Gardening enthusiasts and plant lovers are spoiled for choice in Berkeley. Not only can visitors spend days wandering through the UC Botanical Garden, but the city is also home to the Regional Parks Botanic Garden at Tilden, and the famous Rose Garden. What joy!
I wrote about my lovely perambulation through the UC Garden, complete with a “Secret Paths” tour. It was magical. And while the garden at Tilden is smaller and is solely devoted to plants native to California, it is no less enchanting. Here are just a few of the plants that captured my attention: the towering Humboldt Lily (I have never seen lilies that grow so tall–I had to aim upward and zoom in to take the photo), the aptly named Fried Egg Flower (Romneya), and an unknown fern.
We passed by the Berkeley Rose Garden right around lunch time–a hard time of day to take photographs unless there is a bit of shade somewhere–but here is a lovely magenta rose whose name I never discovered, and an overview of the garden itself, which is set amphitheater style into the hillside:
Perennial Pastimes 