Make a plan to find garden inspiration by visiting some of the Bay Area's public gardens. We put together a handy map of public gardens in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and a bit beyond. All of these lovely gardens offer tranquility, inspiration, and connection with nature, along with truly impressive plant collections.
Here are some of our favorites, in alphabetical order.
- Blake Garden
- Clos Pegase Heritage Garden
- Cornerstone Gardens
- Filoli
- Gamble Garden
- The Gardens at Lake Merritt
The Gardens of Golden Gate Park:
- San Francisco Botanical Garden (photo below, by Saxon Holt)
- Conservatory of Flowers
- Japanese Tea Garden
- Hakone Gardens
- Luther Burbank Home and Gardens
- Marcia Donohue's Berkeley Garden
- Marin Art and Garden Center
- Project Artaud Garden
- The Ruth Bancroft Garden
- Salesforce Transit Center Park
- Shinn Historical Park and Arboretum
- Sonoma Botanical Garden
- Stanford Arizona Garden
- Sunnyside Conservatory
- Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden
- The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
- The UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden
- Western Hills Garden (photo above, by Hadley Dynak)
- Yerba Buena Gardens
Did we miss any of your favorite public gardens on our map? Add your own suggestions in the comments below, and tell us why you love them!