plants and sets them aside in a lovely location with views of both the mountains and the ocean. Seeing the plants that are considered everyday and mundane through the lens of the museum and those who love and cultivate them really made me appreciate the beauty of our natural landscape here in Santa Barbara.