Stream now with KPBS+ / Watch Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 at 8:30 p.m. on KPBS 2. We explore the history of the gardens in San Diego's iconic Balboa Park. By 1909, the 1200 acres set aside by the city 50 years earlier remained little more than dry, dusty chaparral. By 1915, it was a fantasyland of lush, exotic gardens.