It's Go Time for Rose Time at The Huntington

We're entering the most bloom-tastic window of the year at the San Marino gardens.

What to Know

  • The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
  • San Marino
  • Mid-April start, with "the next few weeks" looking great

If you're fond of the Rose Parade, and the Tournament of Roses, and you host relatives or friends each year around New Year's Day, there is zero chance that you're not bragging about the resplendent roses at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Because a number of flowers famously bloom at the historic San Marino spread on the first day of the year, while other places around the country break out the shovels, plows, and other implements oriented to the management of copious amounts of snow. 

And while the wintertime show at The Huntington is astounding, in the vibrant flower category, nothing can equal what happens at the landmark's Rose Garden come springtime, specifically the second half of April into early May.

True, the year-in, year-out dates for The Huntington's mega rose bloom aren't hard nor fast, so listening for the clarion call from The Huntington's staffers is key.

And the call has been made as of mid-April, rose people: "The next few weeks should be beautiful," with a variety of stunning roses at their most picture-ready and perfume-heady.

A photo of the Sparkle and Shine roses taken on April 16, 2018 tell the spectacular story: The Huntington's Rose Garden looks like something out of a Jane Austen-style period film (as it so often and easily can).

The Scene

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Social Nature, a Descanso Gardens pop-up, will offer sips and snacks this spring and summer

Things to do this weekend: WonderCon, a pop culture wonderland, alights in Anaheim

Other roses like Good as Gold and Jump for Joy are "... at their peak right now," so best find your flower-obsessed friends and hit the 120-acre garden. 

Well, the rose section itself isn't a full 120 acres, but it is sizable, and the kicky name and glorious hue of each blossom has a way of stopping each stroll-by visitor in their tracks.

As does what's near the 110-year-old Rose Garden: The Rose Garden Tea Room, a favorite eat-sip spot for those visitors who've come to see this quintessentially springtime show. Just make sure to make a reservation before you go San Marino.

How to see this gladdening, soil-splendid, fresh-air'd vision of rose after rose after rose, at their full flower and power?

Your admission to The Huntington is the answer. Don't forget your sunhat, your shoes with the grass-ready soles, and the desire to sniff a clutch of fragrant petals or twenty or thirty or...

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