Saturday, May 13, 2023

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

The garden covers 47 acres - half of it planted with carefully tended collections and the other half allowed to grow in a more natural state. We happened to visit at the peak of the rhododendron bloom which was amazing. The garden has over 124 species of rhododendrons; some can only grow in a very small area of North America.

 Other unusual gardens include heath and heather, and a grouping of pitcher plants.
        Most of the paths are hard packed dirt and crushed stone. They are fairly easy to roll along, even the smaller ones that wind in between the plants. However there are some problem areas. The perennial garden is planted with thick grass but it can be viewed from the plaza. The paths in the vegetable garden are surfaced with mulch which makes pushing very difficult. Two parallel trails go to the coastal buff trail. The north trail and all of the trails connecting the north and south trails are too steep for wheelchairs, strollers and scooters. They are all clearly marked at the intersections as too steep and the supplied map has the accessible trails marked.
The main parking lot is too small for RVs. There is lot for oversized vehicles but it was closed off when we visited. We managed to fit in the accessible space. Call ahead to make sure you can get a parking space if you're traveling with your RV.

We drove from Willits, CA to the garden in Fort Bragg along Route 20 which is about 35 miles of very winding road. It's doable with an RV but be prepared to go slow and take advantage of the well marked turn outs. Garden  39.40913, -123.8094

2 comments:

  1. Oh my, you lucky duckies, you! We've never been able to time it for the rhodie bloom! You pics show how lovely it was! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It was lovely. We've always missed the rhodie blooms too - not at this garden but at others - so it was a real treat.

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