It’s a jungle out there! When you visit the San Diego Zoo you’ll be greeted by a huge topiary elephant with tusks. There are many great places to enjoy California’s topiary and tree attractions. Arboretums and botanical gardens abound throughout the Southwest, and in California you can find them in nearly every part of the state. One of the more interesting collections of trees is located at the Gilroy Gardens in Gilroy, Calif. The trees were carefully dug up, shipped and transplanted into their current location, and contain some freaks of nature, grown in experiments to form unique shapes such as baskets.

Here are few places to explore tree diversity in California:

ARBORETUMS

• DAVIS – UC Davis Arboretum – arboretum.ucdavis.edu
• FULLERTON - Fullerton Arboretum and Botanic Garden – fullertonarboretum.org
• SANTA CRUZ – UCSC Arboretum – University of California, Santa Cruz – arboretum.ucsc.edu
• TUOLUMNE – Maples by Design (private tree farm, one of top 2 most extensive collection of maple tree collections in world) – maplesbydesign.com

BOTANICAL GARDENS

• ARCADIA – Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - arboretum.org
• AVALON – Wrigley Botanical Gardens – catalinaconservancy.org
• BERKELEY – UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley- botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu
• CLAREMONT – Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden - rsabg.org
• ENCINITAS – San Diego Botanic Garden - sdbgarden.org
• GILROY – Gilroy Gardens – gilroygardens.org
• LA CANADA-FLINTRIDGE – Descanso Gardens – parks.co.la.ca.us/descanso_gardens.html
• LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens lazoo.org
• MENDOCINO – Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens - gardenbythesea.org
• OAKLAND – Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens – dunsmuirbotanicalgardens.org
• PALM DESERT - The Living Desert – livingdesert.org
• RANCHO PALOS VERDES - South Coast Botanic Garden – southcoastbotanicgarden.org
• RIVERSIDE – University of California Riverside Botanic Gardens – gardens.ucr.edu
• SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Botanical Garden – sfbotanicalgarden.org
• SANTA BARBARA – Santa Barbara Botanic Garden – sbbg.org
• SAN MARINO – Huntington Library & Gardens – huntington.org