Balboa Park’s Gardens were ranked among the Best Parks in the World by the Project for Public Places in 2003, for its mixture of horticulture, art and culture.
In 1868 San Diego’s founders carved out a large swathe of undeveloped land to create a public park outside downtown. Today, the park is notable for its mature botanical collection spread out over 1,200 acres.
The lush landscaping is kept up by the City of San Diego’s Park and Recreation Department and flowers bloom all year long.
If you live in San Diego or are visiting, don’t forget to stop by the park to take pictures Balboa’s sumptious floral collection. I myself try to visit the park monthly. I set my camera on digital macro and snap away!
There’s a garden located in-between the fountain and lily pond. It’s right by the water feature that cascades over a few steps or so. I visited the park at the end of June I found these humongous sunflowers that were taller than I was ….and as large as my face.
The Alcazar Garden was originally developed for the 1915-16 Expo and was patterned after the gardens of Alcazar Castle in Seville, Spain. Here you will find 7,000 annuals on display throughout the year. I found this lovely daisy.
One of my favorites… the Zoro Garden is a sunken stone grotto garden that was designed as a nudist colony during the 1935 California Pacific Expo. Today it’s a butterfly garden (and no you are not allowed to collect them). Miniature pockets are carved into the rocks so that pools of water will collect for the monarch, sulfur and swallowtail butterflies.
