Visit Descanso Gardens to Explore the Rich History of Southern California

Just 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, Descanso Gardens is a natural oasis in a city of endless hustle. Nestled in a natural bowl within the San Gabriel Mountains, a mix of cultivated and wild landscapes serve as museums and monuments to the rich history and culture of Southern California. However, the tale of how this now serene botanical haven came to be is as tumultuous as the dramas filmed in Hollywood’s studios.

To tell the full tale of Descanso Gardens, one must go back thousands of years to the native Tongva people who first settled the land; the Spanish colonizers that destroyed their way of life; the land disputes between Mexico and the United States that established the area as United States territory; and the gold rush that brought more settlement and resource exploitation to the region.

But the botanical garden as we know it first began to be established after California was given statehood in 1850. The land entered a period of contested ownership with a succession of owners and questions of title. This caused lots of confusion but also allowed the land to remain in one piece for nearly 100 years – until 165 acres of undeveloped land was ultimately purchased by the American newspaper publisher Elias Manchester Boddy in the late 1930s. The ranch and home he built there, called Rancho del Descanso, would become Descanso Gardens thanks to his passion for plants and eventual retirement.

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Descanso Gardens is home to the largest collection of camellias in North America, but how did these plants that are endemic to southeastern Asia become so prolific in Southern California? Much of the success of camellias in the region can be attributed to Japanese immigrants that brought these winter bloomers to grow and sell in their new home. The success of camellias especially at Descanso Gardens must be attributed to Frances Miyosaku (F. M.) Uyematsu of Star Nursery and Fred and Mitoko Yoshimura of Mission Nursery.

Manchester Boddy was not new to growing camellias, but these Japanese American growers and nursery owners had collections that included some of “the best varieties obtainable at the time,” according to the International Camellia Society. Along with growing and selling these prized plants, F. M. Uyematsu was also working on hybridizing and breeding his own camellia cultivars from seeds he purchased on a trip to Japan in 1930.

However, this all came to an unfortunate end on February 19, 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the executive order that led to the mass incarceration of Americans of Japanese ancestry in the US during World War II. Given no other option to save his plants, Uyematsu sold between 300,000 and 320,000 camellias to Manchester Boddy for a fraction of their value before he and his family were incarcerated. The purchase of these camellias, and more from the Yoshimura family, were the basis of Descanso Gardens’ first signature collection.

While the origins of Descanso camellia collection were not readily discussed over the years, more recent efforts have been made to acknowledge and honor the Japanese Americans that made the collection possible. Signage and detailed maps have been installed that tell the true story of these plants, and the camellias that were developed by F. M. Uyematsu are designated with special red plant labels.

The turbulent history of Descanso Gardens does not end at the establishment of the world-renowned camellia collection. After establishing his gardens as a commercial enterprise with the purchase of Uyematsu’s and the Yoshimura’s nursery stock, Boddy opened his estate to the public. Thousands descended on Descanso, but Boddy was not destined to take the gardens to the level they have reached today.

In 1952, Boddy retired and sold Rancho del Descanso to move to San Diego County. The property, unsurprisingly, received a lot of interest, most notably from Walt Disney. According to local papers, Walt was considering Descanso as a potential site for Disneyland. However, all of this interest and potential for development might have been another saving grace for the gardens. Concerned neighbors proposed that Los Angeles County purchase the property to keep the land intact and in the public trust, which ultimately converted Descanso Gardens from a private estate to a public garden in 1953.

Undoubtedly, there is no plant more signature to Descanso Gardens than the camellia. However, in the years since Manchester Boddy’s acquisition of thousands of camellia plants, several species have also gained prominence and significance in the cultivated beds and wild landscapes in and around the botanical garden.

As is already noted, Descanso Gardens is home to the largest camellia collection in North America, and these plants can be found throughout the Japanese Garden and Camellia Forest. The varieties you will want to seek out, however, will be noted with red metal labels that indicate they were originally developed or imported by F. M. Uyematsu. These cultivars can be found just outside the Japanese Garden, growing under the shade of flowering cherry trees, which Uyematsu also loved. While several species can be found at Descanso, all of Uyematsu’s camellias are cultivars of Camellia japonica, which bloom from December to March, and Camellia sasanqua, which bloom from October to December. Check out this interactive map to learn more about this collection: Uyematsu Camellias.

Along with his passion for camellias, Manchester Boddy’s legacy continues at Descanso because of his interest in plant hybridization. In 1945, Boddy hired Dr. Walter Lammerts, a prominent UCLA botanist and plant breeder. His first efforts were in the Rose Garden, but it was the hybrid lilacs he created in the '50s and '60s that made the biggest waves. Lilacs typically need a cold period to trigger the dormancy required to thrive and bloom, but Lammerts was able to develop varieties that were tolerant to the heat of Southern California. The hybrids became known as the Descanso Lilacs and can still be found in the Lilac Garden with green display labels that say, “Bred at Descanso”.

The plant that most connects Descanso’s cultivated gardens with the wild landscape that surrounds is the mighty coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), These resilient giants, some centuries old, are the remnants of the forest that once covered the region and sustained the Tongva people who relied on the tree’s nutrient-rich acorns. While these trees are no longer a primary food source for humans, they remain a keystone plant that supports hundreds of other species along the California coast. At Descanso, coast live oaks can be found lining paths in the Camellia Forest, in gorgeous groves in the Oak Forest, and throughout the seven acres of Oak Woodland on the outskirts of the grounds.

After Descanso was established as a public garden in 1953, it became clear that a group needed to be formed to provide direction and continue funding the new botanic garden. The Descanso Gardens Guild was officially established in 1957, and its first successful project was the creation of the California Garden in 1959. The garden was designed and installed by renowned botanist and native plant advocate Theodore Payne. The garden was planted with many California wildflowers, but the exuberant early summer blooms of matilija poppies (Romneya coulteri) often steal the most attention. Also known as the “fried-egg flower,” their jumbo white and yellow blooms sway atop tall stalks.

One of the newest gardens at Descanso is home to some of the oldest plants on Earth. The Ancient Forest opened in September 2015 and highlights plants with prehistoric origins. These “living fossils” include a variety of ferns and towering redwoods, but cycads are the plants that will have you feeling like you’re walking among dinosaurs. Descanso’s displays include more popular species, such as burrawang (Macrozamia communis), which is common in its native Australia, as well as rare and threatened species like chestnut dioon (Dioon edule).