Ruth and Charles Larabee moved to San Diego County in the 1940s, settling in an area that decades later would become part of the city of Encinitas.
They bought 20 acres on a rolling hillside overlooking the Pacific, and turned it into a botanic garden and a refuge for quail. In 1957, Ruth donated the land to the county, and in 1970 it opened to the public as Quail Park. In 2009, it was renamed the San Diego Botanic Garden.
Now, the 37-acre parcel encompasses four miles of pathways that winding through 29 themed gardens, representing more than 5,000 plant species and varieties.
“We all have our little section that we love the most,” said Garden President and CEO, Ari Novy. He was remembering the years during COVID-19, when he said he’d walk through the garden alone, thinking about experiencing it as a visitor.
“I found myself drawn to the natural parts of the garden. ... We have a trail that we call our Native Plants, Native People’s Trail, and that’s a part of the garden that was really designed in collaboration with the Jamul band of Kumeyaay Native Americans. It really showcases how the native plants work in this ecosystem, and how human beings have been utilizing those native plants for, really, time immemorial,” he said.
You might be wondering why we’re featuring a garden as part of our Museum A Month series. There’s a simple answer: the garden is, in fact, a museum.
“If the definition of a museum is a collection-based institution, we are a collection of living plants. In fact, one of the certification bodies for botanic gardens is the American Alliance of Museums. And so, absolutely we are a museum,” Novy said.
It probably wouldn’t elicit much surprise to say San Diego County is a great place for a garden of any size. Just look at all the agriculture here. In fact, Novy said there really isn’t any better place for a garden in the continental United States.
“San Diego County is the most plant biodiverse county in the United States, meaning we have more plant species native to San Diego County than any other county in the United States.”
Novy said when it comes to the garden’s mission, it has something in common with the San Diego Zoo: preservation.
“There’s a lot of endangered and threatened plants here in San Diego County that really need help,” Novy said. “It really takes a village to do this work, but we’re a really important member of that village doing that kind of work.”
At this time of year, the garden delights both the eye and the ear, with the sweet sounds of holiday music that accompanies Lightscape. Novy called it a dazzling one-mile-long trail of color and light throughout the garden.
Lightscape came to Encinitas after Novy and others with the garden heard about — and saw — a light show at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
”We thought, 'wow we really love the way this holiday light show is for a botanic garden,'” Novy said. “It is highlighting the plants. Many of the artists who design the exhibits, they study the plants, where those exhibits are going to be, and the exhibits live on the plants, but in a respectful manner, in a safe manner for the integrity of the plants.”
Novy described Lightscape as “a holiday light show that’s elevated, but that considers the garden an equal co-star together with the visions of the artists.”
Lightscape takes about an hour to an hour and a half to experience, and there is a separate charge in addition to the regular admission. It runs through Jan. 4.
The extra money that comes in from Lightscape helps the garden in a number of ways, including its education programs.
“If we’re not educating at every phase of life, then we’re not doing our jobs,” Novy said. “The programs here start at early childhood … And then every single age, going all the way up to college, and then we begin the lifetime learning for adults.”
That lifetime learning includes programs on caring for orchids, and lessons in traditional Japanese arts such as ikebana (flower arranging) and bonsai.
“We have birding programs, butterfly identification programs, all kinds of horticulture. We are committed to the lifelong learning about anything and everything that is plant or plant adjacent,” he said.
Novy has run the garden for about seven years. He came from Washington, D.C. where he ran the National Botanic Garden. He said he came here to build, to help steward the garden through a time of growth.
Fifty-five years later, the magical place is still going strong with big plans for the future.
“The board of the garden has approved a 20-year master site plan, which in today’s dollars includes $100 million worth of improvements to the garden,” Novy said.
Those improvements will include new buildings and new gardens. But some things won’t change, including the view of the Pacific, in a place where you can reconnect with nature, and find refreshment and renewal in a part of San Diego County you could call a slice of paradise.
