2647 East Coast Hwy, Corona Del Mar, CA 92625
Hours:
- GARDENS
- Monday-Sunday (10:30 AM-4 PM)
- LIBRARY
- Tuesday-Friday (10:30 AM-4 PM)
ADMISSION:
- $5.00 Per Person (Children under 3 are free)
- SNAP and EBT cardholders (up to 4 people per EBT card) are free
- Cardholder must be present with photo ID
Overview
The Sherman Library and Gardens, located in Corona Del Mar, is a fabulous, cost effective way to spend an hour or so. In addition to visiting the gardens, this is a fabulous area to explore and offers a ton of things to do. While Sherman Library and Gardens isn’t very large, they do however manage to get the most out of the space they do have. The grounds are beautiful, with thousands of plant species from around the world and extensive orchid collection.
The gardens also offer cultural activities, events and classes for those of all ages and seasonal exhibits and lectures for those in the community. The most popular of the events is undoubtedly the 13 nights in December that the park brings the candy land themed “Night of 1,000 Lights” to life. Reservations must be made for this event at a cost of $35 per person, but it’s a lot of fun.
In addition to all of the other fabulous areas of the gardens, an exceptional, historical research library can be found and visited Tuesday-Friday, near the back of the gardens. There is so much to do and see at the Sherman Library and Gardens and all for a marginal fee. The gardens are a great place that anyone in the area should check out. For a great interactive map of the gardens, please visit Sherman Library and Gardens website.
Areas of the Sherman Library and Gardens
While there are more areas of the gardens than what I am going to share below, the areas below are what I consider the best parts and my personal favorites. For more on the other areas of the gardens, check out the interactive map on Sherman Gardens website.
Fern Grotto
This will be the first area visitors come to as they check in at the gardens and it leads to the restrooms. This small, lush area is filled with tons of ferns.
Tropical Conservatory
The tropical conservatory is located near the front of the park, just past the Central Garden, which is the main focus upon entering. This is one of my favorite parts of the garden. A lush, climate controlled, tropical indoor conservatory with fountains and a koi pond is one of the most relaxing areas of the gardens to visit.
This area is small but it is very beautiful. There is a wonderful Orchid collection inside the conservatory.The outside of the conservatory boasts a Bromeliad Garden set amongst a gorgeous palm canopy along with a nice Mediterranean Climate Garden on the other side.
Succulent Garden
Just before the Tea Garden and just outside of the Cafe, sits the exceptionally well done Succulent Garden.
There is quite an array of succulents present here, artistically set within colorful glass rock.
This is a gorgeous section of the gardens.
Pepper Tree
This lovely, character filled tree is sure to grab your attention as you pass the Succulent Garden and head towards the Adobe House. This tree was planted shortly after the completion of the Adobe House and has developed an exceptional amount of character in the past 70 years.
Tea Garden
The Tea Garden is located just past the Succulent Garden and just before the gift shop. This relaxing and calming patio garden features blooms of fuchsias, begonias and impatiens. The gardens often decorate this area accordingly to the season or holiday. This is another of my favorite areas of the gardens.
Historical Research Library
Located directly behind the Adobe House, the Historical Library shouldn’t be missed. It is only open Tuesday-Friday so plan accordingly if it’s something that interests you. The collection focuses on the Pacific Southwest over the past 150 years. We were pleasantly surprised by this and found ourselves delving into a plethora of old books on Hawaiian culture among other things. Having moved to California from Hawaii 10 years ago, seeing this elaborate Polynesian and Hawaiian section of books brought us so much joy. We spent some time perusing this area.
Scout’s Story and Day at Sherman Library and Gardens
With Valentines day just around the corner, my wife and I along with our two year old daughter, Scout, decided to start the day with a short hike at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. We had a spectacular morning and opted to head to Sherman Library and Gardens after grabbing some lunch. It was a spectacularly gorgeous day with virtually no clouds in sight.
Sherman Library and Gardens were a place that I had been planning to bring my wife and daughter for some time and on this day we finally made it. We often visit the fabulous B. Candy Store just down the street as well as Grant Howald Park, so I was surprised that this was going to be our first visit.
I was a little caught off guard upon entering by how small the grounds were. Don’t let this deter you though because the gardens make insanely good use of the space that they do have. The grounds are phenomenally beautiful and this ended up being one of my more favorite gardens we have visited. The gardens are small but are incredibly spectacular. We were delighted to visit the Tea Garden and to find it decorated with Valentines Day themed things for the holiday.
Since Scout is only two, I was a little worried that her patience would wear thin. Scout did great though and the gardens are a perfect size to explore in a moderate amount of time. After about an hour we packed up and headed for Centennial Farms. The Sherman Library and Gardens did not disappoint and ended up being my favorite stop of the day. Our family will surely be back when we are in the Corona Del Mar area in the future.
