Rhododendron & Vireyas Garden -

Tucked in a back corner of the garden, under a special wooden shelter, we have the largest outdoor collection of Vireyas in the continental United States. Come visit soon, and prepared to be stunned!

Vireyas are a special kind of tropical rhododendron native to islands between Asia and Australia, and they flower throughout the year in coastal California.

They love a frost-free environment. So, we house them in a special sheltered environment in The Gardens at Lake Merritt, in the back of the garden near the citrus grove and the succulent garden. We highlight locally produced hybrids, and selected plants from areas generally unavailable to botanists.

Numbering over 300 species, Vireyas can be found in the wild growing across much of SE Asia, principally in New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines. Although these are tropical regions, the plants grow mostly in the cool mountainous areas, either as epiphytes in the tall trees of the cloud forest, or in open ground as shrubs. These low altitude vireos are idea for our Oakland climate. As anyone who has visited the San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Cloud Forest area knows, the Bay is most hospitable to these beautiful plants.

The beauty of the vireya has long attracted hybridizers and many excellent cultivars have been developed.

The Japanese Garden – This Japanese-style Garden was designed by Hisaichi Tsugawa and built principally by members of the Japanese-American community of Oakland and the East Bay. It was dedicated in 1960.

Since 1985 the Merritt College Aesthetic Pruning Club has been responsible for the restoration and maintenance of this garden, in cooperation with the City of Oakland Public Works Agency.

For inquiries regarding volunteer work/maintenance projects or donations, please call 510 418 0968.

Plum Branches accent new Japanese Garden gates.

The Golden State Bonsai Federation Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt is the home to some of the  finest bonsai on the West Coast and is Northern California’s only public bonsai collection. The  Garden, built by volunteers, is staffed and maintained by volunteers and supported entirely by  donations.

Bonsai Garden Hours:

Tuesday-Friday, 11am-3pm

Saturday, 10am-4pm

Sunday, noon-4pm

ADMISSION is free but donations to help maintain and improve the garden are gratefully accepted.

This permanent collection ensures these precious trees and stones by outstanding masters and collectors will be preserved for everyone’s enjoyment. More than 75 superb bonsai and many viewing stones (suiseki) are on display at any given time. The collection is changed regularly and many of the trees change color with the season, so visit often.

Volunteer docents provide you with a self-guiding key sheet describing each tree. Docents also  are available to provide information about the landscape plants, Japanese gates, stones, bonsai in general, and bonsai clubs.

Gordon Deeg is the Federation’s Chairman. Curator Kathy Shaner is the only Japanese-certified bonsai master in the United States and the first westerner and first woman to be trained as a master in Japan. Our sister bonsai collection is the Golden State Bonsai Collection at the Huntington Library  and Gardens in San Marino near Pasadena, California.

Completion of this open air cultural museum has been made possible through the support of the Oakland City Council, Oakland Parks and Recreation, and Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF) officers and member Clubs.

The enthusiasm of volunteer labor by members of the various Northern California clubs, their spouses and friends plus the generosity of commercial concerns have been invaluable. The beauty of this garden has been achieved through hard work, success and few failures by a dedicated force of volunteers.

Trees selected for the Garden number over 150 to supply a rotating display. These trees require constant care. Tree caretakers work under Curator Kathy Shaner’s direction.

Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt Website

Please visit our website to learn more about our BGLM and events.

The Torii is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entry to a Shinto shrine and marks the entrance to a sacred space. The original Torii Gate was a gift to the City of Oakland in 1969 from the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Fukuoka, Japan, Oakland’s sister city. The gate was rebuilt in 2002 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the sister city relationship.

2012, the 50th anniversary of Oakland’s relationship with Fukuoka, featured celebrations in both cities and the addition of 10 new lanterns to the Torii Gate Garden.

Bay-Friendly Gardening mimics natural systems, which recycle everything—water, debris, and nutrients—endlessly. It pays attention to climate and local conditions and uses appropriate plants that are adapted to those conditions. It follows maintenance practices that support the goals of conserving resources and reducing waste.

Bay-Friendly gardens aren’t a mold you have to fit into—they offer endless opportunities, from backyard wildlife gardens to kitchen gardens to native plant communities, and more. Bay-Friendly gardening offers an approach to landscaping that makes it easy to have a garden you can enjoy while reducing waste and conserving resources.

Bay-Friendly gardeners:
* Conserve water and other resources.
* Reuse plant trimmings through mulching and composting.
* Provide wildlife habitat.
* Feature native and Mediterranean plants.
* Choose least-toxic pest control methods.

The Bay-Friendly Gardening program was developed to encourage residents to make environmentally friendly gardening choices. It is not a particular style, but an approach. Bay-Friendly Gardeners work with nature to reduce waste and protect the watersheds of the San Francisco Bay.

Bay-Friendly is….
….. a holistic approach to gardening and landscaping that works in harmony with the natural conditions of the San Francisco Bay Watershed. Bay-Friendly practices foster soil health, conserve water and other valuable resources while reducing waste and preventing pollution.

The Bay-Friendly Gardening Program offers the home gardener tools for creating a beautiful and healthy Bay-Friendly garden. Likewise, the Bay-Friendly Landscaping Program provides resources for the professional landscaper to design, construct and maintain Bay-Friendly landscapes for clients.

For more information please visit the Stop Waste website http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=8

• Entry Attraction: Colorful and fragrant plantings at the entry gate  invite exploration

• Tactile Pathway Edges: Fragrant and textured plantings are touchable in a five foot wide strip along raised planting beds

• Color and Sound Meadow: Bold drifts of plantings provide a spectrum of color and rustle in the breezes

• Central Water Feature: Visible from the entrance, the water feature provides lively sounds and movement in the heart of the garden

• Lavender Hill: A mass planting of several lavender species provide an impressive display of color and scent
• Bold Salvias: Vibrant colors of an array of sages draw the visitor into the garden

• Seating Area: Renewed benches provide a destination and resting spot for visitors

The Lakeside Palmetum - Considered the most extensive established collection of cool Mediterranean and high altitude tropical palms in the United States, the Palmetum features a great variety of palm species native to cool and warm Mediterranean climates and tropical high altitude regions of Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas. Oakland’s unique subtropical microclimate provides the perfect growing conditions to nurture this collection.

Our Febuary volunteer clean-ups are for The Mediterranean Garden on Saturday February 6th, 9:00 am – noon, followed by a second volunteer clean-up day on Saturday Feb 20th for The Palmetum from 9:30 am – 1:00 pm & The Sensory Garden from 9:00 am – noon. We hope to see you at either or both of these dates.

Please meet at the garden. Enter at Gate#3 across from the Sailboat House. Tell the attendant at the Kiosk that you are sponsered by the Gardens of Lake Merritt and the garden you will be volunteering at and receive a dash board plaque. Bring gloves and pruning shears and a friend.