Tilden Botanical Garden Tour
Details
A Mid-Winter Stroll through Tilden Park’s Botanic Garden
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 10 am to 2 pm
Leaders: Anna Gil and Kurt Rademacher
While many of the world’s plants basically “close shop” during winter, for those which evolved to thrive in California’s “Mediterranean” climate with its mild winters and long, hot, rainless summers, the early winter rains signal a spring-like resurrection! Long patient seeds germinate, ferns unfurl, and the mossy tree trunks and iconic yellow hillsides soon erupt into emerald green.
Join us for an intriguing walk through the Regional Parks Botanic Garden tucked into a valley in the Berkeley Hills. This is a “living museum” of California’s varied plant communities, from deserts and alpine meadows to chaparral and coastal rainforests. We will explore how various plants adapt to their unique habitats and seasons: their structures and ‘tricks’ to both thrive and survive the exuberant and the dormant times.
For now, winter uncloaks a surprising palette of variously colored seeds, twigs, and buds in reds, purples, yellows and greens on leafless plants like the various willows, maples and dogwoods. The garden’s scores of Manzanita species are in full, if dainty, bloom, as are some other early bloomers like the anxious milk maids and the secretive fetid adder’s tongue. Don’t expect to see anything abloom in the Sierran meadow section, though we will learn what their alpine colleagues are doing beneath their current snowpack.
Come prepared for a cold-weather walk on potentially wet trails and stony stairways for this peek into the winter world of our native plants. This walk will be about one mile long.
Directions: East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park, via Shasta Road approach, Berkeley. Intersection of Wildcat Canyon Road and South Park Road. Carpool Options: Meet at 9 am, leave by 9:15 Larkspur Landing Shopping Center, aka “Marin Country Mart” near the East end of the shopping center near Design Within Reach
Bring: Water, a snack/lunch. Dress in layers. A hiking pole and sturdy shoes are advised, as surfaces can be uneven. Rain cancels.
Email Ann with any questions: annonfire@gmail.com Text for day-of-trip questions or issues: 530-521-4402
Please:
- New Year, new waiver. Please sign the CNPS Marin 2026 Waiver
- Practice clean trail etiquette. Pocket Guide – Every Step Counts and Cleanliness Tips for Hikers
- No dogs on this trip.