San Francisco Botanical Garden

What you need to know

The San Francisco Botanical Garden is a 55-acre garden inside Golden Gate Park. It holds roughly 9,000 different plant species, with collections drawn from climates similar to San Francisco’s: Mediterranean, cloud forest, Australasian, and high-elevation tropical. The mild, foggy summer climate supports plants from Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, and Southeast Asia that don’t survive most of the rest of North America.

History

Helene Strybing left a bequest in 1926 to fund the arboretum. WPA crews started planting in 1937, and the garden opened to the public in May 1940 as Strybing Arboretum. It was renamed the San Francisco Botanical Garden in 2004. The Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture (a major horticultural library for Northern California) is on site.

Sections

The Mesoamerican Cloud Forest collection holds high-elevation plants from Central and South America. The Ancient Plant Garden displays species from plant families that predate the evolution of flowers. The Redwood Grove is a stand of coast redwoods inside the park. The California Native Garden grows plants native to the state. The Magnolia Collection draws bloom-watchers from January through March.

Paths loop through the sections by region. Most visits run 1 to 2 hours; full coverage takes longer.

Visiting

Hours: Opens daily at 7:30am. Last entry varies seasonally: 6pm March-Sept, 5pm October and early November, 4pm November-January, 5pm February-early March. The garden closes one hour after last entry.

Cost: $17.25 adults, $9.25 youth (12-17) and seniors (65+), $5.25 children (5-11). Family rate $33.25 (two adults plus their kids). Free for San Francisco residents with ID, US military and veterans, and members. Free for everyone from 7:30 to 9am daily and on the second Tuesday of each month.

Getting There

The N-Judah light rail stops at 9th Avenue and Irving, a five-minute walk from the 9th Avenue gate. The 44 O’Shaughnessy bus stops on Lincoln Way at 9th Avenue, adjacent to the gate. The Music Concourse Garage is the nearest paid parking; free street parking is available on Lincoln Way and around 9th Avenue, though it fills early on weekends.