Ruth Bancroft Garden
Walnut Creek, California

More than 2,000 succulents, cacti, trees, and shrubs native to Africa, Australia, California, and Chile populate this small garden, which focuses on water-conserving landscape techniques. The vision of Californian Ruth Bancroft, the garden showcases the horticultural wealth of deserts with its piñon pines, agaves, aloes, euphorbias, and other arid-climate plants. A water-lily pond offers an oasis in the sun.

Shore Acres
Coos Bay, Oregon

Surely one of America's most beautiful state parks, Shore Acres began as the private estate of lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson. Perched on a scenic bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this formal six-acre garden is loaded with tulip and daffodil bulbs, which effuse through April. Hundreds of fuchsia and white rhododendrons and azaleas bloom through mid-May, while 600 rose bushes and some 5,000 flowering annuals and perennials call forth a riot of color through the month of September. Monterey cypress and Sitka spruce frame the garden, and fall foliage displays are spectacular. Trails meander above the Pacific, and hikers can picnic at rocky Cape Arago while viewing marine mammals and tide-pool life.

Japanese Garden
Portland, Oregon

Some 40 years ago a Japanese idea was planted in Portland's West Hills. Since then, this seed has grown into one of America's most authentic Japanese gardens. Little more than five acres now contain five formal gardens: the Strolling Pond Garden, the Natural Garden, the Sand and Stone Garden, the Flat Garden, and the Tea Garden. The combination of plants, stones, and water represents ancient traditions based on Shinto, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies. A magnificent vista across Portland toward the Cascade Mountains and Mount Hood is just one of the serene, and yet always changing, aspects of this placid Asian retreat.

Ohme Gardens
Wenatchee, Washington

Native evergreens, western red cedar, and Douglas fir create shady spaces for ferns, phlox, creeping thyme, and other alpine plants, which thrive on a hill once covered by sagebrush. The gardens feature trees, stones, and water more than flowers—and magnificent panoramic views of the Columbia River and the Cascade Mountains.

Nani Mau Gardens
Hilo, Hawaii

Gardeners love rain, and at Nani Mau they get a lot of it: Annual rainfall here is 120 inches, which guarantees a bumper crop of floral beauty. The tropical plants on display include orchids, hibiscuses, anthuriums, and the Wanga palm, which can grow to 160 feet high. The 53-acre garden includes a fruit orchard where star fruits, litchis, soursops, Hawaiian oranges, and the medicinal noni fruit can be picked and tasted. Floral fragrance permeates this large Big Island garden.

National Tropical Botanical Garden
Kauai, Hawaii

Kauai is Hawaii's "garden island," home to four glowing sites managed by the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Allerton Garden, once on a private estate, is a series of "garden rooms" of unusual plants that provide spaces for contemplation. The McBryde Garden, blessed with an important collection of native Hawaiian plants, calls itself a "Noah's Ark of tropical flora." Limahuli Garden, a luxuriant 17-acre stretch of native tropical forest, has been dubbed America's best natural botanical garden. An isolated, 472-acre Kahanu Garden boasts lava formations and the world's largest collection of breadfruit cultivars.

Jardins de Métis
Grand Métis, Quebec

Situated at the confluence of the Métis and St. Lawrence Rivers, on the northern coast of the Gaspé Peninsula, this plant showcase is symbolized by its specialty, the radiant Himalayan blue poppy, which blooms in July. From spring to fall more than 3,000 species—including 500 native and exotic perennial species—grow here in a fiery profusion of blossoms in six ornamental gardens, thanks to a shield of white spruce trees that creates a warming microclimate.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
Vancouver, British Columbia

Classical gardens of the Ming dynasty, originally designed by Taoist poets to create a place for contemplation and inspiration, were retreats from daily life. This garden folded into Vancouver's Chinatown is the first full-scale classical Chinese garden built outside China. Four primary elements—water, stone, plants, and architecture—advance the Taoist theory of yin and yang: a sense of harmony created by opposites in balance. The garden is neatly enclosed and incorporates bonsai plants, Ming-style ornamentation, and stones from China.

Our Expert Consultants

Dr. Marc Cathey, President Emeritus, American Horticultural Society; former director, U.S. National Arboretum.

Gordon Hayward, garden designer, author, and lecturer, Horticulture, Fine Gardening.

Nathan Heavers, head gardener, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

Jack Ruttle, garden writer and columnist, Garden Design.

Jim Yoch, garden designer and author, Landscaping the American Dream: The Gardens and Film Sets of Florence Yoch.

Published in the March 2005 issue of National Geographic Traveler.