I was here on 9/21/2020.There is no parking fee, and small fee to walk around the garden.It has clean and very sanitized bathroom, a lot of benches to sit, and picnic tables.They have few different gardens.I really like succulent garden, and Australia garden.They have one of the largest selections of Portea family from South Africa and Australia.They are so big and huge plants.Those flowers are super beautiful and still really healthy looking.Those flowers very special, they are a smile from heaven.I think I was a little late to enjoy those stunning flowers, but because of that I will come back again.

I went for the first time with my sister and we loved it. The arboretum is pretty big, it could take a few 2+ hrs to walk through it if youre really into plants. The staff is really friendly. Be aware the plant shop is only open for curbside pickup!

Incredibly beautiful and so diverse! My favorite was the Australian garden and the succulent garden. Could spend 3+ hours here and only see a fraction of the beauty.

Informational, Inspirational, Commune with nature & plants from all over the world, while never leaving the area. Great place for peace & quiet. $5 Entry; plenty of easy parking; wonderful gift shop for take- home memorials.

More of a walking tour than a greenhouse. There are several easy flat walking paths. The temperature is usually arid and hot, and there are not many facilities for water so bring your own. Some of the terrain is rough rocks and might not be accessible to everyone.The garden is split into several large sections like a zoo that represent different climates. Each section is large enough that you will be unlikely to see another person.There is also plentiful wildlife, during my visit I saw lizards, various birds, deer and lots of rabbits.

Beautiful gardens covering multiple regions of the world with similar climates. Has information regarding the research being done there too which was interesting. Highly recommend!

Lots to see. Easy to walk paths, but several spots in need of repair. Signage good on the foliage, but markings for trails could be better. Really liked the Butterfly Garden and Succulent Garden.

Wonderful place, if you have free 1 hour at Santa Cruz-stop by for relaxing time. Well done.

My family and I loved it here! The trails are easy to follow and the plants are all marked for reference. You can take a guided tour or walk it alone. It was relaxing, had wonderful photo ops and was oh so pretty =)

Loved this place. Great place to spend few hours or days if you are really interested. We stopped by while were doing HWY 1. It was a quick stop for us but it was well worth it.

Honestly one of the best Arboretums I have been to. The fact that it is on a university campus makes it all the better. The Australian garden and New Zealand gardens are the best. If you come during butterfly season you can see them in the eucalyptus grove. The staff here is extremely friendly and very willing to help you with any of your needs.

The Arboretum is a self guiding tour of a variety of ecosystems found in California. One can walk from hillside desert vegetation to a variety of other flora within 50 metres. We had only half an hour to explore and the gift/information shop was already closed. We will return next time we are in the area to gladly pay the modest admission fee ($5) and explore for at least several hours.

A wonderful place for exotic and giant flowering plants of the Portea family from South Africa and Australia.

Great place to visit for plants from Aus, New Zealand and other places. Nice location.

It is a very beautiful place, great to go for a walk and enjoy the outdoors without having to worry about being lost. The plants are gorgeous and the wild bunnies are abundant. There is also an adorable cat who greets people when they walk by the office. It is somewhere I will definitely go out of my way to visit again anytime Im near Santa Cruz.

What a gem! Beutiful spot for an easy walk. You can spend anything between 15 mins to let the kids run around to a couple of hours walking the smaller paths. Lots of plants and beutiful trails.

Poorly maintained place. Confusing signs. Not worth your time

Amazing. So beautiful. Great place to wander, walk/talk with friends, picnic with littles, etc. Lots of special benches, and sometimes picnic tables, tucked away in your own little private area. Just choose where in the world you want to go, Australia, Africa, New Zealand.. Favorite is the succulent garden, aroma garden, and hummingbird paths. See a bunny almost every visit.

Quiet, peaceful and lovely. Not crowded and masks are required

Excellent place!!! So much Flora and natural landscapes.

Just a beautiful place to enjoy and learn. Just dont go when its hot..

There is a great collection of plants from several places in the world with climates similar to Santa Cruz. There is a nice gift shop with plants.

Plant lovers paradise, lots of mostly natural looking areas with some more formal gardens as well. Great gift shop with cool plants from around the world that you prob arent going to find at a regular nursery.

What a beautiful and interesting gem in Santa Cruz. Our family visited these lush grounds over the holidays, and all four generations enjoyed the day.

Wonderful place to visit and learn. Great exhibition of Australian, South African and Californian plants. Nice easy walk with an experience docent guiding the tours. Go check it out!

Wow- what a great place to visit! I went to Santa Cruz to see Henry Cowell Redwoods park and wondered what else was in the area. I saw on Maps that UCSC had an Arboretum, open to the public, so went. So many neat plants, from the other world places with a Mediterranean climate. The Australian garden, the South African, the New Zealand, all were superb. Well worth the $5 parking fee. If you find yourself in Santa Cruz, definitely make the visit!

Hidden gem of Santa Cruz! Must see for everyone. We will definitely come again, super nice arboretum

Very beautiful and inspiring garden. We can feel the care and passion of the team that works there. Thank you for this great experience!

Great picnic location a real hidden gem...

Such a sweet garden with such a cool concept! Love the different areas of the world, really makes me feel like Im traveling from place to place as I walk through the garden and smell the fresh air.

Great collection of unique plants, plus some interesting artwork.

Amazing place. You should visit.

Wonderful meandering pathways. Deer, bunnies, lizards, hummingbirds and peculiar plants

Nice arboretum, $5 per person is very reasonable. Saw lots of hummingbirds. Even on a beautiful Sunday afternoon it was so quiet.

Very Zen. Easy to wonder without coming across many other people. If you want to talk to a gardener, they are easy enough to find, but they leave you be.

Georgous designs.

Simply beautiful! A place to Meditate and to relax with family and friends.

I love this place and have enjoyed witnessing plants I have never seen, however, I find it to be quite ironic when the values of Santa Cruz as a whole are taken into account. Amidst all the attempts to restore native plants in the area, the extreme floral diversity here is not contained (nor is it truly containable) and is diffusing all types of non-native pollen in the air. Minus 1 star for that reason

Beautiful gardens, plants from around the world and hummingbirds everywhere (especially African area). Quiet and peaceful especially on weekdays. Easy walking, mostly flat paths, many paved with plenty of shade.

The place is huge and nicely maintained. Definitely worth a visit if you are into plants

Amazing collection of trees from all over. Absolutely worth a visit if you appreciate nature at all. Australian, South African and New Zealand themed gardens full of birds and butterflies.

Great place to visit. A must see when in the area. Very unique plant types you will only see here. Do it. Do not hesitate.

This is an absolutely beautiful place. We only noticed it on our last day in town, we would have went back if we had another few days.

Beautiful gardens from around the world! Friendly staff and a good place to walk around, do homework, or simply relax!

We loved our walk around this special place. Lots of interesting plants you don’t see elsewhere.

Nice place to walk around. We were there during a drought so they had stopped watering. But still nice

Beautiful place to relax. Hummingbirds.

A great place to take a walk through

Nice collection of plants and vegetation from around the world. Many plants were flowering but unfortunately others had been done flowering since it was already fall.

Nice try but a miss

Great place, well maintained and super friendly staff

At least they are somewhat sane. Also where is Penelope for goodness sakes and I don’t know Ted never met them yet. They probs keep me away from all that on purpose. Michael knows I WONT do lawyers or politics. (Well- aside from one but that’s another story). I will just as soon leave and go back to Costa Rica or the Netherlands. Not my thing at all and never will be. I did what I had to as a MEDIC AND AS A DIPLOMAT but not in a political sense. That’s not my job so please just don’t :/ no interest at all. It makes me physically ill.

...its simple but beautiful!

Best of our climate zone, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, California

Wonderful tour of the gardens and the gift shop was very nice

Interesting, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see this ...

Beautiful Botanic Garden, BIG! Im gonna take the family there for a picnic among Mother Natures splendor!

We enjoy the peace and quiet here. Weve yet to experience crowds which is always a plus. The array of plant life and the various insects and lizards is diverse and interesting. The gift shop closes promptly so if you want a souvenir its helpful to arrive early. We especially enjoy the redwood grove at the back of the arboreteum. Well be back again soon....

Spend a lot of time here if you want to have a great life

Got to visit the wonderful collection of manzanitas out in the far backside of the gardens.

Great arboretum with large sections representing different areas of the earth. Excellent, healthy specimens throughout!

Excellent venue for a 1 year olds birthday party - beautiful setting, clean community space, and plenty of parking. We were able to walk the gardens after the party and enjoy the amazing collection of plants from around the world. Definitely an inexpensive and enjoyable place to take small children or have a romantic sunset walk.

I read that on average visitors spend half an hour here. I cant think thats right. We spent 4 hours there in upper 90s heat yesterday and still didnt see it all. There are plenty of nice wooden benches placed around for resting, observing birds, butterflies and just enjoying the place. Yes, the gift shop is nice and has a really nice selection of live plants, but I wouldnt list it as the highlight. In fact, I cant easily pick a favorite featured area. Anyone who loves our local unique climate should enjoy learning of the other places on the globe that share the same.Admission is very reasonable. Generalized map available paper or download to your phone. I would like a more detailed map because it easy to miss some of the many trails. I cant wait for cool weather to go mill around on an overcast day.Right now highlights are the scent garden (sages rule!), cactus and succulents.

Very fun way to spend 2-3 hours in Santa Cruz!

During the Winter and Spring the arboretum springs to life with a wide variety of plant life.The arboretum features 4 gardens and 1 nature trail: the California, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand gardens, as well as the Butterfly Trail (a popular scenic walk among the trees and shrubs right off the visitor center).The visitor center itself features bike racks, a gravel parking lot that fills up quick, gender neutral restrooms, and a drinking fountain.The arboretum is also relatively easy to access from Oakes College (via a downhill trail from West Remote Parking), the Village (via the trail around the south end of the farm) if you don’t mind the walk, or the northbound Arboretum bus stop right next to the water tower.

Very beautiful arboretum. As a student you can get in for free and hike around. The plants, unlike other arboretums I have visited, are more focused on the local plants of the California area. Therefore, expect to see more drier and not so colorful types of plants, which are California plants.

Sustainable Urban Food Initiative

This is a most invigorating place for kids and adults alike. My son comes alive, exploring here, and I find it peaceful and beautiful. We all enjoy strolling or running through the different gardens and pretending we are in different countries!

Fantastic flora and fauna, great way to spend the afternoon walking about, be sure to leave your donations at the gate.

Good to visit to see South Africa Australia New California flowers.

Wonderful place to discover Global Mediterranean climates similar to Santa Cruz.

Beautiful species of trees, shrubs, cactuses. Also, very nice layout to walk through the different parts of the park, you can easily spend 1h+ here.

So much more even than expected. What a beautiful, breath taking, and absolutely free way to spend an afternoon

So amazing. I hope to see a wider variety in the future.

The Arboretum is gorgeous, with plenty of picnic benches in paradise begging for a lunch date. The plant prices in the shop are reasonable, and the front desk service is always friendly and helpful. My wife got us an annual family pass after going through it once, and we look forward to coming back again soon.

We had opportunity to see Humming bird from a close angle & different types plants of different countries one can see here

Great variety of foliage organized by region, but beware the poison oak.

A wonderful place to walk the paths and explore! So many beautiful plants from around the world, and so many humming birds. Very peaceful. The people who work there are great too, very obvious they love what they do.

We arrived near closing (5 pm), so were only able to quickly view three gardens. Each was magnificent and the Mediterranean climate permits a unique collection of plants. There are plants for sale as well.

Lovely! A different experience every time. You can see rabbits here as well as deer and a wide selection of hummingbirds and supposedly even bobcats and mountain lions.

I acquired my succulent children here. I love them so much

Fun community space for plant lovers! All kinds of interesting species from natives to exotics. Creates a natural habitat for animals as well so its twice as much fun. Dont miss out on the proteas and their fun and eccentric blooms.

Paradise for birders. Australia gardens are teeming with hummingbirds. I wish they opened earlier and stayed open longer. Birds are more active early.

Love this place for a walk the plants are all labeled so you know what you are looking at.

Amazing place and best of all is Free!This is the biguest garden with Native plants in the world.

A number of temperate gardens from various parts of the world. Organized in sections for South African, New Zealand, Australian, and native species. There is a lot to see and learn, with many animals. A lot of people come specifically to see the hummingbirds that have taken residence there.

Relaxing place to wander around on the many concrete pavements and other non-madeup tracks. Features many bushes, succulents and trees most of which are labelled with their Latin and common names as well as places of origin.

Extraordinary collection of plants and trees from many continents. A lot of wildlife to see here too

The plants, the trails, the people, the peaceful atmosphere.

Wonderful place

It was very nice walking around it.

Largest collection of exotic plants in western US. Great Australian and South African groves. Attracts lots of birds. Good special exhibits and occasional classes. Great for picnics. Most flowers in Spring. Space is rentable for outdoor weddings and other special events. Closes at 5 pm. Includes small garden store with exotic plants for sale. Wheelchair accessible. Free parking. Modest admission fee.

Great place for a walk around different global floral environments.

Great family outing. Some truly exotic plants from Australia, that you wont see locally.

Its so beautiful here. They really take care of the gardens. This place is hummingbird heaven, along with many other species. Good place for photography and bird enthusiasts. You could sit here and watch the birds for hours. No pets. Pay a small fee to park, but it goes towards the gardens.

A nice place for a quiet walk and to learn about lots of plants

Lovely garden to walk around and visit.

This place is awesome!

It’s okay for a short stroll. The cacti and succulent garden was better than the Australian/new zealand garden...after 10-15 it can get boring. I think the other UC botanical garden is more interesting bcz they have fruit trees, butterfly garden, iris garden, and more gazebo/garden structures features ...

Angelica was extremely helpful helping me choose a birthday gift for a friend! Thanks!