Descanso Gardens

Descanso Gardens rosarium

Descanso Gardens, located in La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles County, California, is a 150 acres (61 ha) botanical garden.

At one time, this property belonged to newspaper magnate E. Manchester Boddy, who owned the Los Angeles Daily News. He ran a commercial camellia garden at the location, supplying prom boutonnières, for example, until he ceded the site to Los Angeles County in 1953.

Walkway in Descanso Gardens

The county has developed the property to include a rosarium, as well as a Japanese tea house, lilac garden, bird sanctuary, xeriscape, and a gift shop. They also regularly host professional camellia shows, chamber music, and weddings. They are busiest however on the Easter weekend, when the tulips are in bloom and eggs are hidden on the central lawn of 1 acre (4,000 m²).

The park also features the Descanso Gardens Enchanted Railroad, an eighth scale replica of a diesel train, that takes visitors around a section of the park.

Boddy House

Boddy House is the original 22-room house built by E. Manchester Boddy, which was designed by James Dolena in the Hollywood Regency style in 1937.

In 2007, Boddy House was rehabilitated for the 43rd annual Pasadena Showcase House of Design, and decorated in a contemporary re-interpretation of its original Hollywood Regency style. Subsequently, a major grant from the Ahmanson Foundation enabled the addition of a museum-quality Heritage Exhibit, with exhibits about the gardens, Manchester Boddy's life and times, and important donors and volunteers for the Descanso Gardens.^[1]

The house is open for docent-led tours on Saturdays and Sundays at noon. The house is available for rental.

Other

The Carriage House Art Gallery hosts changing exhibits by local artists.

In 2005, David R. Brown, former president of the nearby Art Center College of Design, was appointed executive director of Descanso Gardens.^[2]

The gardens were featured as a game map in the Sci-Fi Channel reality game show Cha$e.

The 1991 remake of the television series Land of the Lost was filmed on location in the Gardens.

Zoo Animals

• Mandarin ducks
• Wood duck * Western pond turtle * Red eared slider * Embden goose * Mallard duck *Koi
• Great blue heron

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Descanso Gardens.

External links

• Descanso Gardens — official website

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Coordinates: 34°12′1″N 118°12′45″W / 34.20028°N 118.21250°W / 34.20028; -118.21250