For a map of the garden areas, please click here.

|| Heritage or Notable Trees ||

The Marin Art & Garden Center is graced with beautiful established trees, a number of them over one hundred years of age - the English oak (Quercus robur) in the Butterfly Habitat Garden and the giant redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum) brought from Yosemite Valley as a small tree in the 1880's. The sequoia is unusual with its rounded top and domed-over appearance, associated with thousand-year-old trees.

A towering dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) forms a canopy over a Victorian gazebo and beds brimming with vividly colored perennials, annuals, bulbs and more. The venerable tree was planted in 1947 from seed collected during an archeological expedition to China that re-discovered the species. The dawn redwood is one of only a few species of deciduous conifers in the world.

Towering valley oaks (Quercus lobata) are native here, growing in the fertile bottom lands long before homes were built and gardens planned. A fine example of Ginkgo biloba, also known as the Maidenhair tree, resides in the Stratford Garden. This species of tree is considered a living fossil, with true fossils related to modern Ginkgo dating back 270 million years. You'll find deciduous varieties of mulberry (Morus), crabapple (Malus), many cultivars of Japanese maples (Acer japonica), elm (Ulmus), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), and a beautiful specimen of a tri-colored  beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Tricolor’).

Dogwoods (Cornus 'Kousa') provide a glorious show in the spring along with a multitude of flowering fruit trees. On the north perimeter of the gardens a glorious stand of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia) put on a brilliant display of color in late summer.

|| Butterfly Habitat Garden ||
The Habitat Garden contains a bounteous collection of larval host plants that attract many species of butterflies while the mixture of California native and Mediterranean climate perennials, annuals and grasses create a kaleidoscope of colors during the peak of bloom summer to fall. The pond in this garden is ideal habitat for dragonflies, the "seep" at the shallow end provide wild creatures easy access to water. A bat box provides a daytime roost for these valuable insect eaters. The small lawn is an example of low water-use, infrequent mowing-need turf.

|| Memory Garden ||

To the northeast of the Rose Garden, you enter a serene circular glen, the Memory Garden, enshrouded by a quilted canopy of leaves and adorned by a variety of plantings around a supine stone maiden. Created by the Marin Garden Club early in the history of the Center, it is "a place of quiet beauty for remembering."

|| Native Basketry Garden ||
Also called "Redbud Gulch," this garden was developed by Charles Kennard, a talented local basket weaver, who specializes in techniques and materials traditionally used by the California Native Peoples. Inspired by an existing natural patch of native sedge (Carex barbarae), it is filled with willows (Salix spp.), elderberry, (Sambucas spp.), redbud (Cercis occidentalis), leatherwood (Dirca occidentalis), and other native plants historically used in making baskets. Charlie also offers hands-on classes in these traditional techniques; when the plants are established, harvesting the materials to be used for a basket that becomes part of the lesson plan.

|| Herb and Native Medicinal Garden ||
This site, once an herb garden of national renown maintained by the now defunct California Herb Society, includes plants with properties that made them valuable as medicine for both the Native Peoples, and the first Europeans to settle in California. Plantings include Allium schoenoprasum, Borago officinalis, Calendula officinalis, Eriogonum grande rubescens, Leonurus cardiac, Nepeta cataria, Pelargonium sidoides, Ruta grarveolens, Salvia officinalis minum   and Thymus x citriodorus ‘Aureus’.

|| Rose Garden ||
In the heart of the Center sits the Rose Garden, encircled by a decorative wrought iron fencing laced with the fragrant blooms of climbing roses. Planted in 2004 with over one-hundred and fifty varieties - climbers, hybrid teas and floribundas, English roses, miniatures, shrub and old garden roses, the space brims with healthy plants, all maintained without the use of pesticides. The bounteous beauty that resides within the fenced area (protected from marauding deer) was designed and implemented and currently maintained by members of the Marin Rose Society. For a complete list of varieties in the garden, go to the Marin Rose Society website at marinrose.org.

|| Succulent Garden and Native Plants ||
A variety of succulent plants and cacti display a tremendous range of color and form in this small garden including aeoniums, aloes, agaves, sedums, dudleyas, and echeverias. The collection is planted on a berm, built up with boulders and coarse soil to ensure perfect drainage. Some specimens were donated by local fanciers.

|| Bay-Friendly Demonstration Garden||

The Bay-Friendly Demonstration Garden is situated between the grove of magnolia trees (Magnolia grandiflora) and the large fountain. This recently renovated garden area has been transformed in a joint effort between MAGC, Marin Municipal Water District and Marin Master Gardeners, into a beautiful, colorful, ornamental, low to moderate water use garden, brimming with deer resistant, fragrant, low maintenance plants.

|| Composting Demonstration Site ||
This site displays numerous bins and methods for composting; some suitable for the home gardener, and others designed for larger properties.

|| Rainwater Harvesting Demonstration Site ||

This “watershed friendly” project creates an ornamental low maintenance rain garden with aesthetic wildlife habitat irrigated that relies solely on rainwater.  It stores and uses rainwater, eliminating the need for municipal water in this area.  It slows, spreads and sinks rainwater run-off into the ground rather than shooting it into storm drains where it contributes to flooding, erosion and pollution of the Corte Madera Creek and provides an inspiring and easily replicated home-scale model for rainwater harvesting systems and water conservation.

|| Plant Nursery ||

We grow hundreds of plants each year, starting from seeds or cuttings, many taken from "mother plants" growing in Center gardens. Plants are grown for use at the Center, for sale at educational programs, and for donation to schools and other non-profits wishing to create habitats. The nursery facility is also used to teach classes on practical plant propagation through the seasons.