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| San Diego Botanical Garden 1914 and 2014 |
GUEST BLOG By Debbie Petruzzelli, BalboaPark.org--Three centerpiece gardens—the award-winning Inez
Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, the historic Botanical Building, and the
tranquil Japanese Friendship Garden—are counted among Balboa Park’s most
cherished assets, helping the largest urban cultural park in the nation rank
among the “Coolest” City Parks in the United States (Travel + Leisure Magazine, April 2011). Continually evolving, these
horticultural landmarks provide colorful, fragrant, and serene natural
environments for the more than twelve million visitors that flock to Balboa
Park each year.
Featuring highly distinct
landscape features and a gorgeous floral diversity, these meticulously
maintained gardens were originally built almost a century ago for the 1915–1916
Panama-California Exposition. The historic event (the first of two major
Expositions in the Park) commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal and
provided a major impetus for the creation of the Park as it appears today. The
extensive landscaping the Exposition brought to the Park has earned it the
moniker, the “Garden Fair.”
The lushly landscaped Park
is currently home to beautiful gardens, 15 major museums, several performing
arts venues, a wide variety of other cultural and recreational attractions, and
of course, the World Famous San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park is managed and
maintained by the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department.
The Balboa Park Botanical Building
The view of the Botanical
Building with the Lily Pond in the foreground is one of the most photographed
scenes in Balboa Park and a “must-see” destination in San Diego. Built for the
1915–16 Exposition, along with the adjacent Lily Pond, the historic building is
one of the largest lath structures in the world. Designed by Carleton M.
Winslow, the Botanical Building is 250-feet long, 75-feet wide, and over
60-feet tall and filled with an ever-changing landscape of beautiful and
interesting plants. It is open free to the public Friday through Wednesday,
from 10 am to 4 pm (closed Thursdays and City of San Diego observed holidays).
Currently, the Botanical
Building plantings include over 2,100 permanent plants, featuring fascinating
collections of cycads, ferns, orchids, bromeliads, ficus, other tropical
plants, and palms (including lady palms, which are from the original collection
planted in 1915). The Botanical Building also hosts some of the Park’s vibrant
seasonal flower displays, such as the lovely Easter lily display in the spring
and the colorful poinsettia display for the winter holidays.
Closed and neglected during
World Wars I and II, the Botanical Building was reopened in 1957 after an
extensive renovation, including seventy thousand linear feet of redwood lath
(more than 12 miles). In 1994, the building again underwent a structural
renovation, which included replacement and reinforcement of the steel arch
framework. As a result, the interior plantings were redesigned and replanted
when the building opened to the public. The Botanical Building and its
plantings are maintained by the City of San Diego Park and Recreation
Department.
Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden
One of the most frequently
visited gardens and a popular location for wedding ceremonies in the Park, the
stunning Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden displays approximately 2,500
roses of nearly 200 varieties on a three-acre site full of fragrance, color,
and beauty. Today’s garden, a designated All America Rose Selection (AARS) Display
Garden, is in bloom from March through December, with the roses usually at
their peak in April and May. It is open 365 days a year and free to the public.
Located across from the San Diego Natural History Museum, it is accessible by
the Park Boulevard pedestrian bridge where visitors can pause and view the rose
garden’s beauty spread out below them.
The current garden
represents the ninth rose garden planned and built in the Park. The first rose
garden in Balboa Park was built in conjunction with the major development of
the Park for the 1915–16 Panama California Exposition. It was planted in an
area on Balboa Drive and Laurel Street where the Lawn Bowling greens are now
located.
The World Federation of
Rose Societies (WFRS) voted the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden as one
of the top 12 rose gardens in the world. The Award of Garden Excellence
recognizes exceptional rose gardens throughout the world. Since 1994, the WFRS, a federation of
national rose societies from 36 countries, representing more than 100,000 rose
lovers, has recognized only 16 gardens with this award of merit.
In addition to the WFRS
award, the rose garden was recognized with a national award for outstanding
maintenance by the AARS. The nationwide evaluators found the garden to be “in
excellent condition and a real tribute to the Queen of Flowers.” Today’s Balboa Park rose garden has earned
the award on 20 occasions in its 28-year history. The garden is maintained by
the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department with volunteer support
from the San Diego Rose Society.
Japanese Friendship Garden
The Japanese Friendship
Garden offers a special place for contemplation to visitors to Balboa Park. The
current site is northeast of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and includes over 11
acres. Along the garden’s winding paths are an exhibit house, fujidana
(wisteria arbor), a traditional sand and stone garden, a bonsai exhibit, a Tea
Pavilion, and a koi pond. The garden is open Monday through Friday, from 10:00
a.m. until 5:00 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm.
Today, the Japanese
Friendship Garden’s tree and shrub plantings include Japanese black pine,
azaleas, a sunburst locust tree inside the entry gate, many types of bamboo,
Japanese maple, saucer magnolia, leaf plum and camphor. The koi pond is part of
a typical san-sui (mountain and water) style garden with the waterfall
reflecting the mountain, river, and ocean scapes of the San Diego area and the
turtle-shaped island in the pond symbolizing longevity.
In addition to viewing the
gardens, weekend classes are offered in sushi making, bonsai, calligraphy, and
conversational Japanese. The Japanese Friendship Garden Study Center provides
an educational program of landscape gardening that enables the public to learn
the principles, skills, and techniques for implementing the Japanese garden
experience in the United States. Seminars, for both the amateur and
professional gardener, are held with faculty that includes internationally
prominent masters from Japan and the United States. Students, from throughout
North America, learn at hands-on workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and
discussions.
The history of the Japanese
Friendship Garden in Balboa Park dates back to the 1915–16 Exposition. The
garden was relocated to its present site when the original garden was
dismantled in the 1950s to accommodate the San Diego Children’s Zoo. With the
development of San Diego’s Sister City relationship with Yokohama in 1950,
forty years of gift exchanges followed, kindling feelings of shared ideals
represented by the Japanese Friendship Garden. The garden is operated by the
non-profit Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego.
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Balboa Park is a San Diego
must-see, just minutes from downtown, and ranked as one of the Best Parks in
the World. The Park is home to 15 major museums, several performing arts
venues, lovely gardens and many other cultural and recreational attractions,
including the San Diego Zoo. With a variety of cultural institutions laid out
among its beautiful 1,200 lushly planted acres, Balboa Park is the nation’s
largest urban cultural park.
Balboa Park Marketing is a
program of the Balboa Park Central, a non-profit organization promoting the
cultural and recreational use of Balboa Park.
www.balboapark.org
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