Uli wrote: >> Can anybody of you recommend places (both nature and nursery or garden) that are particularly interesting? Huntington and Strybing are already "booked" Those are excellent choices, and I agree that Berkeley is cool. The LA Arboretum is also nice, I am partial to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Quail Botanic Garden (now called San Diego Botanic Garden) is smaller than the others but has a great collection of subtropicals you won't see elsewhere. Very cool giant clumping bamboos. I'm so jealous of them. You're coming to California in a good year. It was a relatively wet winter, and already the wildflowers are doing well. The deserts will be mostly bloomed out by mid-April, but there should be good wildflowers in many other areas. You'll be a little bit early for some of the native bulbs here -- many of the prettiest Calochortus peak in late April to May as the hills start to dry out. But the Brodiaeas and friends will be going, and there will be a lot of other wildflowers in bloom. The Theodore Payne Foundation has a great website with links to a huge range of California parks and gardens here: http://theodorepayne.org/hotline/… They also publish an excellent weekly report describing where wildflowers are blooming: http://theodorepayne.org/hotline/… If you have the time and haven't done it before, spend a day driving Highway 1 between Big Sur and San Simeon. Just don't do it in the rain. Enjoy your visit! Mike San Jose, CA