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The California Garden Tour: The 50 Best Gardens to Visit in the Golden State
A fantastic garden journey that only California can provide
In The California Garden Tour , veteran travel writer Donald Olson highlights 50 outstanding public gardens and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. From San Francisco and the East Bay to Palm Springs and San Diego, Olson includes iconic gardens like the Getty Center, new favorites like Alcatraz, and uniquely Californian destinations like Lotusland and Sunnylands. The easy-to-use format includes visitor information, an evocative description, and full color photography for each garden.
In The California Garden Tour , veteran travel writer Donald Olson highlights 50 outstanding public gardens and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. From San Francisco and the East Bay to Palm Springs and San Diego, Olson includes iconic gardens like the Getty Center, new favorites like Alcatraz, and uniquely Californian destinations like Lotusland and Sunnylands. The easy-to-use format includes visitor information, an evocative description, and full color photography for each garden.
- GenresTravel
296 pages, Paperback
Published August 9, 2017
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11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 2, 2021
This was a book written for the gardener roots in me. I didn’t spend much time on the upfront Northern California portion of the book. This was a library copy and I had limited time so I had to make a choice and I wanted my pores to seep in the Southern California gardening tidbits.
I love the style of writing in this book. The gardens are well described, but the gardeners are every bit as colorful. For instance, The Virginia Robinson (of Robinson-May retail) gardens were full of little morsels of gardening life with the Robinsons. They took a 3 year honeymoon (YES - 3 YEARS) in which Virginia collected a lot of seed (don’t go there - I am referring to her gardening). Another vision was gifted to me in the Hortense Miller garden in Laguna. The book provides a rich personality description of the gardener and I can actually picture her climbing a ladder in her eighties to rescue her pet cockatoo off the roof of her house. Even the public designed gardens like the Getty Center are made personal by injecting interesting backgrounds on the garden designers. And how can I not be super curious about an 87 acre botanical garden that sits atop a former landfill in Palos Verdes?
If this book were sitting on my shelf, I would not get much of my own gardening done (Well I had to buy this book - help!). The electronic library version has links to the gardens and each time I picked up this book, after reading such fascinating history on the birth of the garden and the gardener’s personality, I would click on the link and find myself lost in the images and videos pertaining to the plants. I have visited many of the gardens described in this book and the book was adept at taking me back for another visit as well as providing me with my own private docent. The book was leant to me for 21 days and it was not nearly sufficient time for me to devote to all of these gardens. Glorious Gardens!
I love the style of writing in this book. The gardens are well described, but the gardeners are every bit as colorful. For instance, The Virginia Robinson (of Robinson-May retail) gardens were full of little morsels of gardening life with the Robinsons. They took a 3 year honeymoon (YES - 3 YEARS) in which Virginia collected a lot of seed (don’t go there - I am referring to her gardening). Another vision was gifted to me in the Hortense Miller garden in Laguna. The book provides a rich personality description of the gardener and I can actually picture her climbing a ladder in her eighties to rescue her pet cockatoo off the roof of her house. Even the public designed gardens like the Getty Center are made personal by injecting interesting backgrounds on the garden designers. And how can I not be super curious about an 87 acre botanical garden that sits atop a former landfill in Palos Verdes?
If this book were sitting on my shelf, I would not get much of my own gardening done (Well I had to buy this book - help!). The electronic library version has links to the gardens and each time I picked up this book, after reading such fascinating history on the birth of the garden and the gardener’s personality, I would click on the link and find myself lost in the images and videos pertaining to the plants. I have visited many of the gardens described in this book and the book was adept at taking me back for another visit as well as providing me with my own private docent. The book was leant to me for 21 days and it was not nearly sufficient time for me to devote to all of these gardens. Glorious Gardens!
July 18, 2017
The CALIFORNIA GARDEN TOUR is a book designed for garden lovers. If you are not a garden lover, you probably won't even understand this book. I have been to more than one of these gardens featured here. Each one has been an inspiring, fun trip.
The sections of the book are geographically designed. So for example there is a big section called Northern California, and of course one called Southern California. In the Northern California area, it is further divided into San Francisco and Peninsula, East Bay, Sonoma and vicinity, and Central and North Coast. This division makes it easy to navigate. I was pleased to discover that there are many Northern California gardens close to me.
As you might expect, each garden is accompanied by a variety of color photographs, showing the highlights from that particular Garden. In the San Francisco area, where I live, there's even a section on Alcatraz! I had no idea that Alcatraz would be a featured Island. However, I'm pretty sure that was after the prisoners were all removed.
All in all, I found the CALIFORNIA GARDEN TOUR to be an inspiring, fun read. If nothing else, enjoy looking through the beautiful photographs. They are very inspiring--even the ones from Alcatraz Island.
Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.
The sections of the book are geographically designed. So for example there is a big section called Northern California, and of course one called Southern California. In the Northern California area, it is further divided into San Francisco and Peninsula, East Bay, Sonoma and vicinity, and Central and North Coast. This division makes it easy to navigate. I was pleased to discover that there are many Northern California gardens close to me.
As you might expect, each garden is accompanied by a variety of color photographs, showing the highlights from that particular Garden. In the San Francisco area, where I live, there's even a section on Alcatraz! I had no idea that Alcatraz would be a featured Island. However, I'm pretty sure that was after the prisoners were all removed.
All in all, I found the CALIFORNIA GARDEN TOUR to be an inspiring, fun read. If nothing else, enjoy looking through the beautiful photographs. They are very inspiring--even the ones from Alcatraz Island.
Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.
June 30, 2017
“Garden Tourists” are a real thing. These are folks who plan their outings around locations such as Filoli, Sunnylands, and botanical gardens such as Southern California’s Huntington Gardens.
In The California Garden Tour, Donald Olson gives all the information a garden tourist needs to know about 50 outstanding public gardens in California, and thanks to Timber Press and NetGalley, I received an advance copy in exchange for my review.
This guidebook is amazing. It is arranged geographically, and includes maps and gorgeous photos, along with useful information such as hours, fees, parking, etc.
The geographic regions within Northern California include the East Bay, San Francisco/Peninsula, Sonoma, and Central & North Coasts. In Southern California, we have Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, the South Coast, and San Diego.
In addition to being a lovely coffee table book, fun to browse, this would be a great gift for both garden tourists and anyone who appreciates plants! Great job! Five stars.
In The California Garden Tour, Donald Olson gives all the information a garden tourist needs to know about 50 outstanding public gardens in California, and thanks to Timber Press and NetGalley, I received an advance copy in exchange for my review.
This guidebook is amazing. It is arranged geographically, and includes maps and gorgeous photos, along with useful information such as hours, fees, parking, etc.
The geographic regions within Northern California include the East Bay, San Francisco/Peninsula, Sonoma, and Central & North Coasts. In Southern California, we have Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, the South Coast, and San Diego.
In addition to being a lovely coffee table book, fun to browse, this would be a great gift for both garden tourists and anyone who appreciates plants! Great job! Five stars.
October 19, 2017
Excellent. Well-done. beautiful
March 5, 2018
Great reference book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews