Celebrate Springtime at San Diego Botanic Garden

It’s spring again, and there’s no better place to experience the season than San Diego Botanic Garden.

This year, there’s more going on than ever, so get ready to put on your walking shoes, enjoy the blooming scene, and maybe dive into one of the following special events.

Forest/Nature Bathing

April 10, 9-11 a.m.; May 15, 9-11 a.m.

Spring is a great time to immerse yourself in this deeply satisfying way of connecting to nature. It’s been popular in Japan for several decades, where doctors give patients prescriptions for Forest Bathing, and eco-psychologist Rhana Kozak, a longtime SDBG docent and certified Forest Therapy guide, has been leading healing walks through the Garden since 2018—with a year-long timeout for Covid.

Forest/Nature Bathing guide Rhana Kozak.

(Lonnie Hewitt)

Walking with Rhana is a full body-mind experience, a bath for all your senses. Paying what Rhana calls “extravagant attention” to your surroundings turns out to be both relaxing and exhilarating.

Current research confirms that our immune systems benefit from spending time in the natural world, and every walk starts out with a welcoming whiff of some fragrant bit of greenery and concludes with herbal teas and healthy tidbits. “What a perfect morning!” said one of last month’s happy walkers. It certainly was.

Questions? Contact rhanakozak@gmail.com

Forest Bathing option: enjoying the Bamboo Forest from the ground up.

(Lonnie Hewitt)

Watercolor Plants with Skye Walker

April 23, 2-5 p.m.

Create your own plant-centered watercolors with local artist Skye Walker, who will show you how to play with color and technique using the botanical beauties inside the Dickinson Conservatory as your models. All skill levels are welcome, and you’ll receive a list of recommended materials with your registration.

The Garden also offers indoor and outdoor yoga classes, some with musical accompaniment. Classes require advance registration, fees include Garden admission, and you can stay all day if you like. sdbgarden.org/classes.htm

For children’s programs, see sdbgarden.org/kids.htm

World of Orchids

May 7-June 12

Starting Mother’s Day weekend, you can view hundreds of orchids, some of them rare plants on loan from local orchid societies, inside the spacious, glass-enclosed Dickinson Conservatory. This is an orchid show with a difference: René van Rems, an acclaimed horticultural designer and SDBG’s Artist-in-Residence, will create a new floral display every week, encouraging multiple visits. sdbgarden.org/orchids.htm

Seeing the Invisible

Continuing through August 2022

And if you haven’t seen the Invisible yet, it’s a surprising new way of experiencing the Garden, an engaging event that calls out to be shared with family or friends—and a smartphone camera. For more about this Augmented Reality art-and-nature adventure, which is included with admission but needs to be scheduled in advance, see the Encinitas Advocate story at bit.ly/3jfuJYN

San Diego Botanic Garden

Quail Gardens Drive and Ecke Ranch Rd, Encinitas

Hours: 9 to 5, Wednesday-Monday, closed Tuesday.

Admission: $10-18, members free.

sdbgarden.org (760) 436-3036