There is a quiet garden that many Santa Barbarians don’t know of, with miles of trails through rock, tree and river among a wide variety of interesting native plants.
6755 SB Botanical Garden
We had lived here a while before a friend told us of the free path on the hillside above the Garden. That’s it to the right of the road, running up the right side of the pic. The main buildings are in the middle, and flowing down the shady canyon on the left is a maze of quiet trails that are our favorite part of a visit. There’s even a small grove of majestic redwoods that seems to have survived the wildfire of a few years ago. Here’s a better look at the paths of the upper free trail, which is across the road from the Botanical Garden proper.
6748 Upper Garden
Seems to me there used to be a few more trees there, but I’m glad quite a few are there still. At the top of the first photo you can see the small rectangular building in this next pic.
6762 Spiral Shelter
Looks like a great place to shelter on a hot day, and we’re looking forward to getting a closer look sometime soon because it’s new since our last visit a few years ago. Last up is another angle on the main buildings, revealing what we hope is a “new” public cafe on the deck with tables sporting green umbrellas.
6764 Garden Cafe?
Maybe we can at least take a picnic to enjoy there, perhaps overhearing botanists talking about the latest exotic species in the Garden.
John & Anne Wiley 
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