--- title: "Ventura Botanical Gardens" url: https://stacklist.com/card/165fcb11-bf5f-4f9a-a9ee-2a0a1be773da source_url: "https://venturabotanicalgardens.org/" stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/94d677e4-6060-4a99-80c2-303a862d4c89 summary: "Ventura Botanical Gardens is a 107-acre world-class site featuring over 120,000 plants representing five Mediterranean climate zones with spectacular California coastline views. The gardens offer memberships, guided visits through themed zones like Chilean and California gardens, and host events focused on conservation and botanical education." tags: "botanical-gardens, ventura, membership, conservation, mediterranean-plants, visitor-information, events" key_entities: "Ventura Botanical Gardens (organization), Ventura (location), California (location), Channel Islands (location), Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens (location), Merewether Welcome Center (location), Mediterranean climate zones (concept), Nature's Spirits – Flight Of Our Ancestors (event), Fall Equinox Sound Bath (event), conservation (concept)" classification: "reference" content_hash: "sha256:3fa2c6821acab900c33efe423ee83dd6f849f6c5e3077c100941b33a84db5f06" acp_version: "0.2" token_counts_approximate: 1532 visibility: public agent_accessible: true status: "final" --- # Ventura Botanical Gardens Skip to content Your Membership Makes a Big Difference Enjoy exclusive benefits and support vital conservation efforts. BECOME A MEMBER HOURS OPEN Tuesday through Sunday 9am to 5pm. CLOSED Mondays and rainy days. See calendar for holiday hours. ADMISSION $15 admission for the general public. Members, children 18 and under, and EBT cardholders are free. Fridays are FREE for all. See calendar for monthly FREE days. DOGS Leashed dogs are welcome Wednesdays, Fridays and on monthly free days. See calendar for monthly FREE days. PARKING Parking lot closes at 5pm. Disabled parking is available at the Welcome Center. Parking closer to the pathways above the nurseries may be requested. GARDEN MAP See our map to explore our garden zones, vista points, rest stops and features. Download the map now (English , PDF) | ( Spanish , PDF ) Event Calendar NOW Nature’s Spirits – Flight Of Our Ancestors Tuesday, September 15 - Sunday, November 1 9am - 5pm Sep 21 Fall Equinox Sound Bath Monday, September 21 9am - 10am Oct 06 World Habitat Day Free Day Tuesday, October 6 9am - 5pm Oct 10 Fabric Dyeing with Botanicals & Herbal Tea Making Saturday, October 10 10am - 11am Oct 16 Books in Bloom Friday, October 16 @ 9am - 11am View All Dates Oct 24 Nature’s Spirits – Special Evening Out Saturday, October 24 5pm - 8pm Membership NEW! Preferred memberships now include a 'Buddy Pass'. When you visit the Gardens, bring a friend for free! Members also receive reciprocal admissions to other gardens like the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. To learn more about which Gardens are covered in your membership: ahsgardening.org Individual Membership $45 per person per year ( Gift | Purchase ) Dual Membership $75 per two named adults per year ( Gift | Purchase ) Preferred Membership $250 per 2 named adults per year ( G i ft | Purchase ) BECOME A MEMBER TODAY! Visiting the Ventura Botanical Gardens The Ventura Botanical Gardens (VBG) is a 107-acre world-class site with spectacular views of the California coastline, verdant agricultural vistas, the Channel Islands and Ojai’s Topa Topa peak. With over 120,000 plants in the ground, the Gardens represent the five Mediterranean climate zones of the world; Chile, the Cape of South Africa, Australia, the Mediterranean Basin and California. These low water climate zones, like Ventura, allow for long-term sustainability and are designed to replicate plant communities as they occur in nature. Explore the map (English , PDF) | ( Spanish , PDF ) Your visit to the Gardens will begin at the Merewether Welcome Center . You will notice a charming gift shop, full of artisan gifts, pottery, and plants. A flower pathway takes you past our olive trees and through our nursery where we have dedicated spaces to welcome students on field trips. Here we prepare and propagate plants before we add them to our collection. As you enter the first walkway of the Chilean Gardens , you will see a Chilean Soapbark Tree on your right. The Soapbark Tree provides an adjuvant, a chemical compound boosting immunity and enhancing effectiveness, for the shingles and COVID-19 vaccines. Further along the way, you will note our large Chilean Wine Palms, part of our collection of endangered species. The work we do at the Gardens includes protecting and propagating at-risk species and creating a library of plants and seeds. As you continue toward the top, check out our cheerful ribbed barrel cactus or take a meditation moment at one of our sponsored benches and enjoy the brightly-colored cistanthe grandiflora along the way. When you reach Rotary Plaza , shaded by old-growth Eucalyptus trees, notice the California Ramble to your left left and right. The Ramble, our largest garden, contains native species like ceanothus, lemonade berry and California oak, and in the springtime, colorful poppy and lupine blooms. Upward in our Mediterranean Garden , there are 200 olive tree saplings. With 50 different cultivars, these plants will provide conservation and research opportunities for an agricultural resource that humans have developed over millennia. This grove will enable us to examine what cultivars do well in regional agriculture as our climate changes. Spanning nearly 30 acres when complete, the California Garden is our largest garden. It includes our native pine collection showcasing young Monterey, Bishop, Torrey and Foothill Pines. You’ll also find Manzanita (both wild and hybrid), and gooseberry plants growing nearby, just as they do in nature. Spring transforms the garden with a stunning display of the wildly beautiful California bush poppy, lupine and lilac. Within this garden, our oak woodland’s seven or eight sapling species thrive which, when fully grown, will be a dramatic sylvan display. To your right and up the hill is the South African Fynbos Gardens, rich with protea, ericas, bulbs and geraniums, a dry creek bed, and a charming bridge. Looking back toward the entrance, enjoy a spectacular view of the Channel Islands. Continue to Summit Plateau, lined with California pepper trees, where many of our events occur. Then on to the Karoo Gardens... abundant with Aloe. Here you will feel like you’re at the top of the world. As a 40-year project, VBG will continue to grow and create new outdoor opportunities for training, research, and educational programs ranging from horticulture and botany to sustainability. Garden expansion will be ongoing for decades to come. Come back soon, there is always something new to see. Conservation The foundation for all botanical gardens is to maintain a collection of plants for scientific research, display, education and conservation. We take this role to heart, protecting endangered and threatened species to insure their long term survival. Some of the plants under our stewardship include the Chilean Wine Palm, the California Tecate cypress, mariposa lilies, and numerous native wildflowers threatened by loss of habitat. DONATE Support the gardens today! DONATE PLANNED GIVING Support the future of the gardens. GIVE MEMBERSHIP Become a member! JOIN TODAY Thank You to Our Corporate Sponsors! Next Previous