Page 169 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2024 LIMA

Paths wind through the gardens and
forests of specimen trees. There are
aquatic gardens with waterfalls, “idea gar‐
dens” that share water-saving plants for
Southern California gardeners, a Serpent
Trail that snakes around plants from Aus‐
tralia including acacia and eucalyptus
trees and another path called the Aloe
Trail featuring plants and trees from
Africa.
My favorite specimen here is the
Pink Silk Floss Tree, a towering beauty
from South America that bursts with pink
blooms in October and November. Admis‐
sion is $15. (arboretum.org).
I also loved Descanco Gardens in La
Canada Flintridge, an absolutely magnifi‐
cent museum of curated plants and trees.
There are five heritage oaks to find here
that are 300 to 500 years old. There is a
Rose Garden and an Oak Woodland, a
Camellia Forest and a Mulberry Pond.
“Unlike any other botanical garden
in Southern California, our bowl-like set‐
ting provides a mix of sun and shade and
funnels water from the hillsides into the
gardens… (creating) a biodiversity
hotspot.”
The Tongva lived here 10,000 years
ago and were sustained by the acorns of
the Coast Live Oak trees, a “keystone
species” because it supports hundreds of
other species, including mammals, birds,
plants and insects.
The Spanish and Mexican land grant
systems from the 1500s to the 1800s were
a feudal proposition that took away the
lands from the native peoples. In 1846,
Mexico and the U.S. went to war for 18
months; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
established that the lands that would be‐

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

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