Theodore Payne Native Garden Tour to Feature Two Pasadena Gardens

This year’s 16th annual Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour, a two-day self-guided journey through the Los Angeles region’s most beautiful and inspiring home landscapes, will feature two gardens in Pasadena on Saturday, April 6. The tour will continue on Sunday, April 7, with gardens on the West Side of Los Angeles.

Also featured in the Saturday tour is one garden in Altadena and three gardens in La Canada Flintridge. At each location, tour participants will meet garden owners, designers, knowledgeable docents and fellow gardeners, and will learn about native plants, garden design, and wildlife habitat.

The gardens on this Tour contain at least 50 percent native plants. Each garden is a personal expression of place, created in harmony with Southern California’s climate, soil, natural vegetation, and native wildlife.

The gardens are divided into two groups: one open Saturday and the other open Sunday. At each location, the native plants are labeled, and garden owners, designers, and docents can tell you about the site’s unique challenges and characteristics.

Visit www.nativeplantgardentour.org for plant lists and photos of each garden, as well as more information about the Tour and its sponsors.

Since 2003, the Sun Valley-based Theodore Payne Foundation, together with passionate native gardeners throughout Los Angeles County, has set the standard for Southern California’s sustainable landscaping by sponsoring the Native Plant Garden Tour.

The Tour has proven time and again that native gardens are beautiful and can be designed on any budget, and reminds people that each one of them plays a critical role in supporting biodiversity.

Nearly 20,000 people have taken the Garden Tour over the past 15 years, with almost 600 gardens having participated, including some perennial favorites.

This year’s Tour showcases 29 gardens, including 14 – two in Pasadena – that are new to the Tour.

Theodore Payne Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1960, re-wilds Southern California by bringing native plants back into the region’s cities, creating habitat that supports local ecosystems, and helping people embrace their shared natural heritage.

The Foundation’s 22-acre Sun Valley site is home to an education center, retail nursery, demonstration gardens, hiking trail, art gallery and bookstore. Admission is free, and the grounds are open to the public year-round.

Learn more about the Foundation at www.theodorepayne.org.