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Sonoma Botanical Garden

Name: Sonoma Botanical Garden
Rating: 3.50

Type: Trail

Length: N/A

Elevation Gain: N/A

Cost: $12.00

Rating:

(3.50)2

Difficulty: 2stars

(2.00)

Solitude:

(2.50)

ADA Accessible: N/A

Bikes Allowed: No

Dogs Allowed: No

Interpretive Guide: N/A

City: Glen Ellen

County: Sonoma

More Information: More Info

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Photos

The California Oaks trail lacks the many plant markers of the rest of the garden. But it does provides a nice trail with good views of Sonoma Mountain. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

The new water spout in the larger pond provides a visual and aural sensation. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

A larger waterfall passes beneath a bridge that separates the garden's two main ponds. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

Small waterfall feeding into one of the garden's ponds. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

One of the two main ponds in the garden. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

From the highest point in the garden, looking west across the valley towards Sonoma Mountain. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

Coppertone stops to read a sign next to the arbor. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

One of the gravel surfaced main trails in the garden. (Photo by Austin Explorer)

Log Entries

Bees and blooms
By Austin Explorer on 6/3/2023
Rating: 3stars

Difficulty: 2stars

Solitude:

Distance: 1.75 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Coppertone and I made our second visit to the garden today. Our first visit was less than ideal from a blooming standpoint. Our timing was a bit better on this visit. Despite the excellent weather there were not too many people visiting on this day.

One of the garden's newest additions was a large water spout in their largest pond. According to a docent working there the fountain is designed to aeriate the water in the pond that would otherwise become stagnant. But it also provides some pleasing sounds much like the nearby waterfall and a photo opportunity as well. We found a spot near an existing bench where one could see both the new fountain and the existing waterfall. Would be a perfect spot to sit for a spell.

Where there are blooms there are bees. Lots of them. We passed by many a plant encircled by a buzz of activity as bees diligently worked from flower to flower gathering pollen. Later in our hike we spotted a bee house constructed from a cut tree trunk and attached to another tree high in the air. The sound of the hive was impressive even from the ground. Within the hive the noise level must have been tremendous.

We accidentally stirred up a bunch of small blue butterflies who were puddling on a damp section of trail. With their wings closed it was difficult to see them since their undersides were grey. But when the lot took to flight we were stunned by the flash of blue as their top wings caught the light. Magical.

The California Oaks trail is a pleasant enough stroll. But there are just a couple of markers there. If you are looking for plants and their identification tags then you'll want to spend your time in the Asian Woodland section on the north side of the garden.

Finally stopped to hike here
By Austin Explorer on 12/18/2022
Rating: 4stars

Difficulty: 2stars

Solitude:

Distance: 1.70 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Coppertone and I were looking for a new place to walk, hopefully with not a lot of mud given the recent rains. Coppertone noted that we had overlooked the botanical garden over and over again despite several friends singing its praises. Today seemed like to good time to try them out.

Our plan was to mostly stick to the main thoroughfare gravel paths. Since the California Oaks section of the garden was said to be more muddy we opted to concentrate on the Asian Woodlands side of the park. Our first goal was to walk straight to the back to the highest point in the garden. Here some Tibetan prayer flags shadow a park bench which enjoys views over Sonoma Valley below and Sonoma Mountain.

We had recently walked at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Our impression was that the Sonoma Botanical Garden has more tagged plants in a given area. Our walks were frequently interrupted by questions such as, "what's that?", which was usually answered by a sign.

As we worked out way roughly counter clockwise back down the hill we encountered a Far Eastern Garden area that the official map marks as Ting. I've seen Ting referred to as a pavilion but I've also seen it mentioned as the Chinese character for listen. Either use applies well here. There are a number of small falls from two creeks that produce calming sounds. A traditional wooden pavilion provides a nice spot to sit and soak everything in.

South of the Ting garden lies two oblong ponds, each with a pleasant waterfall on their north ends. The "Lower Pond" is the largest of the two and features the tallest waterfall. At this point we were taking one of the many smaller trails that paralleled the ponds. At times it was a bit muddy here, but we didn't care.

We popped back out onto one of the gravel trails not too far from where we came in and decided to call it a day after 1.7 miles of walking. Our plan is to come back in the spring with a picnic lunch and systematically map every trail segment in the park.