3 1 Sounds Ana Josepha’s Cactus Garden Between the swoosh of the Metro Blue Line on the Maria de los Reyes’ Rose Garden west side of Casa Claret and the rumble of trucks and In 1974, Father Pat McPolin convinced the Long trains along Alameda Street and the Alameda Railway Our rose garden was planted in the 1930s by Beach Garden Club to plant a cactus garden here. Corridor, you might hear the chirp of a humming bird, the Claretian seminarians. It features over 200 Large cacti, agaves, aloes, Ponytail palms, silk- the buzz of bees, the bark of a fox squirrel, or the high- varieties of hybrid tea rose floss trees, and other drought tolerant plants here pitched screech of a Red-tailed Hawk. bushes. They look and represent desert areas found around the world, smell beautiful, but require a lot of water The Golden Barrel Cactus under the Ponytail Palm at Sights to maintain showy, the entrance is a good example of a desert plant. In each garden, try to spot butterflies, bees, and other fragrant flowers in This rare, endangered cactus grows on dry, volcanic insect pollinators. Turn over a rose leaf and you may our semi-arid climate. rock in the mountains of the Mexican states of see aphids eating it— and lady bugs eating the aphids. Bubbler sprinklers Queretaro, Zacatecas, and Hidalgo. Succulent flesh Spend a few minutes in the gardens and you are likely irrigate the roses and an accordion shape allow it to expand and store to see Humming birds, Sparrows, Goldfinches, Orioles, without wasting water. water during rare desert rains. Thorns protect it or Parrots. You may also see a Western Fence Lizard, from animals that would rob it of stored water. The a Southern Alligator Lizard, or fox squirrel. Golden Barrel Cactus has been overharvested by 2 poachers—and construction of the Zimapan dam DOMINGUEZ RANCHO in Hidalgo has greatly reduced its native habitat. Fragrances ADOBE GARDENS Guadalupe’s Butterfly Other cacti growing here include the Prickly Pear Aromatic oils in drought-tolerant native California plants and Native Herb Garden Cactus, Organ Pipe Cactus, and Mexican Fence protect them from drying out, and from the piercing Self-Guided Tour Post Cactus. proboscis of insect-predators that would rob them of The Butterfly and Native Herb Garden, which was precious water. To enjoy their fragrance, gently pull a Entry Plaza planted in 2015, is at the north end of the Rose The Cactus Garden borders are lined with rust- stem of Sage or Rosemary between two fingers. Then, Garden. It includes both showy and narrow-leaved colored basalt rocks formed from lava that flowed hold your fingers under your nose. Inside the courtyard, Mediterranean fan palms reclining in milkweed, Cleveland sage, purple and white sages, out of volcanoes in the Mojave Desert. Holes in beds of colorful day lilies seem to stretch out to greet visitors. and California and coastal buckwheat. Many these rocks formed when carbon dioxide and other species of butterflies visit these plants. You may gases became trapped in bubbles in the cooling lava. The garden centerpiece is a gently spouting fountain— see the Cabbage White butterfly (1-2 inch white reminiscent of a time when artesian springs were the main wings), Gulf Fritillary (2-3 inch wings, orange with Sand in the garden is decomposed granite—the source of water on the arid Dominguez Rancho. black dots), Fiery Skipper (1 inch yellow wings— same sand that covers much of California’s Mojave looks like a moth), or the Monarch butterfly (3-4 Desert. It began as large boulders in the mountains. inch wings, orange with prominent black veins). Rain washed the boulders down the mountains, About the Gardens breaking them into smaller and smaller pieces until On fifteen acres surrounding the ancestral Dominguez family Butterfly gardens are important in Southern they reached the desert floor as gravel and sand. home there are 6 gardens—each one named for one of the California because many species of flowering plants With little rain, living things in the desert are often daughters of Manuel and Maria Dominguez. Here you will find that butterflies eat have been removed to make small and far apart. fragrant roses, flitting butterflies, strange desert plants, an way for streets and buildings. Gardens such as this The sandy soil drains area for children to make adobe bricks and learn the history one typically have two types of fast and holds of the Rancho, a 200-year-old orchard, and a beautiful grotto. plants—nectar plants little in the way In each of our gardens, we invite you to enjoy the Sights, that provide food for of nutrients. Sounds, and Fragrances of the nature and history of California. adult butterflies—and host plants where caterpillars hatch from VISITING THE GARDENS eggs and feed. In our The gardens are open from 1-4 pm on Wednesdays, garden the roses, Saturdays, and Sundays. They are also open from 1-4 pm sages and buckwheat on the first Thursday and Friday of each month. are nectar plants, and the milkweed Docent-led garden tours begin at 11:00 am on the 4th (Aesclepias) is Saturday of each month. To volunteer to help clean, the host plant for restore, and preserve our gardens call (310) 603-0088. Monarch Butterflies. 4 6 Dolores’s Children’s Garden Susanna’s Botanical Garden On Alameda Street, north of the current entrance to In this garden, there is a children’s activity area, a 3 4 the Dominguez Rancho, there is another gate and a children’s vegetable garden with themed garden beds, and a children’s native herb garden. 2 5 driveway lined with Magnolia, Carrotwood, and Palm trees. The landscape on either side of the driveway forms Susanna’s Botanical Garden. Many of the mature trees and shrubs in this garden were brought here by Children’s Gregorio del Amo, from his nursery. Activity Area 1 Non-native plants that thrive in southern California are well suited to moderately cool winters, hot dry Here children Casa Claret summers, and low fertility soils. In Susanna’s Botanical have fun and (not open 6 Garden there are hundred-foot tall Mexican fan palms, connect with to the public) Norfolk Island Pines, Canary Island Palms, Podacarpus California history Trees, Moreton Bay Fig trees, Carob Trees, a large as they simulate Deodar Cedar, and Olive Trees. As became clear to Dr. dipping tallow candles, panning for gold—and Del Amo and the many southern California gardeners molding sun-dried adobe bricks from genuine Adobe Museum and landscapers that followed him, plants from all over Dominguez Rancho adobe clay. (Tour the home) the world do well here if you water them year round. Adobe brick construction—still common in arid, Restrooms In the 1930s, the Claretian seminarians built a Japanese Mediterranean climates--was introduced to garden on the east side of the Dominguez house. It has California by Spanish missionaries in the 1700’s. brick paths and wooden bridges, a small brook with Adobe clay is abundant here, and sun-dried water falls (now dry), and a brick patio with tables inlaid adobe clay bricks last for many years. White- with Japanese and art deco tile mosaics. Adjacent is a washed adobe beautiful grotto enshrining a statue of Our Lady of Grace. homes hold up in winter Children’s Vegetable Garden The Grotto is built of rocks that resemble the lava rocks rains. When that line our Cactus Garden. Closer inspection reveals reinforced with Our children’s vegetable garden is undergoing new that the holes in these rocks were formed by the action timbers, they construction. When complete, children will be able to of Piddock clams. In tidepools along our coast, these withstand the plant, nurture, pick, and take home healthy vegetables clams bore holes in sandstone rocks. The holes allow shaking of mild grown in “food-themed” sections of the garden. In the the clams to keep a footing in the pounding surf at earth-quakes. “pizza garden” bed, for example, children will grow places such as Thick-walled tomatoes and their favorite vegetable toppings (Bell 5 White Point, adobe brick buildings are slow to warm on hot Peppers? Artichokes? Basil?). days and slow to cool on cold nights. For all these Pt. Fermin, and reasons, Spanish settlers built their missions, Victoria’s Orchard Cabrillo beach. They will learn how to compost vegetable waste into The remains presidios, and pueblos of adobe. clean nutrient rich garden soil amendments in the large In the late 1800’s, the Dominguez family planted a of tube snails composting bins. citrus orchard here. Son-in-law George Carson added (another tidepool other types of fruit trees. Around 1900, he planted Children’s Native Herb Garden species) are 200 acres of oranges and lemons, but most of these attached to some The final phase of the Children’s garden will be a place were removed in 1932. Son-in-law Gregorio del Amo of these rocks. for kids to learn how to grow native California herbs. started Del Amo nursery in 1921. He used the grounds Clamshells and of the Dominguez Rancho to test plants he might sell beach pebbles These native herbs are well suited to our wet winters, at the nursery. Del Amo planted kumquats and other embedded in hot and dry summers, and low fertility soils. They are exotic fruits in this orchard. You will also find orange, concrete also used for fragrance, for medicines, for Native purification tangerine, lemon, loquat, persimmon, fig, Jacaranda, adorn the rocks. rituals, and to spice up the taste of food. and cherimoya trees growing here.