Before the area was opened to the public as Descanso Gardens the land was an oak forest. In the late 1930s and 1940s, when newspaper publisher E. Manchester Boddy was building his estate called Rancho del Descanso, he planted thousands of camellias in the shade of the oaks to provide blossoms for the cut-flower industry. Those camellias, and others added in later years, continue to thrive.

Today Descanso Gardens is home to North America’s largest camellia collection—more than 34,000 plants and more than 700 camellia taxa, which includes species, varieties, cultivars and hybrids, growing on 20 acres. Many of these camellias are more than 20 feet in height. The Camellia Forest boasts rare and familiar camellias and has been designated an International Camellia Garden of Excellence by the International Camellia Society.

Camellias at Descanso bloom from early autumn to early spring, with the most dazzling floral display in winter—January through February.