New California trail revealed at Sonoma Botanical Garden

While the Sonoma Botanical Garden has long been known for its Asian influence, its newest trail is all about California.

The wheelchair-accessible trail is a little under a half mile, and has about a 5% grade. The route plants you directly into the Asian Garden where hikers can view a wide variety of plants native to East Asia.

The first half of the trail takes you past the garden’s vineyard, where the sun shines down without any shade. There are oak trees that have been pruned sparsely spread across the property around old buildings and grassy hillsides. Eventually, they will blossom into large, full specimens.

There are also a few small oak trees scattered on the boarder of the trail that were planted by the garden. The walk is designed to grow and transform slowly over decades before it fully embodies the spirit of Sonoma nature. For now, it provides a nice path with easy access to the Asian Garden.

“We don’t have plantings here yet, but we want people to be able to get to the garden,” Kate Rabuck, the director of visitor experience, said. “Setting up the infrastructure so that everybody will be able to experience to the space.”

The second half of the trail is under a trove of oak trees accompanied by a creek, which is dry for now but will carry water in the winter season.

The trail’s steepest point is Rabuck’s favorite, because she can lookout onto the Valley, the vineyard, the creek, the shady and exposed parts of the trail and see a perfect snapshot of local native Sonoma nature.

After the lookout, there’s a flat path that takes you right to the entrance of the Asian Garden. Rabuck said that this part of the route acts as a sort of transition zone from California native plants to the garden’s more exotic collection.

The trail will open to the public this week, alongside the garden’s first ever indoor exhibit “East to Zest,” which features a cornucopia of living citrus trees and fruit inside the new Visitors Center.

Both new attractions open to members on Friday, Nov. 4, and to the general public on Saturday Nov. 5. Admission costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $8 for teenagers under 18, students and active military and free for children 12-years-old and under.

Contact the reporter Rebecca Wolff at rebecca.wolff@sonomanews.com.