Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Mission Canyon, California, United States

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The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, located in Mission Canyon, California, was established in 1926 when philanthropist Anna Dorinda Blaksley Bliss purchased 13 acres with the intent to create a garden dedicated to California native plants as a memorial to her father.

The garden was originally called the Blaksley Botanic Garden and focused on cultivating plants from the California Floristic Province, covering native species from California, southwestern Oregon, and northwest Baja California. The layout features distinct plant communities like chaparral, desert, and prairie, designed to unite aesthetic appeal with educational and scientific research.

Mission Creek runs through the garden, which also contains historical elements such as the Mission Dam built in 1806 by Native Americans under Spanish direction. Over the decades, the garden expanded to about 78 acres, preserving native vegetation on hillsides and offering more than a thousand labeled plant species.

Today, it operates both as a botanical conservation center and a popular attraction with extensive hiking trails and educational programs, drawing over 200,000 visitors annually.