South Coast Botanic Garden, Botanical garden in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, US.
South Coast Botanic Garden covers 87 acres in the Palos Verdes Hills and holds over 150,000 plants from about 2,000 species, with especially rich collections from Australia and South Africa. Its gardens include the Water-wise Garden, Herb Garden, English Rose Garden and Garden of the Senses. A small lake and stream bed draw ducks, geese, coots and herons; over 300 bird species have been recorded.
From 1929 to 1956 the site was an open-pit mine that yielded over one million tons of crude diatomite. Los Angeles County bought the land in 1957 and ran a sanitary landfill there until 1965. In 1961 the Board of Supervisors approved the garden, and the first large planting in April 1961 put over 40,000 donated plants on completed fill above Rolling Hills Road.
The garden's plant collection is strongest in species from Australia and South Africa, alongside Coast Redwoods, Ginkgos and Pittosporum. Its named gardens — the Water-wise Garden, Herb Garden, English Rose Garden and Garden of the Senses — give visitors a route through the collection. A small lake and stream bed draw ducks, geese, coots and herons; over 300 bird species have been recorded here.
The garden entrance is at 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, about 10 miles south of Los Angeles International Airport. Paths cross ground that settles unevenly over the former landfill, so surfaces can shift and the irrigation system breaks frequently. The small lake is currently empty, and the stream bed still draws ducks, geese, coots and herons.
The garden's soil is almost entirely diatomaceous earth left from the open-pit mine, and decomposing organic matter in the landfill below still generates heat and gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Settling fill also breaks irrigation pipes.
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