Bend, inhale: Try it

The tulips at Descanso Gardens are bold in color and stature. Roses and lilacs are in bloom, and in the California native garden, poppies are bountiful -- their petals unfolding like melted butter as they show their faces to the sun.

If gardens ever shout, it is in spring. In Southern California, the season arrives without the fanfare of northern climes, where the first sight of a crocus is cause for lunacy. Here, it is spring when the tilt of the Earth brings Angels and Dodgers back to us and the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano. It’s SigAlerts that cause us lunacy.

Spring’s splendor is uniquely evident in public gardens large and small throughout the area, from the magnificent Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, whose beauty is sleek and formal, to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, whose beauty is unadorned and natural, to the gardens at the Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park in South-Central Los Angeles, whose beauty is hope.

These, along with Descanso, the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden and the Watts Senior Center & Rose Garden, provide a cross-section of popular and obscure public gardens throughout the region. What they share is that they all provide a feeling of nature and space in this densely populated, unnatural cluster. Gardens do, however, require us to do a couple things we’re not accustomed to -- once we get there, we must walk, and we must also stop from time to time to sniff the roses. It’s not difficult once you get the hang of it.

Our relationship with plants is complex, but it should probably start with the fact that while they could probably live without us, we can’t live without them. They feed both body and soul. In the solitude and sunlight of gardens, we can escape the stress of daily life, the blips and beeps, freeways, war. It is sanctuary.

Public gardens, like most nonprofits, have suffered since Sept. 11, says Sharon Lee, acting administrator of the American Assn. of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. “There haven’t been closures, but there have been layoffs. A lot of plans for expansion and new programs have also been put on hold.”

Yet it is in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that the beauty of gardens is most needed, Lee says. The day after the tragedy, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden reported that people were lined up waiting to get in, she says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case since the war started. Gardens are a place of solace. You know the daffodils will be up in spring and roses will bloom in the summer. It’s a reminder that there is goodness and peacefulness somewhere in the world.”

From season to season, a garden speaks to us in different tones. At Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, roses are taking center stage, but the heart of the garden is among the 20 acres of camellias, some of them taller than 20 feet, growing along dirt paths that wind through the speckled shade of oak trees. The roses have only now pushed them aside, but their season will come once again.

Descanso provides an intimate setting, a good place for serious conversations. If you’re asking your parents for money -- a lot of it -- or asking your children why they are squandering their lives in Hollywood, or if you’re proposing marriage and know that it could go either way, this is a good place to come.

It’s also a good place to be alone. Above the head of the Chaparral Trail near the California Garden, there is a wooden bench with green paint peeling off, revealing an undercoat the color of rust. It overlooks a small ravine and is a quiet space even on a busy Saturday, when crowds form in the lilac garden and along the colorful promenade where 26,000 tulips grow.

From the bench one can hear birds and leaves skittering on the ground, distant voices fading in and out. Oak branches twist and turn, forming cursive patterns beneath the canopy of leaves. It’s a place to reflect or read. Or cry.

A garden is also a place to forget, if only briefly. Florence Richer of Upland was listening to news of the war as she drove to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. As she drew close to the garden, she turned the radio off.

“I needed a pause before I met my friend here,” she says. “I want to keep this a beautiful, spiritual sanctuary. That’s why I come here.” She sits in a secluded area on a bench with Irene Bechler of Goshen, Ind. “I come here by myself at times to reflect, to pray,” says Bechler, who winters in Southern California. “It’s a serene place. I’m very connected to what’s happening in the world, but this is a place to reflect and regroup so you’re ready to go back out.” Rancho Santa Ana is home to almost 2,000 species of native California plants spread over 86 acres at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and is the largest botanic garden dedicated to California’s native flora.

Spring inspires bursts of colors among perennials, shrubs and wildflowers. Blue-eyed grass, meadow foam and buttercups are prominent, along with California wild lilacs, shrubs flowering in all shades of blue and lavender and white. The garden’s peak season started in March and will likely last through May. A range of classes, lectures and other activities also is offered for adults, families and children.

IN contrast to Huntington, with its immaculate grounds, Rancho Santa Ana is a more natural setting. “Huntington is gorgeous, but that’s what’s nice about the diversity of the gardens,” says Lorrae Fuentes, the garden’s director of education. “You can come here and feel like you’re out in the wilds.”

A garden is never finished, and so spring also renews anticipation at the Huntington as work on five major projects proceeds. The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science, the Children’s Garden, Teaching Greenhouse and the Munger Research Center, an expansion of the library, are scheduled for completion next year. Work has also started on a 12-acre Chinese garden, expected to be one of the largest classical Chinese gardens outside of China. Completion of the first phase is anticipated in 2006.

Spring at the Huntington is a splash of colors -- yellow and lavender and red among them -- and from the top of the ravine overlooking the Japanese garden, it is every shade of green.

The world-famous desert garden, which peaks in January and February, sheds its blooms and takes on a resilient, determined stance for coming days of summer. A Montezuma cypress, wistful and tall, thickens with new foliage.

In the subtropical garden, a wigandia urens from Peru entices. Its flowers are deep, rich purple, and its leaves are broad. Its loveliness attracts, but it is protected by sharp, fine hairs that grow on the leaves. As with people, beauty can be dangerous and deceiving.

Great anticipation builds at the rose garden, where there is a flirtatious, whimsical atmosphere reflected in the names of the plants: Flame of Love, Love Potion, Kiss of Fire, Secret Love. It is in contrast to a secluded area below the Japanese meditation garden, where a tall stand of bamboo blocks the sun and leads to a hillside shaded by native oaks. A spotted towhee warbles, and azaleas and camellias thrive. Visitors move slowly and speak in hushed tones. Here, one feels small and far away.

Henry E. Huntington, 1850-1927, was a real estate and railroad developer who later in life focused on his collections of books, art and plants. The grounds in San Marino include a series of galleries that display his collections alongside the gardens, which date back to 1903.

Sometimes plants have stories to tell. A couple of years ago, the Huntington donated 90 cactus plants to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which was developing the Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park at the intersection of Slauson and Compton avenues in South-Central Los Angeles.

The cactuses were planted around a 17-foot night-blooming cereus cactus believed to be about 150 years old. Its story is one of survival. The cereus and an avocado tree are all that is left from what served as a pipe storage area for the Department of Water and Power.

When the donated cactuses took root in their new home, they became part of something far greater than a garden or park. Their story is how they became a symbol.

“Some of the people see it as hope for the community,” says Celina Morataya, program coordinator at the park, which also includes a nature center. “People around here started painting their homes, adding flowers. A lot of the houses were painted to match our buildings.” There are no sports facilities or playground equipment, but there are picnic tables and open, grassy areas where children can run. In addition to the cactus garden, native plants of five ecosystems grow on hills created around the perimeter on two sides of the park.

Stephanie Landregan, senior landscape architect, designed the park and says she was told by many that “it’s just going to be destroyed down there.” “We haven’t had any problems,” she says. “What I see here is there’s this light in being next to this park that has touched people, and it continues to grow.”

Disparaging statements also were made to the founders of the Watts Senior Center when they decided to plant a rose garden in 1990. Arvella Grigsby, recreation assistant at the center, was at the Exposition Rose Garden one day with the former director, and she commented that it would be wonderful to have a rose garden in Watts.

Such a thing was unheard of at the time, says Grigsby, but they decided to give it a try. Dorothy Sampson maintains the center’s 745 plants with no budget. The garden is accredited by All American Rose Selections Inc., which has certified 133 gardens across the country.

“It’s a struggle, but I love this garden,” Sampson says. She cuts back the plants every December, removing each leaf. By the end of February, she is getting blooms, and the garden usually peaks around May. In some ways, Sampson says, the roses are like people.

“They keep coming back,” she says. “You got to be like that if you’re poor. You have to plan ahead and keep coming back.” So Sampson, too, will come back, passing seasons in the garden, for as long as she is able. She has worked here 11 years and now, at age 69, continues to dig her fingers into the soil, where beauty begins and where she can hold life in her hands.

Just as gardens change from one season to the next, they also change from day to day and from morning to night, says Peter C. Atkin, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden Foundation.

The light is different in the morning, he says, and the air carries the scent of roses and sweet olive. Then later in the day, there’s the fragrance of sage, rosemary and pine, plants with heavier oils.

There is always something in bloom, says Atkins. It has to do with the balance and harmony of a garden, especially those with so many plants from different parts of the world.

“All gardens are contrived,” he says, “but we never want them to appear contrived. That’s the art of gardening.” Unlike other gardens, the Arboretum & Botanic Garden does not require visitors to stay on pathways. While Atkin does not want them stepping on plants, he does want them to explore for hidden treasures of the garden.

Visitors may recognize Baldwin Lake, which has appeared in numerous movies and television shows ranging from “Tarzan” to “Fantasy Island” to “Roots.” What better place than a garden for make-believe, for imaginations to soar.

The arboretum and botanic garden is home to one of the largest orchid collections on the West Coast. There is a 22-acre Australian section as well as sections for the Americas, Africa, North Temperate Zone and Mediterranean. There are sections called Palm and Bamboo as well as Tropical Forest. Also included is a rose garden, herb garden, Southwest native plant garden, aquatic garden and Sunset magazine demonstration garden.

The garden is 127 acres, and one disadvantage of big gardens is that there are so many plants, it’s impossible to realize the beauty of each one. We hear the choir but not a single distinct voice.

There is a cactus that grows in Compton. It grows in front of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church and blooms only once a year. The people who live in the area have seen more than their share of tragedy over the years. Violence has claimed the young, and people here know their names and remember their lives.

Although there is great suffering here, says Father Stan Bosch, there also is great joy and beauty. Those who have seen darkness cherish the light, and so each year Bosch awaits the bloom of the cactus as a reminder. It represents hope, he says, and beauty often overlooked.

If a garden ever whispers, it is to allow a single voice to rise and gentle our hearts, reminding us of how even one voice can bring balance to our lives. That, too, is the art of gardening.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Southland gardens by the bunch

A sampling of Southern California’s public gardens. For hours, admission fees and more go to calendarlive.com/gardens.

Los Angeles County

Antelope Valley California Poppy State Reserve

15101 Lancaster Road, Lancaster

(661) 942-0662

Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park

5790 Compton Ave., Los Angeles

(323) 585-3205

Brand Park Japanese Garden

1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale

(818) 548-2147

Brand Park/Memory Garden

15174 San Fernando Mission Road,

Mission Hills

(818) 898-1290

Chavez Ravine Arboretum, Elysian Park

835 Academy Road, Los Angeles

(213) 485-5054

Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden

Earl Warren Drive; park in Lot 16

Cal State Long Beach

(562) 985-8885

Descanso Gardens

1418 Descanso Drive,

La Canada Flintridge

(818) 952-4408

Exposition Rose Garden

701 State Drive, Los Angeles

(213) 765-5397

Fern Dell

Griffith Park, Fern Dell Drive,

Los Angeles

(323) 913-4688

The Getty Center

1200 Getty Center Drive,

Los Angeles

(310) 440-7300

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens

1151 Oxford Road,

San Marino

(626) 405-2100

James Irvine Garden

244 S. San Pedro St.,

Los Angeles

(213) 628-2725

The Japanese Garden

6100 Woodley Ave.,

Van Nuys

(818) 756-8166

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden

301 N. Baldwin Ave.,

Arcadia

(626) 821-3222

Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens

5333 Zoo Drive,

Los Angeles

(323) 644-6400

Lummis Home State Historic Park

200 E. Avenue 43,

Los Angeles

(323) 222-0546

Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden

Southeast corner of UCLA, enter on Tiverton Avenue.(310) 825-1260

Orcutt Ranch

23600 Roscoe Blvd., West Hills

(818) 346-7449

Pageant of Roses Garden

Rose Hills Memorial Park

3888 S. Workman Mill Road,

Whittier

(562) 699-0921

Pine Wind Japanese Garden

3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance

(310) 781-7150

Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Gardens

6400 Bixby Hill Road, Long Beach

(562) 431-3541

Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site

4600 N. Virginia Road,

Long Beach

(562) 570-1755

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

1500 N. College Ave., Claremont

(909) 625-8767

Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine

17190 Sunset Blvd.,

Pacific Palisades

(310) 454-4114

South Coast Botanic Garden

26300 Crenshaw Blvd.,

Palos Verdes

(310) 544-6815

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants

10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley

(818) 768-1802

Tournament House, Wrigley Garden

391 S. Orange Grove Blvd.,

Pasadena

(626) 449-4100

UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden

10619 Bellagio Road, Bel-Air

(310) 825-4574

Verdugo Adobe and Garden

2211 Bonita Drive, Glendale

(818) 548-2147

Virginia Robinson Gardens

Beverly Hills

(310) 276-5367

Watts Senior Center & Rose Garden

1657 E. Century Blvd., Los Angeles

(323) 564-9440

Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens

Catalina Island

(310) 510-2288

Orange County

Environmental Nature Center

1601 16th St., Newport Beach

(949) 645-8489

Fullerton Arboretum

1900 Associated Road

(at Yorba Linda Blvd.)

(714) 278-3579

Golden West’s California Native Garden

15744 Golden West St.,

Huntington Beach

(714) 892-7711

Hortense Miller Garden

Laguna Beach

(949) 497-0716 for tours

Niguel Botanical Preserve

29751 Crown Valley Parkway,

Laguna Niguel

(949) 425-5100

Sherman Library & Gardens

2647 E. Pacific Coast Highway,

Corona del Mar

(949) 673-2261

UC Irvine Arboretum

Just south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road on UC Irvine campus

(949) 824-5833

Westminster Civic Center Rose Garden

8200 Westminster Blvd.,

Westminster

(714) 895-2860

Ventura County

Gardens of the World Community Park

2001 Thousand Oaks Blvd.,

Thousand Oaks

(805) 557-1135

Conejo Valley Botanic Garden

Dover and Hendrix avenues,

Thousand Oaks

(805) 494-7630

Ojai Community Demonstration Garden

401 S. Ventura St., Ojai (805) 640-2560

Santa Barbara County

Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens

1500 Santa Barbara St.,

Santa Barbara

(805) 564-5418

A.C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden

Olivos and Laguna streets,

Santa Barbara

(805) 564 5418

Ganna Walska Lotusland

Santa Barbara

(805) 969-3767 for tours

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

1212 Mission Canyon Road,

Santa Barbara

(805) 682-4726

Santa Barbara Orchid Estate

1250 Orchid Drive, Santa Barbara

(805) 967-1284, (800) 553-3387

San Diego County

Balboa Park of San Diego

Inez Grant Park Memorial Rose Garden, Desert Garden, Alcazar Garden, Japanese Friendship Garden, Old Cactus Garden, Zoro Garden, Marson House Garden

Visitors Center

1549 El Prado, San Diego

(619) 239-0512

The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch

704 Paseo Del Norte, Carlsbad

(760) 431-0352

Magee House and Garden

258 Beech Ave.

(760) 434-9189

Quail Botanical Gardens

230 Quail Gardens Drive,

Encinitas

(760) 436-3036

Riverside County

Desert Water Agency Demonstration Gardens

1200 Gene Autry Trail,

Palm Springs

(760) 323-4971

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

47900 Portola Ave., Palm Desert

(760) 346-5694

Moorten Botanical Garden

1701 S. Palm Canyon Drive,

Palm Springs

(760) 327-6555

Oasis Date Gardens

59111 Highway 111, Thermal

(760) 399-5665

Fairmont Park Rose Garden

2601 Fairmount Blvd., Riverside

(909) 826-2000

UC Riverside Botanic Gardens

Enter campus from Canyon Crest Avenue, follow signs.

(909) 784-6962