Regional Parks Botanic Garden

Wildcat Canyon Rd, Berkeley, CA 94708, United States

The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is a 10-acre (4-hectare) botanical garden located in Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley Hills, east of Berkeley, California, United States. It displays native California plants and is open to the public every day of the year, except New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The Garden was founded on 1 January 1940. Notable specimens include almost all state conifers and oaks, a very good collection of wild lilacs (Ceanothus species), perhaps the most complete collection of California manzanitas anywhere, an expanded collection of native California herds and aquatic herds, and representatives of some 300 rare and endangered California vascular taxa.

For the sake of clarity of display, the majority of the garden is divided into 10 geographically-based sections. The sections are Southern California (plants labeled with sand-colored labels), Shasta-Klamath (green labels), Valley-Foothill (yellow labels), Santa Lucia (orange labels), Channel Islands (black labels), Sierran (blue labels), Redwood (red labels), Sea Bluff (brown labels), Pacific Rain Forest (green labels), and Franciscan (yellow labels). The section of the canyon (brown labels) in the northernmost part of the garden is not geographically based. Plants are grouped here according to their individual horticultural requirements. 

Every year, the first plants to bloom in the Botanic Garden begin a flowering succession around mid-December and early January, making a continuous show for a full seven months. No month is devoid of plants of any attraction or other kind.

The Botanical Garden is partially accessible to persons with disabilities. This includes the bathrooms on the parking lot. The most accessible paths around the garden are to the right and to the left from the main entrance. The Visitor Center is fully accessible for wheelchair users.

In 2020, the Regional Parks Botanic Garden will not have a large spring plant sale (April), but we have scheduled our annual Fall Plant Sale as usual for the first Saturday in October (October 3rd, 2020). Bring cardboard boxes to carry out your purchases. Volunteers facilitate plant sales from 9 am to 12 pm on Thursday mornings and from 11 am to 2 pm on the first Saturday of each month. Seeds are available for sale in the lobby of the Visitor Center during open hours. Enjoy free teaching-guided garden tours most Saturdays at 2 p.m.; Sundays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Group tours are available on appointment.