Sponsored by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), National Public Gardens Day helps raise awareness of botanical gardens, arboreta, conservatories, and public gardens across the country.
Help celebrate public gardens and get a jump on Mother's Day at National Public Gardens Day at the Getty on Friday, May 11, 2018. Admission and tours are free. Parking is $15 per car; $10 after 3pm.
Getty Center
At the Getty Center, join a special National Public Gardens Day tour led by Getty Gardens Manager Brian Houck at 10:30am. The free tour includes the annual release of aphid-eating ladybugs and hanging praying mantis egg cases in the garden.
In honor of National Public Gardens Day, the Museum Store at the Getty Center will offer the souvenir boxed set of two Seeing the Getty books, containing photographs of the Getty Center architecture and gardens, as a gift with a purchase of $50 or more.
At the Restaurant, enjoy a garden-themed spring harvest salad bowl with organic red quinoa, sliced avocado, sprouted lentils, and za’atar dressing. Toast to the beauty of public gardens with the Restaurant’s cucumber mint citrus martini.
Celebrations continue, May 12 and 13 with physicist and world-renowned origami artist Robert J. Lang as he creates large, life-like paper animals and insects. Enjoy this free, drop-in origami program and learn to fold paper flowers and other garden creatures. Add your creations to the eye-catching Origami Garden installation and watch it grow!
New this spring, and available year-round, is the Central Garden mobile audio tour. On this tour, you’ll hear about the garden from a museum curator, a landscape architect, a mindfulness expert, gardeners and the contemporary artist who designed it, Robert Irwin.
Getty Villa
At the Getty Villa, join Getty Gardens Supervisor Michael DeHart for a toga tour of the Villa gardens at 12:00pm. Afterward, enjoy the Flavors of Spring salad in the café, with asparagus, market beets, heirloom tomatoes, baby mustard greens, rainbow chard, feta, and avocado dressing. At the Museum Store, pick up a copy of Seeing the Getty Villa as a gift with a purchase of $50 or more.
Enjoy tours at both the Getty Center and Villa through the Getty’s Pay Once, Park Twice program, in which same-day parking at both sites is available for $15. Please note that free, advanced tickets are required for the Villa, and that parts of the Villa are currently closed for reinstallation. For more information, call (310) 440–7300 or visit the Getty.