The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is perhaps Santa Barbara’s best kept secret. Not always on the list of tourist must-see’s (though it should be), it stays a local hot-spot. With several different ecological motifs in current operation, one can get a good glimpse of most of California’s countryside while staying in our own backyard.

In addition to being a nice respite from the rest of the world, The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, located 1212 Mission Canyon Rd., is making it their goal to refine and exemplify what it is to be “green” by researching green concepts and defining sustainability. Now you might think that a botanic garden, by its very nature, must be green. After all, it is simply a parcel of land that some horticulturists designated a garden, right? Wrong. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (SBBG) is more than that.

Nationally recognized as an accredited museum, the SBBG must be much more rigorous in their plant collection, protection, and site operation than just any old preservation. They have a nursery to grow and propagate plants, they have a seed bank to cultivate plants for future years, and they have designated an area of the garden to endangered plant species. In short, everything in the garden is carefully designed and landscaped, and every single plant they have is tracked; it is not a naturally occurring place.

It is their mission to advance the public’s knowledge of California plant life, which is the emphasis and majority of their plant selection. They have a four-pronged approach: research, education, conservation, and display, all of which add to the experience you will have at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens.

That being said, the natural beauty of the garden is breathtaking. Take a walk down their redwood lane forest, or switch ecologies entirely and explore a California desert, and you will see for yourself. Strolling through the SBBG is like taking a major road trip trough California, just not burning any gas. So if you’ve got road tripping on the mind and don’t have the time or the money for a big ordeal, take a day and visit the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, you’ll be happy you did.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is located at:
1212 Mission Canyon Rd, by the Natural History Museum.
Phone: (805) 682-4726