Walking IN the Wild: My 2025 Theodore Payne Native Plant Tour Experience
Each spring, Los Angeles softens as flowers and tiny buds begin to wake up. For two days in April, I joined a quiet migration of native plant lovers across Los Angeles for the 2025 Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour. A self-guided pilgrimage into the wild pollinator habitat gardens of our city.
Over the course of a weekend, I explored 14 gardens. Each one a love letter to California’s native flora and a testament to what happens when people choose to live in partnership with place. Many of these gardens felt like magical ecological portals and works of living art.
As someone deeply immersed in the world of native plants (planting a native garden), filmmaking, and photography, I showed up with a mix of creative curiosity and reverence. And I left restored, inspired, and brimming with new ideas.
Here are two gardens that stirred something deep within me.
🌿 Saturday’s Favorite: Paul Koretz Westwood Greenway
Nestled between city streets and rail lines, the Paul Koretz Westwood Greenway felt like a secret sanctuary. This two-acre stretch of land, long forgotten and degraded for over 200 years, now pulses with life. It’s a living example of what’s possible when policy, ecology, and artistry intertwine.
What struck me first was the daylighted stream, gently threading its way through native willows and riparian understory. The air felt like it was cooled by the water and brightened by the calls of birds that have returned. With over 440 species now calling this place home, the Greenway is proof that when you give nature an opening, it rushes in.
This garden is a teaching ground, showcasing plants from the LA Street Tree List alongside native groundcovers and shrubs that make sense for urban landscapes. Murals along the path depict tiny local insects that remind us of our interconnectedness.
Notable Plants I Loved:
California Bay Laurel – aromatic and wise, with leaves that smell like ancient kitchens
Hooker’s Evening Primrose – delicate, glowing yellow in the late light
Santa Cruz Island Ironwood – like sculptural poetry in motion
This garden felt like a message: our cities don’t have to be sterile. They can be wild again. A peaceful oasis in Westwood, and one of the most inspiring public gardens I’ve seen.
Design & Install: Atkins, City of LA Bureau of Engineering, Charles Miller & Westwood Greenway
Care: LASAN, contractors, and dedicated community volunteers
Started: 2019 | Size: 2 acres
🌾 Sunday’s Favorite: Muir Farm Lab
Sunday brought a tonal shift, where the east-side landscapes felt more experimental. The first stop, the Muir Farm Lab in Pasadena, truly captured my imagination. This garden was brimming with life. A place where education, ecology, and creative land stewardship meet.
Located on the campus of John Muir High School; woodland, desert, riparian, and foothill ecosystems all converge in a seamless blend.
The design is whimsical and wise. A hugelkultur bowl anchors the northwest section, planted with locally native species and sloping into a creek that nourishes the plants below. As I walked the path along the creek, surrounded by willows, poppies, and elderberry, I felt like I had entered a fairytale. Beyond the native plant area was an agricultural area with raised garden beds. It was a perfect blend of wild and functional.
Notable Plants That Caught My Eye:
Poppies – A happy-maker. These always bring a smile to my face
Redberry Buckthorn – quietly holding the edge of the creek with grace
Elderberry – A reminder to plant this one in our garden next
What moved me most was that students, staff, and volunteers built this space. A school garden, teaching observation, collaboration, and respect for living systems.
Design: Jill McArthur, Jeremy Rogers
Install & Care: Jill McArthur, Jeremy Rogers, students & volunteers
Started: 2019 | Size: 14,000 sq. ft.
🌱 Final Reflections
There’s something deeply grounding about walking through native plant gardens in LA, a vast, buzzing city that’s often dismissed as synthetic. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Theodore Payne Native Plant Tour is a reminder that this place has roots. Deep ones.
These gardens are acts of personal and collective reclamation. They remind us that beauty can be ecological, that habitat can be healing, and that we are all capable of tending to something sacred.
If you ever get the chance to take part in this tour, do it. Walk slowly. Bring water. Ask questions. Take notes. Let yourself fall in love with the plants, with the people, and especially with this place. And maybe it’ll inspire you to plant your own native garden, like it did for me.
