Tickets

All visitors who aren’t members must buy a general admission ticket.

Hours
9am–5pm daily


The Plant Nursery

What goes on at our greenhouses?

Garden treasures grow

What’s happening inside those greenhouses above the lake? All kinds of growing wonders!

The Ruth Borun Nursery and Propagation Center is the backbone of the garden. In the nursery, the horticulture staff propagates the treasures of Descanso and ensures their genetic heritage is preserved.

Rare varieties and hybrids

In the nursery, we create the many plants of Descanso, including prized Yoshimura camellia varieties, which are practically impossible to locate in the trade. We also grow our famed Lammerts hybrid lilacs, which were bred and developed here at Descanso to perform in the warmer temperatures of Southern California.

Restoration, propagation, and biodiversity

At the nursery, our oak restoration project has gained ground, along with successful efforts at propagating and planting more milkweed and other pollinator and wildlife-supportive plants.

The nursery is still a youngster

Our nursery, which opened in 2022, is 25,000 square feet and includes greenhouses that are 6,000 square feet. The nursery was made possible through a generous donation by the Anna and Harry Borun Foundation.

Did you know?

There was a fire around 1884 that wiped out many of our oak trees. We have five heritage oaks that survived the fire and are estimated to be 300-500 years old.