This coming March, the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech is sponsoring a garden tour of southern California. The dates are March 4-10, 2007. In March, California is lush and green. The green is a bright, almost chartreuse green and, with a little rainfall, the desert can suddenly come into bloom. The climate is mild and varied, so gardens and plants grow well. For these and other reasons, California has a long, rich history of wonderfully exotic gardens

This trip is your chance to see some of the best gardens on the west coast. Our adventure begins at Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC, and then heads to Los Angeles and San Diego to see an early spring in California.

Southern California is home to many fine gardens and a large variety of plants and garden styles. Included in the trip are visits to the Huntington, LA Arboretum, Quail Botanical Gardens, The Getty Center and the Getty Villa, Balboa Park, Joshua Tree National Park and a couple of private gardens along the way. This trip is open to anyone interested in gardens and horticulture.

The dates are March 4-10, 2007 and the cost per person is $1,550 (double occupancy).

I am your host for this fantastic journey. As a landscape architect and associate professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech, I have been teaching landscape design and lecturing on garden history for 28 years. I’ve planned every detail of this trip to make certain that it will be more than memorable. I'd like to invite you to join me on this exciting study tour to California. Check out the itinerary and details about the trip and contact me if you have any questions.

Robert F. McDuffie
Landscape Architect and Associate Professor
Virginia Tech