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Covering 87 acres, the South Coast Botanic Garden offers a wide variety of blooming trees, shrubs, and flowers all year. It is a public garden that is owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles.

Unique from the start, South Coast Botanic Garden is one of the world's first botanical gardens to be developed over a sanitary landfill. The Garden is a masterpiece of creative land reclamation and environment improvement for all to share. It is a living testimonial to the fact that land reclamation not only offers a practical solution to refuse disposal problems, but also beautifies and improves land values at the same time. The Garden has become a beautiful and restorative urban oasis among the hustle and bustle of a major mega-metropolitan area.

At one point in time it was covered by the Pacific Ocean. In the ocean were vast populations of single cell algae called diatoms. As the diatoms died they settled to the floor of the ocean and collected, leaving behind a sediment known as crude diatomite or diatomaceous earth. It has myriad industrial uses, such as for filtration and as an insulating or strengthening component in building materials. Mining was done in this area for the crude diatomite.

In 1961 the site was converted into a botanic garden. It was an exciting experiment in sanitary landfill reclamation. In April the first major planting took place with over 40,000 donated trees, shrubs and other plants. Since then, the plant collection has significantly increased to more than 200,000 plants.

From open pit mine to sanitary landfill to stupendous garden, the South Coast Botanic Garden has come a long way. Bursting with color and varied plant and wildlife, the grounds are a spectacular sight. The Garden has much to offer including:

Cactus Garden
Mediterranean Garden
Japanese Garden including a Koi Pond
3 Bears' House Children's Garden
Rose Garden
Dahlia Garden
Fuchsia Garden
Mediterranean Garden
Garden for the Senses
WaterWise Garden
Volunteer Flower Garden

One of my favorite places to shoot flowers, plants, birds, insects, just about anything that grows!
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