Rose Garden

The three-acre garden has gone through many transformations since the Huntingtons’ time. It now contains more than 2,500 individual plants and more than 1,300 different cultivated varieties (cultivars). Beyond being a beautiful place to linger, the garden represents an extensive collection enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The spring bloom begins in late March and extends beyond Thanksgiving, thanks to Southern California’s mild climate.

Visitors entering the Rose Garden from the Shakespeare Garden find a winding pathway that leads from a spectacular hillside vista to a recently restored 18th-century French stone tempietto housing a statue entitled ‘Love, the Captive of Youth’, depicting Cupid and his captor, a fair maiden. Appropriately, the tempietto is encircled by a bed of ‘Passionate Kisses’ roses.

Each variety in the collection is labeled with its name, class, and date of introduction, offering a wonderful resource for rose fanciers. Visitors love strolling through the colorful beds and arbors, finding favorite shapes, color combinations, and fragrances. The most common question about roses is about fragrance. Even though there are fragrant roses scattered throughout the garden, there are two dedicated beds that contain nothing but heavily perfumed varieties. Visitors can smell to their hearts’ delight.