Located 20 minutes north of San Diego in Encinitas, California, Quail Botanical Gardens features over 35 acres of exhibits, including rare bamboo groves, desert gardens, a tropical rainforest, California native plants, Mediterranean climate landscapes, the Undersea Succulent Garden, Landscaping for Fire Safety and a subtropical fruit garden.

Quail Botanical Gardens began as the 30-acre private estate of Charles and Ruth Larabee. The Larabee's landscaped the property around their modest home with exotic plants they collected during their worldwide travels, including cork oaks, palms, cycads, aloes, cacti, hibiscus and unusual subtropical fruit bearing plants and trees. Mrs. Larabee left her private residence and its grounds to the County of San Diego in 1957. Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation was formed three years later to preserve and support this remarkable garden.

We visited the garden in the Fall of 2006, most the flowering trees already passed their peak blooming time, however, the fruit tree garden was full of fruits. You should visit this garden to see the bamboo collection, and the collection of sub-tropical fruit trees.