South Bay Botanic Garden

Nestled on the campus of Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, our garden provides an educational and relaxing setting in the urban San Diego area. Only 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean and 5 miles north of the Mexico border, our site gets both cooling ocean breezes and, being just east of the coastal overcast belt, a good dose of sunshine each day. This allows us to plant a huge variety of plants that can escape both hot summers and frost-prone winters.

The garden's main goal is to provide landscape ideas and plant selections appropriate for the Southern California landscape. Visitors can see how to grow and prune productive fruit trees for small back yards, find out what plants are the best for water-conserving landscapes, get ideas for paving and hardscape features, and take a look at our tropical, cacti and succulent, and ground cover collections. And, the garden is a National Wildlife Federation approved sanctuary! Don't be surprised to see some hawks or owls nesting in the trees.